Improving Case Acceptance and Patient Follow-Through in Chiropractic Care
- Ed Petty
- Sep 2
- 3 min read
Seven tips to help others achieve their health goals.
I often read promotions from other chiropractors emphasizing the importance of “Day 2.”
And I have no argument about this.
However, I have known chiropractors who did well with a 3-day onboarding process, as well as a 1-day process.
Everyone does what they feel comfortable with. You should, too. But you should always strive to improve. This will show up in your statistics;
First Visits to New Patient Percent
Patient Visit Average (Retention – Visits/New Patients)
We routinely monitor these with our clients and discuss them monthly in our management meetings where we set up monthly strategies for improvement.
There are many details involved in setting up the best practice for onboarding patients. Again, everyone has an individualized approach.
I want to highlight seven factors that are sometimes overlooked.
In Chiropractic, It Starts With Trust
1. Day 1. Before working on your Day 2, review your Day 1.
Your prospective patient wants to know that you know them. Seek to really understand them and their complaint. It’s OK to go off script – what are you curious about?
The byproduct of this, aside from learning about their condition, is establishing trust. By reason of your genuine curiosity, you demonstrate that you care about them as an individual, not just as a “new patient.”
2. Specific. After day 1, you know them, their subjective complaint(s), and have
discovered the objective cause.
In your Report of Findings, you want to be specific about what is causing their issue. “Right here, Mrs. Jones, you have a subluxation at L-4, irritating your low back and hip.”
This may not be the words you use (or might not be clinically correct). But your patient wants to know definitely what is causing their issue. Be as specific and as objective as possible.
Certainty and Confidence. Communicate clearly with confidence your ability to
help them get better. This begins the healing.
Patient Financial Consultation: Prepare chiropractic payment agreement forms in advance, using insurance or cash details. Ideally, staff should meet with patients before treatment to outline payment options, agree on the best form of payment, schedule appointments, review procedures, and provide information about available family discounts. *(Contact Lisa for tips on this procedure. She’s an expert!)
5. Flow Chart. List all the key procedures on Day 1, Day 2, and each day thereafter
that you and your team will do to start a patient on a care program and keep them coming back to complete their care plan. Review this list with your team every two months, or more as needed.
6. Practice. How does every athlete or musician maintain their edge, let alone
improve? They practice! Set aside your ego and practice with one of your doctors or a staff member. Let everyone participate in improving the procedures. Use the flow chart as a guide.
7. Manager. Your practice manager should work with you regularly to ensure that
these steps are in place. We cover this on our Practice MBA this October. Consider enrolling them in this program.
There are certainly more steps involved -- but they all rest upon the foundation of the trust you built on Day 1. If you have low conversion or if patients are dropping out of care, look to Day 1 first and then work forward from there.
Help patients achieve their health goals and…
Keep them Goal Driven,
Ed
*Shout out to Dr. Brad Glowacki and his seminar that goes deeply into Day 1 and Day 2. [Link]
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If you have any questions about creating a Goal Driven Business, just schedule a call or reply to this email.
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PS: Get on our waiting list for our next MBA program if you are interested. I will be sending you special information about practice management, leadership, and marketing.
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