by Miles Bodzin, D.C.
CEO of Cash Practice Systems
If there was an adjustment that I could teach you that always led to your patients getting 10% better results, would you be interested in learning about it?
I’m guessing that your answer is a big yes! When I ask that question from the stage, almost every chiropractor’s hand goes up. After all, we all want to do the best so we can to help our patients!
I have a question for you: Would you agree (or not agree) that one of the most common reasons patients do not get the best results with their chiropractic care is due to their failure to follow through with your recommendations? In other words, their failure to complete all of the care that you think they’ll need.
Like most chiropractors that I’ve spoken with, I think you would agree with that.
If you learn a new adjustment that always gets better results and your patient is not following your care recommendations to get those better results, would you agree that you would get a much better outcome if patients just followed your recommendations all the way to the end?
Getting great results with patients is heavily dependent on them sticking to care. Bottom line, patient loyalty is key to long-lasting, positive clinical results.
If you would learn an adjustment to get better results, you should be willing to learn what you need to do to help patients be more loyal. The good news? Patients love it when you do what I’m about to tell you, and it’s a win-win, which brings up the topic of care plans.
Care plans are the foundation of patient loyalty. If you fail to place a patient on a care plan, you are setting them up for failure, and they’ll drop out of care prematurely. Unfortunately, the challenge many chiropractors face is not knowing how to build a compliant care plan properly. Many will often make the mistake of doing what their buddy down the street is doing without realizing that it may not be 100% legal.
I’ll assume from the fact that since you’re reading this in the ChiroHealthUSA newsletter, you already know the importance of using a Discount Medical Plan Organization (DMPO) like ChiroHealthUSA, especially when you’re providing discounts greater than 15%.
Building care plans that incorporate your ChiroHealthUSA discounts are the easiest way to ensure that your plans are compliant. However, it’s not the only thing you need to do for that to be the case– especially if you want to help your patients become more loyal.
Patients presented with a care plan and know the game plan for their treatment are much more likely to say yes to starting care. There are no surprises for them, and it allows them to see the value of your care.
Think about it yourself. Would you rather see a doctor who says, “Let’s get you started and see how you do…”
Or, a doctor who says, “Based on my years of experience taking care of people with similar findings, I anticipate that your care will take X months. Every month, I’ll re-evaluate you, and as long as you’re progressing as I anticipate, this will be the plan. If for some reason, you’re not progressing as I expect, we’ll re-evaluate you and make any appropriate changes, even if that means I have to refer you somewhere else.”
I want you to really think about this. Do you want to see the doctor who is confident in their recommendations and has a clear plan? Or do you prefer the doctor who has no real strategy?
If you selected the doctor with a plan, you’re not alone. In fact, the vast majority of people agree with you. Not having a plan makes it very difficult for your patients to hire you for more than just a short term to get out of pain. If that’s your gig, then you’re all set.
However, if you’re like most chiropractors and you’re more interested in helping people with long-term care (i.e., many months’ worth), then failing to present a plan of care is the #1 roadblock to doing so.
We find that when presenting a comprehensive care plan to a patient, it’s best to offer them three options to pay for it, so they’ll choose what works best for them:
- Monthly payments
- Down payment with smaller monthly payments
- Prepayment
The best part is that now we take those two principles and combine them! We make a care plan with our ChiroHealthUSA discounts and then offer our prompt pay discount to incentivize people to enroll in our care plan!
In the example below, you’ll see that we have our actual fees listed. We have our covered services listed at full price since we can’t discount them, and then have our non-covered services listed.
In the ChiroHealthUSA column, we’ve listed out the included services on our care plan. You’ll see the savings the client receives by not only signing up for ChiroHealthUSA but also enrolling in our payment plan. It makes signing up for care with ChiroHealthUSA a no brainer!
This sample plan is for illustration purposes only and is not a recommendation of fees, discounts, and services.
Do you see that? That’s the best of both worlds, and it’s possible when you combine care plans and a DMPO!
Take it from me. Building care plans that incorporate your ChiroHealthUSA discounts are the way to go. They’re the easiest way to guarantee that your plans are compliant while giving your patients the peace of mind that they’re getting the best care at an affordable price. Patients will then follow through with care while increasing your profits and patient retention. That’s a win-win all around!
Why is the Discount Challenge prize amount $11,181? Because that is the average “per-occurrence” fine for Medicare inducements. That’s not $11,181 per patient, that’s not per provider, that’s PER VISIT. Stinks, doesn’t it? To us, the prize amount is worth the investment if we can help our profession better understand proper discounting.