10 Tips to Seeing A Highly Successful Chiropractic Practice

At ChiroUp, we know what makes a highly successful evidence-based practice. Why? Our advisory board has nearly 400 years of combined clinical and business expertise in our field, and we work with more than a thousand of the top providers in the world each day.

Our team has recognized ten common themes that almost all of these practices embrace. How many of these themes are you currently following? Find out in this week’s blog…and while you’re there, check out tip # 3 for an updated video demo of an essential skill for whiplash and cervicogenic headache patients.

Two-second blog synopsis:

Combine outstanding service with patient-friendly policies, and tell lots of people about it.

Check out our top considerations to help set your sights high for 2020 PLUS the specific ChiroUp resource that can help make these goals happen.Let’s start by breaking down the three KEY INGREDIENTS for business success: 

• People

• Product

• Process

People

1. Know What You Want

Take time to set your goals carefully, then develop a game plan for your team to get there. 

Then, to make it happen, your entire team needs to be on board. Surround yourself with excellence and passion. Employees can choose to act as either a sail or an anchor to your ship of dreams. Sails need to be cared for, and anchors need to be cut loose. Spend time training and motivating the right people. Make it a priority to relay and live out a team vision with organizational tools and expected office protocols.

Pro tip: Set goals that you would not be ashamed to share with your patients. i.e., >80% of patients will be >50% improved within three weeks of initiating care. 

Product

2. Deliver Irreplaceable Service

Our professional future is outcomes-driven. So, a goal at the top of our list should be to provide the most effective care available. In the new value-based healthcare model, there’s a vast difference between merely treating someone vs. delivering best practices. This means keeping up with and employing best practices for every patient, every visit.

3. Empower Your Patients

Chiropractors are tasked with changing habits. This is not easy. However, patients are more motivated to become active participants in their recovery once they realize that much of their pain is self-inflicted.

Clinical outcomes are often dependent upon how well patients understand their condition. For example, simply explaining the etiology of a lumbar disc lesion on the first visit may yield better long-term results than any other treatment.

Proper patient education builds trust and enhances compliance. With ChiroUp, patient education and exercise prescription don’t need to be a time-consuming component of treatment.

4. Measure Everything

Like it or not, we are continually being compared to our peers and other professionals. The fee-for-outcomes reimbursement model requires that providers deliver three key metrics:

• Timely clinical outcomes

• Cost-effective management

• High patient satisfaction

You should probably know your numbers to improve those metrics. Tryouts for the healthcare team of tomorrow are happening today. Be prepared.

Market your Product

Delivering high-quality care in a patient-friendly manner does not guarantee success. We’ve seen countless competent clinicians close up shop because not enough people were lining up for their service. Marketing your outcomes and patient satisfaction is an essential step for business success.

5. Spend Your Marketing Resources Wisely

Leveraging relationships to stimulate referrals is much more effective than cold prospecting with ads and screenings.

6. Build Your Online Reputation Via REVIEWS!

Encourage people to talk about you, then reward their behavior. Marketing to your existing patients is one of the most effective and affordable ways to grow your practice. You can do this by requesting that they complete an online review.

Ask your patients to give you feedback at the time of service. These online reviews dramatically improve your online presence and prospects for referrals.

ProTip: Make sure you politely respond to all reviews -good or bad.

7. Be Social

Consider your presence on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Social media is quickly becoming an essential component of any business marketing plan. Astounding majorities of people (almost 75%) use social media to get their news, research businesses, and interact with friends.

Top businesses post at least once a day. Take the time to create meaningful content that allows you to engage with your followers regularly. Posting daily increases your chances of being seen on the news feed and of being remembered by your followers.

8. Communicate with MD’s

Communicating with medical physicians in your area will not only increase your number of new patients (through referrals) but will further your reputation as the authority on chiropractic care.

Consistently sending quality communication is one simple way to cultivate better relationships with our medical peers. Medical physicians place their reputations on the line whenever they refer a patient. Providers need to see a pattern of excellence in everything they do, including thorough and standardized documentation. Unfortunately, when it comes to SOAP notes, busy physicians will generally not take time to read your multi-page initial note; however, they will appreciate a brief personalized summary.

Sending a release report to the patient's primary provider is just as critical as the initial report.

Here’s why: Regardless of our professional degree, MDs and DCs all have failed cases mixed into our many clinical successes. Unfortunately, since the successes don’t need to seek additional care, we primarily see each other’s failures. We must not lose sight of each other’s proven value. If we judge each other by our successes rather than our failures, we will work toward an integrated model where the patient wins. Together, our professions will help more patients than either working alone.

Process

When your service is outstanding and your marketing is effective, your biggest problem will be capacity. Successful entrepreneurs scale their businesses via efficiency.

9. Virtually “Franchise” Your Practice

Clinicians and staff are only human, and our attention is diverted in many directions, especially as practices grow. To scale efficiently, we need reproducible systems that ensure clinical excellence. For clarity and accountability, make sure that you’ve updated your written employee handbook, job descriptions, procedure manuals, and daily task lists.

10. Automate, Eliminate and Delegate

As a service professional, the primary commodity that you sell is time. The number of patients that you can personally serve each day is your major capacity determinant. Using a very modest example: a provider who sees four patients per hour and finds a way to save 30 seconds per patient could increase their capacity by 1-2 additional visits per day, leading to a virtual $25,000/ year raise. Make a list of all the jobs that you perform daily and find tasks that you may eliminate, automate, or delegate- thereby creating more appointment availability.

Finally, clinicians are only human, and our attention is diverted in many directions, especially as our practices grow. To scale efficiently, we need systems that ensure clinical excellence.

The quality of your product

+

the efficiency of your systems

=

your current practice

Are you looking to grow in 2020? Maybe more patients, better outcomes, or some extra time off?

If you want a different outcome, you’ll need to do something different.

That something different is ChiroUp.

Learn more about the resources mentioned above & visit our website www.ChiroUp.com.