Posts - Page 7 of 7 - The Optimal Health Coaching System

Chiropractic Management Challenges: The One Year Mark for Patients

I had a great conversation with one of my one on one chiropractic coaching clients and thought you might enjoy hearing about it. We were discussing chiropractic management challenges and he said,

“I have implemented the procedures and have no problem getting people to finish their first year of care… but at the end of the first year many of them think they are done. What am I missing?”

The good news is this doc is clearly doing something right. When we first started working together, they used to have a tough time getting patients to stay for 12 – 15 visits. Now, the vast majority are staying for an entire year of care.

Obviously, the bad news is too many of them think they are done with care at the end of their first year.

This is a common problem.

Is your WHY big enough and does it really matter?

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Patient issues

We’ve all heard the phrase, “When the “Why” is big enough the “How” becomes easy.”

Dr. Angie and I always talk about “Headspace” and “Procedure”. Regardless of who we are coaching and what we are discussing what inevitably it comes down to making sure that our head is in the right place and that we have the right procedures or systems to accomplish our goals.

In this article, I want to address why the “WHY” is so important.

Think about the things that you need to do as a chiropractor or as a business person that might cause you stress or anxiety.

Speaking in front of a group

Asking patients for referrals

Going out and introducing yourself to people

Seeing somebody out in public who you know could benefit from your care but being afraid to open a conversation

…and the list goes on.

What to do with Patients Who Just Want a Few Visits to Get Out of Pain

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Patient issues , Patient Strategies

I had a great conversation yesterday with a doctor in New Zealand and his three associates. One of the associates asked me this question that Angie and I hear all the time. She said, “I had a patient come in earlier this morning who said that they just want to get cracked a couple of times to get their neck feeling better.”

She asked me how I recommended handling these types of patients.

Has that ever happened to you?

In essence have you ever had patients tell you they just want to get out of pain as soon as possible and spend the least amount of money?

Of course the answer is yes.

I want you to realize that that is exactly what you want too! In all things we want to spend the least amount of money and get the biggest bang for our buck.

Staff Suggestions for Improving PVA and More

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Communications , Patient Care

Dr. Jake Smith in Spain asked his team to come up with ideas to help improve the retention or PVA. In essence how do we get patients to stick around longer so they can get amazing results?

This was their response in black and in red are the comments I made.

Do you or your team have anything you would like to add to this?

If so please put them in the comments section.

Capitalizing on the Limited Scope of Other Chiropractors Near You

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Patient Care , Patient issues

I just had one of my coaching clients send me this email today.

“I had a new pt today from my talk. He’s a big guy, poor lifestyle in his early 30s. He told me he is afraid (brought to tears) he is not going to be around for his 9 week old son, in fact he wakes up everyday scared. He was there because of what I said at the talk at his office and he was crying out for help. It brought tears to me also. This guy gets the whole story and big picture and seems very motivated!

My dilemma is that he has been under chiro care for neck and back type symptoms which have cleared up, but his chiropractor never talked about the importance of clearing up the nerve interference and subluxations and made no mention of how important it is for this guy to live a reasonable lifestyle. Again he was at the talk I gave the other day and of course I talked about how important the nervous system is and living a reasonable lifestyle and that’s why he came to see me. So his neck and back are feeling better however I tried to hint that his function will take longer. I would recommend more care not less, haven’t seen x-rays yet but scans especially HRV is not good.

I suppose what I want to ask you, in a long winded way, is, is there anything different you would say or do, or really highlight? He told me he can be impatient and if things don’t happen quickly he moves on. This is a long term project in my view, I’m scared of what will happen to him if he doesn’t commit. He needs to understand the changes he wants to notice are ones that will probably take some time and a bit of patience will be needed.”

Have you ever run into this?

Chiropractic Management: When Patients Won’t Stop Talking

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Patient issues

Patient communication is a vital part of chiropractic management. Knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to bring it up is a vital part of running a smooth operation.

With that being said…
Have you ever had a patient who just would not stop talking?

Have you ever had patients who just go on and on and on?

Have you had a new patient talk about every single ache and pain they have ever had, go on about every nook, cranny and orifice?

When you ask them when it started they say, “Well my great great grandmother came over on the Mayflower and SHE had low back pain!”

Do your regular patient visits going on and on with people talking about the weather, their beautician’s new puppies or the latest sporting event!?

This is such a challenge for so many of us! We don’t want to be rude but the truth is we must run on time, we hate it when we run behind and frankly these people can suck the life out of us!

Do you ever have a difficult time telling your patients the truth?

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Patient Care , Patient issues , Patient Strategies

I was having a conversation with a doctor the other day who was having a challenge just telling the patients her truth.

She said that when it came to things like telling the patient how much care she thinks they really need or asking for referrals or a whole host of other things, she was really having a tough time.

The last thing she wanted her patients to think is that she is in it for the money.

Now the truth of the matter is this: I have had this same conversation with many doctors over the years. It may be about telling the patient what they need to get to a certain level of health, or asking for referrals. It may be telling the patient that if they really want this to resolve they will need to eat better, or deal with stress or get some exercise. It could be telling patients that if they don’t make certain changes like their frequency of care they really are not going to get the results that they want etc.

I want you to go home and sleep on it.

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Communications , Patient Care , Patient Strategies

When coaching doctors through the report of findings process, we hear them say thing like

“I try to show them the care plan I would recommend and then tell them that I don’t want them to make a decision today. The last thing we want to do is pressure them to do anything. So we want you to go home and sleep on it and come back next time and let me know if you would like to do a program of care or just pay per visit for now.”

That all makes sense, doesn’t it? When I hear this kind of statement, I find that the doctor is in one of two categories: they are non-assertive and “roll over” when a patient pushes back (sometimes referred to as the O.K. Corral) or they’re tired of the high-pressure sales tactics that they’ve been told they HAVE to use. (By the way – the second category almost ALWAYS says that the high-pressure stuff has ruined their reputation and cut down on their referrals.)

Here is the problem with using the quote above: it is BS!

Survey: are your patients referring?

By Dr. Russ Rosen | Communications , Patient issues , Patient Strategies

We all want patients who happily stay, pay, and refer. When new patients come to us, we want to make sure that they have a great experience so that they “get” what we do. We then move to ensure that they stay because we can’t restore them to optimal health if they don’t show up.

So when does that third part come into play? When do we figure out the right time to focus on “refer”?

This is a subject that is certainly up for debate. Head to a convention or a conference and bring it up during happy hour – you’ll hear lots of opinions and ideas. Which ones are right? Which ones are realistic? Most importantly: which ones actually work?

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