Chiropractic Practice Blog

How well do you educate patients?

At first glance, it would appear that high PVA (Patient Visit Average) is a sign that patients are being educated, remaining under care beyond the relief of their obvious symptoms.

But there's another statistic that can reveal something even more important than meaningful patient education. It's a statistic that reveals your ability to lead, motivate and set an example that profoundly changes the lives of patients. Even staff members. It's a statistic that measures your ability to connect and stir the hearts of others.

What is the statistic? How many people have you inspired to go to chiropractic college?

There are few statistics as telling. Besides confirming your ability to explain chiropractic principles in a compelling way, it reflects your optimism (the future is bright) and your abundance mindset (the world needs more chiropractors).

Who do you know who would make a great chiropractor?

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A common question I field coming from chiropractors, reacting to an increasingly deregulated practice environment and coming to grips with the tension faced by all small business owners is, “How much should I charge?”

The question reveals a profound misunderstanding of how business works, which is understandable, seeing that most chiropractors wanted a practice but find themselves in a small business, facing the same issues all other small businesses face—but hamstrung with little training (or real interest) in the nuances of pricing.

If you find yourself in this dilemma, you may find some of the follow observations helpful.

Improvisational actors refer to it as "entering the danger." Novice improv actors will often shy away from playing off an especially bizarre comment or action from a fellow actor. But the experienced will seek these opportunities (entering the danger) because that's where genius can take root.

Do you enter the danger or avoid it?

When a patient complains about their recovery. "Interesting, tell me more." When a patient chooses an unusual word at the consultation. "You just used the word "burden." Tell me more about this burden you're feeling." When a patient makes the off-hand remark about her skeptical husband. "What does he think about your visit with us today?"

Deeper connection and greater influence are yours when you show up fearless, prepared to enter the danger and see where it leads. It's an opportunity to access what's really going on. But only for those who can handle the truth.

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This week we introduce a new feature to our chiropractic blog. The purpose of the Product Profile is to acquaint our website visitors with the many chiropractic products offered by Patient Media.

It made sense to begin our series with the very first Patient Media product whose debut in the summer of 1999 has provided a valuable front desk resource for thousands of chiropractic practices ever since.

50 Patient Letters contains a letter template for just about every occasion in which you might want to send a patient a letter. From welcome letters and ‘Thanks for the referral’ letters to New Year’s resolution letters and ‘We missed you’ reactivation letters. Here are the essential patient communications that improve collections, increase kept appointments and stimulate referrals. All written for you!

These old-fashioned snail mail letters command one key advantage over email: a federal agent delivers your message directly to your patient, insuring deliverability!

Order online.

The more often we feel, but do not act, the less likely we are to act.

We're creatures of habit. And when we get into the habit of biting our tongues or feeling constrained to tell the truth, the more the enemy of the truth wins. In fact, the enemy is counting on our fear of political correctness, wanting to be liked or thinking we have to be eloquent.

Instead, seek to understand. Which, after all, suggests that we are to support the other by "standing under." Asking a question can be just the opening that will allow a patient (or someone else) to face an inconvenient truth or resolve a contradiction or accept a new understanding. Simply by asking a clarifying question!

You have tremendous opportunity to affirm and reassure those who seek your care. Never shun this. It's what true leadership, patient or otherwise, is all about.

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One of our deepest yearnings is to make meaning of our world and our circumstances. Most of us, especially in chiropractic, are constantly on the lookout for the underlying cause of just about everything. Or should be. “Why did that patient do that?” “Why are my numbers down?” “What accounts for this? Or that?” “How come?” “Why?”

And if we can’t determine the real cause, we’re quite resourceful in coming up with something to explain our circumstances. These are typically the economy, the weather, the time of the year and a handful of other convenient explanations. The problem is, other practices don’t seem to be similarly affected. Your December numbers suck. Their December numbers soar. Your summer numbers tank. Their summer numbers explode.

That’s the problem with our inclination to make meaning out of our circumstances. We’re often wrong. And when we are, but base our actions on the incorrect conclusions, we’re often worse off.

That’s because we imagine the real world is more real than the unseen world of the spirit.

Many think that effective patient communication is about brilliant scripting or being prepared to answer virtually any question. Not true.

What effective communicators know and practice, is profound listening. Which is the essential first ingredient of all successful communication. Poor listeners are always poor communicators. Perhaps this is due to the confusion between hearing and listening.

Hearing is a neuro-mechanical process. Listening is a social skill.

Like most social skills, they are learned. Begin by being mindful that in virtually all social interaction there are many "channels" in which information and meaning is being delivered. If you merely hear, you can be tone deaf to the subtext encoded in the message. This is especially true if you already have your answer ready before the conversation begins!

Listen. Receive. Understand, as in "to stand under." Support patients by standing under them and they will feel truly felt--without even being touched.

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