Growing Chiropractic Clients
by William D. Esteb
While many chiropractic doctors continue to toil under the sickness model of health care, taking the path of least resistance by looking to insurance companies to dictate the length of care, more and more offices are taking a different path. As more doctors recognize the wellness and preventive nature of chiropractic, they are stabilizing their practices, reducing stress, and getting off the new patient treadmill by keeping more of the patients that they do get.
In chiropractic circles, it is well accepted that some type of ongoing chiropractic care is beneficial. Even if not familiar with the clinical research suggesting maintenance care, most doctors and their staffs receive some type of ongoing care. When chiropractic care is readily available and schedules permit, most chiropractic doctors get adjusted about once a week. Even doctors who look to insurance companies for case management guidance receive regular non-symptomatic adjustments. Sometimes our schedules are too hectic, or the willing hands of an associate or reciprocating doctor aren't readily available. Yet, your patients would probably benefit from some type of ongoing chiropractic care in the same way you do.
The new patient solution
What if 30% or more of all the patients you've ever seen over the years came in for a wellness visit on the same visit frequency you enjoy? You would no longer have a voracious appetite for new patients. In fact, you'd be scouring the colleges for associate doctors to help handle the demand! Suddenly, you'd have a stable, predictable practice that would enable you to take vacations and have a life outside your office. Your non-symptomatic "well" patients could easily schedule their visits around your week-long vacations and frequent three-day family outings. Your practice would still be intact when you returned.
Going back to the Latin root of the word patient, patior, meaning "to suffer," these wellness-oriented individuals wouldn't be patients in the traditional sense. They certainly wouldn't be suffering! Quite the opposite. People (like you) who receive some type of ongoing non- symptomatic chiropractic care are active, vital, and make a difference in the lives of countless others they influence. Rather than patients, maybe you would think of them as chiropractic "clients."
The doctor/client relationship is different than the doctor/patient relationship. Patients have a short-term outlook (get me out of pain). Clients enjoy a long-term perspective. Patients look at chiropractic care as something that happens to them. Clients are in touch with their bodies and want to optimize their health. Patients see health as a destination. Clients see health as a process. While the miracle cures and easily documentable progress of Initial Intensive Care are fulfilling in a superficial sense, chiropractic patients aren't as much fun to be around as clients. The client relationship is more of a partnership approach to health, with open lines of communication. The adversarial "prove it works" attitude is gone. In fact, when a patient becomes a client, the visit-to-visit dialogue becomes less and less health oriented!
Chiropractic clients are grown from chiropractic patients. Not every patient is available to become a client, but that doesn't stop offices with this vision from taking active measures to introduce and encourage preventive, chiropractic lifestyles on the part of every new patient. Here are a few of the ingredients found in successful offices:
Chiropractic science. A common denominator of every office with a sizable wellness practice is an acquaintance with research substantiating the necessity of continued joint mobilization for the prevention of spinal degeneration and supporting muscle scar tissue.
Chiropractic philosophy. An underpinning of these doctors' scientific background is a well-grounded chiropractic philosophy. While they don't beat their patients over the head with their beliefs or scold patients for an occasional use of aspirin, their philosophy is evident in the answers given to everyday patient questions. This philosophy helps doctors combat the continual influence of the medical "sickness" model of health from patients, insurance companies, and drug advertising on television.
Patient education. These offices have a systematized way of communicating chiropractic science and philosophy to their patients. They use every opportunity while their patients are within their sphere of influence to enlarge their vision of health. Yes, they use videos, brochures, and educational sign-in sheets, but they also give spinal care classes and have some type of continuing patient dialogue on every visit. They recognize that a single super-duper report of findings can't overcome a lifetime of being indoctrinated by the medical model of health.
Acknowledge patient motives. Doctors with a large number of well patients don't fool themselves. They recognize that most patients do not begin care with the idea of starting a lifelong relationship. And they also recognize that on the first couple of visits they have not earned the right to ask or expect a long-term commitment. The value of long-term care is gently introduced as patients start feeling better.
Feedback loops. Successful well-patient practices have well developed feedback loops to obtain patient perceptions about the practice, procedures, and personalities. They keep in touch with current patients by holding frequent focus groups, using patient questionnaires, and on the 10th or 15th visit take the pulse of patients' attitudes about the office and their care. When patients drop out of care, there is a non-judgmental mechanism to uncover the patients' motives for discontinuing care that can help prevent the problem or situation from occurring with future patients.
Role models. These offices are proud of their high patient retention and communicate this idea of "success" to their patients. Instead of the typical symptomatic "it-worked-for-me" relief testimonials in the reception room, patient testimonials in these offices stress the wellness and preventive aspects of care. You'll find case histories on X-ray view boxes and "Patient of the Month" profiles emphasize why patients have decided to continue with the chiropractic after Relief Care. The notion that chiropractic works is practically taken for granted.
Wellness fees. Virtually every office with large numbers of wellness patients (and especially children) have some type of post-symptomatic, post-insurance financial plan. These offices recognize that most insurance doesn't cover wellness and preventive care, and they are realistic about what a family can afford to pay for their care when they're feeling fine and have exhausted insurance benefits.
Rewarding referrals. Birds of a feather flock together and offices interested in developing their wellness client base know that their patients have friends and relatives who share the same wellness attitudes. They identify these "ideal" patients and make special efforts to nurture and reward their kept appointments and referrals.
Stimulating environment. Since they expect their well patients to return to the office countless times over the months and years of their client relationship, these offices are fun places to be. The office environment is creative and stimulating. Not only are the magazines up to date, but so are the colors, carpet, lighting, and accessories. While not necessarily interior design showcases, they have a homey, yet professional tone that is enticing and always features something new and different. Bulletin boards are changed regularly. The children's toy box receives new additions. And reading material is uplifting, highly visual, and reflects a healthy, optimistic outlook.
These are just a few of the attributes found in offices that get a lot of new patients--and are keeping them in the 1990s. As insurance coverages continue to decline and deductibles rise, keeping patients will become as important as getting them. Just about any chiropractic doctor can achieve symptomatic improvement. One of the ways to measure success in this decade will be how many patients you can grow into chiropractic clients.
Buy the book
A Patient's Point of View
Originally published in 1992
240 Pages
US $19.95
Not a reader? Bill reads his favorite chapters from all 10 books on Bill's Best. |
