Add Value to Your Practice and Life in 2008 Submitted by: Sam Martin, M.B.A. – Chiro Complete
In his book The Purpose-Driven Life, author Rick Warren writes, “Our value is not determined by our valuables. The most valuable things in life are not likely to be our things.” If you have a chiropractic license, you hold one of the most valuable things in life. How can you put a price on the ability to remove interference in the body, allowing the body to heal itself?
So we have established our January goals as follows:
If you have struggled over the past few years being a chiropractor, I am sure it is not chiropractic that has you down but the business of chiropractic. If you do not have systematic business procedures set in your office, it is hard to focus on the life changing power of chiropractic.
Next, you need to establish set office procedures to make sure you reach all these goals. Your first and second day procedures should be consistent and thorough each time. You should give every new patient your recommendation of care, and schedule those appointments in advance. You should have consistent procedures for missed appointments and to reactivate patients that have dropped from care. You should have a consistent procedure for communicating with the local medical doctors of your patients to educate them about you and the benefits of chiropractic. You should have a consistent patient education system to move your patients from active care to maintenance or wellness care.
Here are a few helpful hints to make 2008 a successful year for your business of chiropractic. Set specific goals each month for new patients, patient visits, services, and collections. You cannot simply throw a figure out and leave it to chance. You have to set a plan in action to reach those goals. Maybe your new patient goal is 30 new patients for the month of January. The only way you will reach this goal is by having enough new patient activity to reach that mark. Thus everything you plan should have a specific goal. Here is a sample of a January New Patient Plan. New Patient Activity Goal “A New Years Resolution” newspaper ad 5 50 Business Referral Cards to be handed out to patients 5 1 Health Lecture at local Curves Fitness Center 4 1 Patient Appreciation Dinner Workshop 8 20 Medical Doctor contacts 1 1 Business Networking Meeting 1 Holiday Gift Letter Certificate 6 Total 30
New Patients Patient Visits Services Collections
30 750 $52,500 $37,500
Once you have set procedures, and you do them consistently, it becomes very easy to reach your goals or make adjustments when necessary. If you need help with office procedures or implementing new patient planning, contact Sam Martin with Chiro Complete at (812) 275-2787 or sam@chirocomplete.com to schedule a free 30 minute consultation during the month of January.
That is a plan for 30 new patients. If at the end of the month, we fall short, we know why and can make adjustments to February’s new patient goals. We can now set appropriate goals for the other statistics. If you know your patient visit average (patient visits divided by new patients) then it is easy to set your patient visit goals. If your patient visit average is 25 then your patient visit goal would be 750 for January. If you know you average $70 per patient visit in services, then you can multiply $70 X 750 patient visits which gives you a goal of $52,500 in services for January. If you know your average collections per patient visit is $50 then you can multiply that by 750 for a total collections goal of $37,500.
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ISCA Report
January/February 2008