Kats Chiropractic Consultants CHIROpulse

202 The Untapped Practice Potential

• Marisa Mateja

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Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse Podcast.  

This week’s topic:   Are you tapping into the true potential of your Chiropractic Practice?

The KC CHIROpulse Podcast is designed for Chiropractic professionals ready to elevate their practice to new heights, and is hosted by Kats Consultants coaches Dr Michael Perusich and Dr Troy Fos.  Michael and Troy are both seasoned experts in Chiropractic business development.  This podcast provides invaluable insights and actionable strategies to help you create a flourishing and sustainable Chiropractic business.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • What is the potential of most Chiropractic practices?
  • Why doctors sometimes are not tapping into their practice potential
  • What are the common ways to tap into your potential?
  • How we can recognize those opportunities to increase our profitability
  • …and so much more…

In each episode of KC CHIROpulse, we delve into crucial aspects of building a successful Chiropractic practice, covering topics such as establishing a strong foundation, adopting a patient-centric approach, mastering marketing techniques, achieving financial fitness, fostering effective team building and leadership, integrating technology and innovation, and navigating common challenges in the field.

Whether you're a seasoned chiropractor or just starting your practice, the KC CHIROpulse Podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and personalized practical advice to help you navigate the intricate world of Chiropractic business. Join us on this journey as we explore proven strategies, share success stories, and connect with industry experts to empower you in your pursuit of building a thriving Chiropractic practice.

Don't miss out on the latest insights and expert guidance. Subscribe now and unlock the secrets to taking your Chiropractic practice to the next level. Your success is our priority at Kats Chiropractic Business Advisors.

DISCLAIMER:  The information presented in this broadcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to offer legal, investment, accounting, or medical advice, and represents the opinions of the speakers.  Seek the consultation of a professional for advice in those areas. And remember…your results using this information may be different than described.

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KC CHIROpulse Podcast. Helping Chiropractors keep their pulse on success. Thanks for listening.



Dr. Michael Perusich:

Doctors, are you tapping into the unrealized potential in your practice? Hi, everybody. Welcome to the KC Chiro Pulse podcast brought to you by Kats Consultants and Chiro Health USA. I am Dr. Michael Perusich, your host joined with my co host, Dr. Troy Fox. Troy, you and I were talking about this, the fact that there's so much. Potential in our practices and far too often, we're just not tapping into it like we should be or could be.

Dr. Troy Fox:

Yeah, I think a hundred percent. And the thing is if you say that's not me, I really have, I'm doing a great job with my patients, bring a new piece of equipment in and start talking to your patients about it. The reason we're having this discussion today is because I'm even suspect at times because I've done everything that I can for my patients. I bring a new piece of equipment in and I'm hearing about shoulders and knees. That I haven't heard about in a while and all of a sudden it's oh, There are things that these patients really had needs for that. I wasn't addressing and now I'm looking at it. So what unrealized or untapped potential do you have in your practice? The, have you just been saying, Hey, Sally, Sue, lay down on the table. Boom boom. How things been doing? How's the family? How are the kids? Hey, we'll see you next month. We do all get in that kind of routine sometimes, especially with our maintenance practices and we're missing golden opportunities because some of our patients, you've been treating them like this for years. Things have changed for them. And every once in a while you get a little warning shot over the bowel because somebody will say, Oh hey, so and so is not here today with me. She's off getting an MRI of her back or her shoulder or knee or whatever. And you're thinking, what? I thought I was treating her all this time. You were, but you were treating

Dr. Michael Perusich:

her low back in her mind, in your mind.

Dr. Troy Fox:

Yeah. They needed something else and we get

Dr. Michael Perusich:

stuck on that stuff. We do. And so we've got to, we've got to always be bringing that present time consciousness to the forefront of every potential opportunity a patient could present with. Now, it doesn't mean we ask them questions about head to toe every time they come in.

Dr. Troy Fox:

No,

Dr. Michael Perusich:

but if we're so close-minded that we're treating what? What'd you call her? Sally? Sue. Sally, yeah. If we've been treating Sally Sue's low back condition for the last five years, if we're so locked into that, we're gonna miss the fact that she started having shoulder pain a couple of months ago, and now she's getting an MRI. She's talking to an orthopedist. She's going to physical therapy, and we missed a prime opportunity because. We didn't interject chiropractic into Sally Sue's thought process that it could be an option for

Dr. Troy Fox:

at a bare minimum, you should be doing reevaluations once a year where you have patients fill out paperwork again, they hate filling out paperwork. I get it. But if you actually engage them when they do fill out the paperwork, they're thankful that they filled it out and they're glad to get a conversation with them once a year is a bare minimum. It's really not a bad idea. Yeah. Especially with your monthly maintenance patients that you put a notice even at the front of your office that says, Hey, if you've had a change in condition or anything new, you'd like to talk to the doctor about, please let us know. And so that way it sparks their attention every time they walk through the door, because quite frankly, I already know docs. We get in the grind and we get our heads down and we got people in the room. You're not going to ask everybody, Hey, so how are your shoulders doing? Have you had anything new? I saw you walk in and if you see him limp and a little bit, you might ask him that, but quite frankly, we're probably not going to do anything that we didn't notice. And sometimes even if we notice it and we're busy, we ignore it. Yep. So patient won't ignore a condition if they feel like, Oh, doctors wanting to know if there's anything else I can do. So those are a couple of caveats, that yearly exam to make sure that you're at least getting a yearly. I liked, I liked the every six visit exam when we're in active care, but I definitely like a yearly exam for sure with those maintenance patients. Yep. Asking them the question. Now, obviously if I'm not doing a perfect job at it. And you're not doing a perfect job at it. We can probably both do better at those two things. That's an easy one.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

That's an easy one.

Dr. Troy Fox:

Yeah.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

We got to hear, we got to hear a word from our sponsors. So we're going to take a quick break here, but we come back. I want to talk about some other avenues that kind of push us into that blinders on mentality and we miss those opportunities. So quick word from our sponsors. We'll be right back.

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Dr. Michael Perusich:

All right, everybody. Welcome back to the KC Chiro Pulse podcast. We're talking about the hidden potential in your practice and how it's right there under our nose. And sometimes we just completely miss it. Another one I thought of is we get this idea that we're going to raise our fees, which, we should raise our fees periodically. We just have to make sure we have a good fee strategy but we raise our fees. And then we noticed that our collections are flat the next couple of months, or they're even down a little bit because, okay, we raised our fees, but in the back of our mind, there's something that's holding us back from utilizing that increased fee. Strategy and we stopped recommending some services for patients because we want to keep the cost down for them.

Dr. Troy Fox:

You know what they call that PC politically correct. No, poverty

Dr. Michael Perusich:

complex.

Dr. Troy Fox:

I was almost right there with that. We do. And I'll tell you what, it's human nature. In a lot of cases, we do start minimizing The cost. The treatments that we give patients because, oh, I've already charged them enough. There's so much human nature in this and I don't know how to get us as doctors out of that. If we worked for an establishment where we didn't care, we would not give those kinds of breaks to people, but instead what happens is we get personally involved and we worry about their financial state, even though they're not worried about it. They just got their nails done. They drove up in, in a Lincoln, whatever that big navigator. And they've got the newest cell phone and you think that saving them 25 is going to be a huge benefit and that they're going to love you forever for saving that money now that they walked

Dr. Michael Perusich:

in with their 12 Starbucks

Dr. Troy Fox:

and they could give a darn less about that. What they want is good service and they want good outcomes, right? That's what they're looking for. Good service and outcomes. They're not really concerned at that point that you raised your prices. You're the one that's concerned and all of a sudden poverty complex. So yeah, we see it all the time. You and I are just blown away sometimes by looking at somebody's numbers falling flat on their face. I'm going to raise my fees. Yes. And down they go. And down they

Dr. Michael Perusich:

go and down they go. So doctors, I'm going to tell you a little remedy to get away from poverty complex and try to overcome some of this. As the doctor, you should be focused on patient outcomes and patient experience. Let your staff focus on the finances. I can tell you anytime a patient asked me what something cost in my clinic, my standard answer, even if I did know, my standard answer was, I don't know. Ask the staff. I don't know. Ask him at the front desk. I don't know. Ask Marissa. Because I was not going to get into a conversation about money with the patient because the minute you do, yeah, the minute you do, you lock yourself in so hard to poverty complex. And that's one of those things that puts the blinders on to opportunities. So we have to remember we are a for profit business, so run it like a for profit business.

Dr. Troy Fox:

Yeah. Now I'll sometimes allude, somebody will say like a nutritional product I'll recommend it. And somebody will say, cause I really don't remember numbers very well. So I don't remember the cost on stuff, which is a benefit for me. But a patient will go how much does that cost for such and such vitamin? I go, I don't know, but I know it's one of our lower priced vitamins.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

And

Dr. Troy Fox:

there's, but here's what's funny. I don't remember what it costs, but I remember there's 240 count in it. I don't know. So I'm like, there's 240 in there and you're only taking two a day. You can do the math on that. It's pretty cost effective, but I still didn't tell them what the cost is. I have no idea. I'll tell them that much and then send them up front. Yeah. Stay out of that conversation. Yeah. It's a hundred percent. So when we're realizing value with patients, there's opportunities when we hear them sometimes just to say, you know what, you're really tight today. I think a therapy would probably help that adjustment, stay mobile a little bit longer. Or you find a completely new condition. You need to put them on a treatment schedule for, and it's a really great time to introduce the fact that I'm going to treat you X number of times, usually like six times, we're going to reevaluate at that point. I would recommend that we're probably going to see you 12 times, but I'm going to, I'm going to reevaluate you at six. And so we preempt this and really the whole goal is the same place that we've been at with you, Sally Sue, this whole time is that we want to get you well. And we want to keep you well. We've got a new condition here. We need to work with, or one that's flared on us. So we're going to actively treat this again. And our whole goal is to get back to a point where we're just maintenancing you. So now I've basically taken the conversation from zero to here's where we're going to go with this. And then I bring in those other services. I had a patient literally right before we did this podcast that came in. She got adjusted the first time she came in an exam. She did not get any therapy today. I put therapy on her. She goes, oh, I didn't know I was going to get this. She was all thrilled about it. Yeah. Why didn't I do that last time? I don't know what my mindset was when I did an evaluation on her last time. I can't figure out what I was thinking in my head. It was baffling me too. Why didn't I recommend therapy last time? Was I in a hurry? What, what was going on up here? And I couldn't figure it out. But today I looked at her and when I was palpating, I'm like, wow, she needs some therapy on top of the adjustment. So it was obvious to me today. Sometimes you see those things. Sometimes you don't. So don't kick yourself. If you have it, just realize you have a bunch of potential in your practice that you haven't utilized.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

You just made me think of our mastermind that we've been studying recently in our mastermind group, and that's about being prepared. And when we go in with a patient, whether it's into an adjustment or into an exam or into a report of findings, how prepared are we have we thought all the way through the case? Are we making a full set of recommendations to the patient? Or are we minimizing things? Are we minimizing things because of poverty complex? Are we minimizing things? Because we haven't thoroughly fought through the case? What's best for this patient? Yeah. And so we've got to make sure that we're prepared. And that goes back to that mental preparedness when you're working with a patient, are we staying present time conscious with that patient? So we're uncovering all those opportunities. What do we always say? The litmus test is in cats consultants. If it's good for the patient and good for the practice, then we do it. If it's good for the practice and not for the patient, then we don't do it. If it's good for the patient and not the practice, we think about it. If it's good for the patient and good for the practice. If the patient can benefit from the muscle stem and the practice benefits for that extra 20, it's a win. And isn't that what we're trying to create? Yes. I'll answer that for everybody. It's. those kind of things are important. And if we're blocking ourselves from that, that we're missing part of that potential in our practice.

Dr. Troy Fox:

100 percent agree with you on that. That it's, as we refer back to the words, who's the guy that sings the song ice baby. I just happened to have Vanilla Ice. That would be his name. Robbed somebody, right? So in the famous words, Vanilla Ice, stop, collaborate, and listen. And I know some people just turned off the podcast. I was

Dr. Michael Perusich:

about ready too. It's

Dr. Troy Fox:

It's so true. When I, so I listened to today, we were talking in our mastermind group and we were talking about a couple of key concepts and what I got out of that was, listen you've got to almost take a pause. And I always like to say, when you go in with a new patient or react, you change gears from adjusting into more of a diagnostic phase again, and with that. What's important to know who's my patient who's in front of me right now? Yep, what do I know about them at this point? And what do I know about their condition before I walk in so I can say I know this and this about your condition Tell me in your own words what it feels like on a day to day basis because sometimes you guys know as well as I do You get information, but you look at it and you go they have pain from head to toe. Yeah, and it's sharp It's dull. It's achy It's 21 or 25 to 49 percent of the time and 50 to 75 percent of the time. And it's every day and it's part of the day. And so you're like, okay, what in the world? Okay. So let's break this down and we go in and guess what I do. I go in and I listen to my patient at that point. So the collaboration and listening portion is me coming in and saying, Hey, I've read what you wrote down. I appreciate you putting all this together. Now let's try to make sense of this. Because sometimes you do get the word salad. Yeah. And I got one this morning and unfortunately I was ready to go to ask the patient questions and they have pneumonia and so they weren't in. So I didn't get to go through with it but those are things you have happen. Sometimes a patient is so succinct and I thank them, oh my gosh, thank you for the great detail that you gave me about your neck vein. You're right sided, radiated into your scapula. They're blown away because they say, I have this all the time, most doctors don't read these things. Patients get burned out. I'm filling them out because they don't think you read them anyway. So when you do, you blow their mind. So if you're not reading those things and you can't recite back to the patient what's going on with them, I would highly encourage you to do that before you go in with the patient. Huge. And it also reminds you of everything that's going on with the patient to allow you to make a proper diagnosis and to do what we were just talking about, you can tap that unrealized potential. So now all of a sudden, it's not just the spine I'm worried about. I'm also worried about your right shoulder. And we're going to address that today as well. And we're not going to let that slip through the cracks because we're spine doctors, right? I see that a lot where we narrow our focus in and we forget about extremity adjusting and therapies. And some of you don't, some of you do a great job, but if you're not getting to that point of where you're addressing with issues, make sure that you're addressing everything the patient put in front of you. You want to talk about patient satisfaction. And I just read this, what in chiropractic economics or one of these magazines is probably propping my laptop up right now or my tablet. Probably better not move it, but I was reading I think it was dynamic chiropractic, maybe that was talking about patient satisfaction for spinal problems specifically, they were talking about medical doctors and they actually have a dissatisfaction rate, which chiropractors didn't have, and it was like. 67 percent for medical doctors and like 90 percent for chiropractors. I'm throwing numbers out there, but it was amazing to me to see what our satisfaction rating is with patients. So we're doing a good job, but we could do a great job.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Yeah, I'm gonna add one thing to that. When we become so focused on one part of the patient's condition where we become so focused on, if they come in and they're talking about upper back pain, for example, and we just focus on that and we don't realize that there's other things attached to it that may be affected like shoulders and elbows and so on and so forth. Next when we do that, what do you think happens to the patient's mentality? They begin to mirror us as the doctor and now they Are only focused on their upper back on their thoracic spine, because now we just led them to think that's all we do. He's not kicking my shoulder because he is, he's a chiropractor. So he only focuses on the spine and now we're losing all kinds of opportunities that we could be working with patients. Again, expanding that potential in your practice. We're losing those opportunities. So when we come back, we got to take a little break. When we come back, I want to explore that little piece just a little bit more. All right. We're talking about the hidden unrealized potential in your practice. Listen to the KC Chiro Pulse Podcast We'll be right back.

Kats Consultants:

Pat's Chiropractic Consultants your partner in chiropractic success. We are dedicated with one on one guidance to bring you all your practice management needs. Let's supercharge your practice. Give us a call today.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Welcome back to the podcast. We are talking about the unrealized potential in your practice. And Troy, we've uncovered some Amazing things. But, one of the things that always amazes me in my practice is Am I amazed me in my practice was the fact that patients oftentimes would think that we only treated the condition that they came in with and, maybe you're treating them for six months and they start having, they came in with low back pain, they start having elbow pain and they don't talk to us about it because they think we're just low back doctors or just neck doctors or we just treat headaches or, whatever it is they first came in with. Yeah. And that's boo on us, because that means we're not fully communicating the value of chiropractic and the things that we can do to our patients. Now, we can't vomit every condition all over our patients every time they walk in. Can't tell them about every single thing that we do, but we should have enough communication happening in our office, verbal and nonverbal from doctors from staff. That's Allowing the patient to gain that understanding that we should be the first place they come to with any condition.

Dr. Troy Fox:

I always tell people everything musculoskeletal from head to toe. And if I don't think it's something that I treat or want to treat or feel comfortable treating, I will refer you on. So I'm a great triage point when it comes to musculoskeletal because that's my specialty. And when I look at that now, you can say, okay, but you're a nervous system doctor. Yes, I do talk about that with patients. So don't get me wrong. But when I'm talking about musculoskeletal discomfort. I want patients to come to me with whatever it is. I don't care if it's your foot, your shoulder, your neck, you holler at me. First, I'll let you know, I'm going to save you a bunch of money. Cause I'm going to tell you where to go, what to do. If I'm not the answer to it, and if I am the answer, I'm going to be far cheaper than you coming full circle back to me.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Yeah. That's a really simple conversation. It is a simple conversation. And here's the thing, doc docs out there, if you've been in practice three years or longer. You're probably sitting on an unrealized gold mine. You've got several hundred, probably a couple thousand patients in your database, maybe more. If you've been in practice longer, you may have tens of thousands of people in your database. What are you doing to tap into that potential? Because it's huge. Are you doing reactivations? Are you doing those annual exams like Dr Troy talked about? Are you updating people's x rays when they need to be updated? People are walking around in our practices. every single day with conditions that need to be re x rayed at some point, whether it's a advanced spondylolisthesis or a scoliosis or, whatever it might be, we need to be on top of those things. Again, it goes back to the cat's litmus test. Is it good for the patient to update it? Absolutely. That's being a good diagnostician. Is it good for the practice? Yeah, absolutely. From a couple of reasons, medical legal because it protects you by doing that, but it also brings revenue into your practice. So there's so much potential revenue. If we just talk about that, there's so much unpotential revenue in your practices, tap into it. And if you need help understanding how to do that, I'll be honest, one of our best resources is free and it's on our website right now about how to tap into some of those revenue points and do good things to the patients at the same time. So go check it out on our website at catsconsultants. com. But if you want to talk about some of these kind of things, if you're needing help getting over that hump and tapping into that potential in your practice, this is what we do. This is how one of the things we help doctors with. So give us a call. Send us an email. Let's chat about your practice and how we might be able to help.

Dr. Troy Fox:

Fantastic. I love this topic because I think it helps you sometimes take the pressure off of, Oh, I need new patients. So guess what? You may not need as many new patients as you think. And I know sometimes that's thrust new patients and PVA have been the buzzwords in chiropractic. So nails on a chalkboard. I know. And I try to work to get away from that. My whole practice model is not is not involved in new patients and PVA. What I like to do is be profitable. And so if that's what you want to do and have fun in practice and enjoy helping more patients achieve their potential, because that's really what we're talking about is finding hidden gems in your practice and helping your patients achieve their potential. If they win, you win.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

And these kinds of things that we're talking about also make you the go to doctor in your community. So again, it's a win. Win. All right, everybody. We appreciate you tuning into the KC Chiro Pulse podcast. It's because of you guys out there that our podcast is growing like crazy. So remember subscribe, share this with your colleagues, and we appreciate you tuning in every single week to check us out. All right, from all of us here at Kats Consultants, we'll see you next time. See ya.