Wellness Chiropractic Practice

  VS.   

If you are a chiropractor still practicing in a pain based model of symptom relief, I hope you will realize (soon) that the future of the profession lies in wellness care. Like dentistry realized fifty years ago that waiting to pull rotten teeth from people’s mouths with toothaches is antiquated, our chiropractic profession is starting to see the light.  Treating people’s backache’s and using adjustments like expensive aspirin isn’t keeping up with the times.  It’s time to think different. 

People want wellness, look around! From organic food, to fitness gyms people are looking to get well and stay well rather than wait for a crisis.  Our culture is in the middle of a wellness revolution ~ don’t get left behind!  It is time for the chiropractic profession to lead this wellness revolution.  It is up to each one of us.

At Rosen Coaching, we look at two key stats as a litmus test for a wellness practice: your retention or PVA (patient visit average) and the percentage of internal referrals.  You may think you are running a wellness chiropractic practice, but if your PVA is below 60 and your internal referrals are low ~ it tells us that the people in your practice don’t ‘get’ chiropractic like you think they do. If I sat in your reception room and asked the next 100 people through the door why they are there, what would they say?

So what are the symptoms of practice not succeeding and not congruent as a wellness practice?  Of course, low PVA/Retention and low internal referrals as mentioned above.  But what else?  A wellness philosophy for how you manage your practice is key. Do you have systems and a communication model that is reactive as opposed to proactive?  Do  you wait for the number of new people to drop down before you do any marketing or do you have a perpetual, balanced approach marketing calendar?  Do you wait to have staffing issues or do you spend time each week cultivating a Dream Team?  Do you wait for people to drop out of care before addressing their concerns, or do you listen between the words and identify the symptoms of when a person receiving your care is unhappy?  Are you afraid to address their concerns and sweep them under the rug with an assertive or non-assertive ‘brush off’, or do you address them right then and there?  Want some more examples? Disorganization, stress, lack of income, lack of new clients, people don’t ‘get it’, clients don’t follow your recommendations, they don’t sign up for care, they don’t keep their appointments. The list can go on…

Truly the biggest difficulty I see in the profession is the amount of scare tactics that are propagated by some of the biggest chiropractic practice management companies out there.  I truly believe that there is no place for fear and manipulation in a wellness practice, as it is completely incongruent with the very nature of a wellness philosophy.  It’s time to think different and start using trust, hope and truth to help people see what is possible for their well-being. If you are going to have a wellness chiropractic practice, leave the scare tactics at the door.  And start to use a proactive congruent wellness approach in your systems, communications, and practice management.

Tags: care tactics, Chiropractic Coaching, chiropractic profession, communication, future, pain based model, rosen coaching, scare tactics, wellness model, wellness practice management, wellness revolution