270 Great Time to Be a Chiropractor

Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse Podcast.  

This week’s topic:  It’s a great time for Chiropractors to thrive…but not everyone’s experience is the same!

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

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why there may have been no better time than now to be in practice
• How many practices are not profitable in spite of the current environment
• Why some doctors are hurting their own practice results
• Why practices using consulting and coaching are seeing great success
• …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.

00:00 Why Now Is Best
00:50 Ethics And Volume
04:30 Coaching Misconceptions
11:39 Results Over Time
23:31 Numbers Systems Retention

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

Transcript

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Why Now Is Best

[00:00:00] 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Okay. Doctors, did you know there's been no better time to be a chiropractor than now? Hi, everybody. Welcome to the KC ChiroPulse podcast, brought to you by Kats Consultants and Chiro Health USA.

Here at Kats Consultants, what do we do? We create innovations so your practices can be super successful. And so Troy, I talked about there's never been a better time to be in practice, and you and I share this agreement, and yet we hear doctors, especially young doctors, saying all the time that you can't make any money in this profession.

I, 

Dr. Troy Fox: I see y'all airing your dirty laundry on Facebook. You're making these huge posts about how you can't make any money in chiropractic, and we sold you a false bill of goods, and oh my gosh, you had to go out and get your own patients while you're in clinic. Uh-huh. Well, guess what? Well- In real life, you gotta get your own patients.

Ethics And Volume

Dr. Troy Fox: And then you tell me that it's not ethical to see more than, I'll just throw a number out there, 10 patients a day or whatever. [00:01:00] And so I'm only gonna see eight patients a day. Well, you better do the math on what it costs. It's like owning a used car dealership. If you own a used car dealership and you say, "Hey, I only wanna sell two cars a month, but I wanna be in a used car dealership," well, then you better get them for free and sell them for a whole lot because you have overhead, right?

So as a chiropractor, you have to look at it as a business. And unfortunately, students coming out of school in a lot of cases feel like that they've been pooped on, right? They feel like that they've got high student debt. It's expensive to be in practice, and that's not fair. Life isn't fair, you know.

I tell my kids the same thing, and I, I hate to sound like the adult in the room or the old man that's telling you this, but the truth of the matter is when you and I came out of school, we had high student debt- 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Mm-hmm ... 

Dr. Troy Fox: and we had to start our own practices, or we had to go to work for somebody and take what I would say is probably a lower salary.

You're not gonna get paid- Mm-hmm ... the big bucks if you're gonna be an associate doc and learn from a lead [00:02:00] doctor. So it, you're paying for that learning experience by making a little bit less. Like it or not, that's how it works in the real world. But if you're gonna go out and run your own practice, the easiest way to go broke real quick is to have a preconceived notion of- Mm-hmm

what you think is right or wrong in practice and then stick to your guns on that even though you're going broke. Sorry. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, you're, you're absolutely right. And when did... And I hear this too. When did ethics come with a cap on the number of patient visits you can see? I- Mm-hmm. That makes no sense to me.

How- Yeah ... how did the two go hand-in-hand? You know, I think that comment just comes from people who've not been able to develop a practice that can see more than 10 or 20 patients a day. And- Right ... even at 10 or 20 patients a, at 20 patients a day, you probably can make some money. You don't have a lot of insulation in your practice because if you have any kind of tur- turnover and you, you don't have good retention strategies you're gonna lose a sizable percentage of your practice pretty quick.

Mm-hmm. But I, I, what I don't understand, Troy, is why do doctors [00:03:00] avoid coaching that can help them understand how to run a practice correctly and how to make money doing it? I don't understand where they miss that, that idea that making that investment in coaching is something you shouldn't do. I, it doesn't make any sense to me.

Uh, 

Dr. Troy Fox: I have a theory on that, and I'm gonna, and I'm gonna share this theory, and you guys can out in the wild world of the inter- interweb, as we would call it, right? That makes me sound old. The interweb. The interweb. Um, but out there in that world- Hold, hold- You guys can respond or- Hold 

Dr. Michael Perusich: your, hold your theories.

Hold your theory for just a second. Okay. Okay? We gotta take a quick break otherwise Marisa's gonna do the hook on us. So we'll, uh, we're talking about right now's never been a better time to be in chiropractic business, and yet we hear so many doctors think just the opposite. So Troy's... we'll plug into what Troy's gonna say- Sure

here in just a minute. Yeah. We'll be, yeah, we'll be right back

Speaker: Affordable care shouldn't mean undervaluing yourself, but most [00:04:00] chiropractors are still undercharging, especially when it comes to insurance allowances and cash patients with limited coverage. Chiro Health USA helps chiropractors charge appropriately, get paid well when insurance is available and still serve patients with no or limited benefits.

All through a compliant discount medical plan. The result, doctors stop undercharging, raise fees, and increase income by about 20% without sacrificing care. That's not a discount strategy. It's a business strategy. Learn more at chirohealthusa.com

Dr. Michael Perusich: Okay, everybody. 

Coaching Misconceptions

Dr. Michael Perusich: We are back and we're talking about it's never been a better time to be in chiropractic business, and yet too many of you out there think it's not. So we wanna kinda, kinda put that to bed today. And Troy, you've got a theory about where this comes from.

Dr. Troy Fox: I do, and my theory is founded on remarks that I've seen on Facebook. Mm-hmm. On 

Dr. Michael Perusich: some 

Dr. Troy Fox: of those same web- or some of those same comments that are talking about, "Oh, you can't make money in practice." What I've read, which is interesting, and it [00:05:00] usually comes from somebody that's already failing in practice or close to failing or can't seem to figure out how to run a business, because that's what you're running, what happens is, is they then blame said management group.

And hey, there's good, bad, and ugly in every profession out there, right? Mm-hmm. You can be a trash hauler, you can be a dentist, you can be whatever, a neurologist, and there are good, there are bad, and there are ugly, right? So when we look at consulting or management for practices, are there some people out there that don't really give you a great bang for your buck?

Absolutely. Yeah, sure, right. Are there some people that give fantastic bang for your buck? Absolutely. Absolutely. So what they're conjecturing in a lot of cases- Mm-hmm ... is you shouldn't use any management or consulting company because all they're gonna do is take your money and give you these scripted, here's how you do it," from 1983.

And you and I have talked about that a lot. Practice changes- Right ... n- not only yearly, but it almost changes monthly now. Consumer sentiment, the [00:06:00] things that we look at. And so when I look at that, what I believe the reason that there are people that struggle to understand that concept is because they're already behind the eight ball, and then at that point, once they've decided, "Okay, maybe my misconceived idea of what my practice should have looked like is not gonna work-" But now I don't have any money, and I'm scared to look to anybody for help.

And so my concept would be, wouldn't it be smarter to reach out to a consulting group, and I'm gonna use us for example because we are fairly kind in that in a lot of cases, when we do, like, quarterly our quarterly virtual seminars, which is four hours- ... of rock solid information, in a lot of cases, we will invite you to come sit in on one of those.

Come be our guest. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Sure. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Come gather that information for free. Sure. And so we're- We're not gonna bite ... willing to, we're willing to pull the curtain back and show you what we do for people. Uh, we also like to [00:07:00] sit down with you and find out what's going on with your practice so we can personalize it.

So I think there is a misconception out there of what consulting groups should do in in, when they're doing a good job, like what we do for folks. Yep ... but at the same time, here's the problem. If you come in, and here's where I, here's where I... C- 'cause you know, if you, i- if you do a good job for somebody, how many people do they tell?

Like, three people or something like that? But if you do a, i- if you do what's perceived as a bad job, they're gonna tell the whole world, right? So what I see is, is I see people come in, and we've had folks that have come in and worked with us, that they wanna, uh, they wanna get consulting through osmosis.

You guys know what that means? What that means is- Yep ... is you're gonna pay me X number of dollars to fix your problems, but you're not gonna participate in it. So when I tell you that you need to be out in the public more, and you need to build relationships with folks in your community you're listening to [00:08:00] me, but you don't do any of it.

Dr. Michael Perusich: But you don't do any of it. 

Dr. Troy Fox: A- and then when I tell you that, "Hey, you need to do..." And this is old school stuff. This is, I'm just making stuff up. "You need to do a spinal care workshop, or you need to do a lunch with Dr. X, and you're gonna do a brown bag special." Some of these are real, so, and all of them are real, but some of them are relevant now, and some of them aren't.

But I tell you to do all these things, and you do absolutely zero of that stuff, and then later you blame me because your practice is failing. That doesn't work, and that's called management or consulting through osmosis. Whereas- Yep ... I'm supposed to somehow, because you paid me, do all of the work, and you just sit back and collect the money, right?

Dr. Michael Perusich: And, and it obviously doesn't work that way. Chiropractic doesn't- No ... work that way. The patient- No ... has to be involved in care. So of course you have to be that way. And I think there's another misconception too, and I, and this one kind of bugs me. We hear sometimes that everybody thinks chiropractors are all the same.

And I don't know about you, [00:09:00] but that just makes my skin crawl, because I, I- Yeah ... there's probably not any two of us that are the same. Even as close as you and I- practice the manner in which we practice is so close. Mm-hmm. We're not the same. 

Dr. Troy Fox: No. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And, and coaching's not the same. We're not all the same.

And some of us, like Kats Consultants, we are constantly innovating and keeping not only pace with the changes in the profession and changes in how practices evolve, but we're ahead of it. We're creating the innovative ways to practice and driving the market in that direction. And if you're not constantly innovating in your practice and, and making your processes and procedures grow, and plugging in with somebody who knows what the stumbling blocks can be so you avoid those pitfalls, you're gonna fall off the cliff.

And I watched, I watched doctors just almost intentionally fall off the cliff- 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm ... 

Dr. Michael Perusich: because they don't get involved. They don't get involved with the right [00:10:00] coaching methods, they don't innovate in their practice, they don't make changes along the way. They make stupid mistakes like hiring associate doctors way too early, and th- they just shoot themselves in the foot.

So it's no wonder we see the comments on- Right ... on social media. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Well, and if you guys heard that, what Dr. P just said, you talked about innovating and that we work on coming up with ideas to innovate all the time. Now, if you wanna do that on your own power to you, and if you've got the time and the energy and the effort to not only change your processes and procedures, innovate your- Mm-hmm

practice, stay up with current laws and regulations in your state and federally go out and create relationships with patients. You got time to do all that, man, you're an Energizer bunny and good on you. But- And 

Dr. Michael Perusich: do you, and do you really wanna make your own practice the test model for your ideas- 

Dr. Troy Fox: Right

to see what works 

Dr. Michael Perusich: and what doesn't? Or you wanna, 

Dr. Troy Fox: you wanna use what already has worked and we have tested. Exactly. And there are a lot of times when we test things in my practice, so I've already done [00:11:00] it for you- Yep ... and went, "Oh, that didn't work," or, "Oh, that worked fantastic, and I wasn't expecting that."

And then we integrate that into where you're at. And I've got literally the best testing ground on the planet 'cause I'm a cash practice. I'm, I'm a practice where people actually have to open their wallet to do anything with me. So it's not like, "Oh, I only have a $25 copay," or I, "I've got an HSA, we can put anything in it."

I mean, I do have a few patients that have that, but the majority are paying out of pocket, and so they have to make a relative decision. So I'm a great testing ground as we do this, but do you really wanna do that in your own practice and find out, or do you want me to do it for you and then tell you, "Hey, this works, this doesn't work"?

Results Over Time

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah and we see so many, especially the doctors coming out of school, I don't, I, and I don't get this. They wanna spend an exorbitant amount of time with people, not realizing that, your time has value to it. They wanna be on every insurance plan, and they wanna make it look like to the patient that insurance is covering everything.[00:12:00] 

And then when insurance stops, they lose the patient, and they've spent all this time and never got paid for most of their time. I mean, if you're not, if you're not billing out $400 an hour, you're not billing enough. And you can't if you're spending 20, 30 minutes at a time, unless you're over-utilizing.

Some of you probably don't even know what that means. And they put themselves in a position where they have to constantly inject the practice with new patients, and new patients are the hardest to work with, they're the most expensive to bring in the practice, and they're the first ones to drop out, especially if they're on insurance.

People don't get that cash practice is the way to go today, and it's... I know it's counterintuitive, but if you do it the right way, and we know the right way to do it 'cause we've been doing it for almost 20 years- Yeah ... um, y- there, y- you're shooting yourselves in the foot, and you're gonna have a bad experience.

Dr. Troy Fox: Right. And, a- and here's the other thing. Do you realize that patients really don't want y- your time? They [00:13:00] want results. And- They want results ... a, a lot of you, especially straight out of school, and I'm not picking on you guys- Yeah ... 'cause unfortunately you never got taught the right way. We should be in the schools that you're in a year before you graduate, teaching, teaching you guys what you should be doing.

And that's where I feel like not any chiropractic school does a really great job of teaching the business side. Now, I've heard- Mm ... i've heard some things here and there about a few business classes, so th- there may be some effort. Yeah. But for the most part, you've got folks that maybe teach at your school and see eight patients a day, and they're the ones that are teaching you methods.

A- so the problem is they don't have the real-world experience of seeing 50 patients a day. Yeah. 100 patients a day. Yeah. Whatever it may be. So- Mm-hmm ... as we look at this, what I'm seeing for you guys is you come out, and you believe that if you spend an exorbitant amount of time with said patient, that they're gonna stay with you.

And quite frankly, there's a few th- yeah they really want your time [00:14:00] and not... But what you find is, with most patients, is they want results, they want a knowledgeable doctor that gives you those results, and then they want educated, what do I need to do long term? Because when I talk to patients- I talk to patients about long-term care, and we're not gonna get into the s- the big details of this, but I talk to patients about long-term care, and I, I don't wait until it's time.

I talk to them about- Right ... what sort of practice I am, and I usually get one of two responses. Either, either one, "Oh, I, I, I didn't, I didn't even, I didn't understand why patients got wellness care," or two, "I'm totally on board, Doc. That was what I came here for to begin with." And the conversation's short when it comes to that.

But we're looking at that concept with patients right up front. Mm-hmm. So if you think they want your time and not long-term results, if I'm gonna come see you 400 times, I'd really not rather it take an hour every time I come in to see you. Right. That may be fun for the [00:15:00] first few visits, but it, it burns them out after a while.

Fair enough. So we need, so we need to learn a way to educate and create a relationship with patients where they wanna get on the table, get adjusted, and get moving. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. 

Dr. Troy Fox: That's the goal. They may ask, "How was your weekend? How's your wife doing? How's your dog?" You may ask them the same thing, but it's gonna be during the adjustment quickly, and it's also going to be while you're having table talk with the patient about what's going on with them, how are they doing with care, here's our end goal that we're looking at.

So we should be able to do all those things in a three to four minute adjustment, maybe five or six if you're doing a bunch of extremities, right? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Do 

Dr. Troy Fox: you feel like it should take longer than that? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: A patient visit? 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. Maybe if you're 90 and you can't get on the table, and I really have to...

Sometimes it takes me up to 10 minutes with somebody that's really, really immobile and coming out of a wheelchair. But yeah, I 

Dr. Michael Perusich: mean- You should be able... Yeah, you should be able to treat a patient in less than eight minutes. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. That would be the [00:16:00] expectation. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Truly. 

Dr. Troy Fox: That would be- Yeah ... that would be your max.

I mean, when you're treating younger, healthy patients, you should be able to treat a patient under, under five minutes easily- Yeah ... if you're just adjusting them. 'Cause, and my question is always the litmus test. For those of you that are are burning, fiery- The old litmus test ... lasers through my face right now, through the screen as I say that, let me ask you a question.

How long does it take you to adjust your spouse? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: It takes you, like, three minutes, right? You get them on the table, roll out. You know how to adjust them, and you're gonna adjust them in about three minutes and you're off the table, and now you're like, "Hey, let's go to dinner now." You know, or whatever.

Yeah. My wife a lot of times will go, "Hey, can you adjust me before I get dressed to go out to dinner?" 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Sure. Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And there's a, there, there's a way to treat, treat your good patients coming into your practice and paying you for it. But again, you set it up front. They're not paying you for the, your time.

They don't get a better value from you just because you spent 20 minutes with them versus five. They want results, and they want [00:17:00] the results that they're, that they need, and that you've talked with them about. And otherwise treatment becomes about you. And that's when 

Dr. Troy Fox: you lose them Yeah.

And then your hour-long patient comes into me and I explain that it only takes three to four minutes to adjust you, and we're gonna do some stim or some ultrasound or some decompression with you, so you're gonna be in the building 35 minutes or so. But it only takes three to four minutes to adjust you.

And then when I start getting results, they're like, "Oh my gosh, this is great. Now I don't have to rearrange my whole schedule." And you thought you were doing them a favor, and quite frankly, they love the model. We're hot, fast, and now. That started with McDonald's back in the '70s, and it hadn't changed.

It's only gotten worse. I mean, literally, look at Amazon. I can order something on Amazon now and it comes same day in a lot of cases. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: That's hot, fast, and now. I'm not messing around. They're delivering it to my front door. All of us are so busy and we're so burnt out on experiences and taking our time with it.

We want a good [00:18:00] patient experience when you walk into the office. I don't want them to feel rushed or hurried when they're getting on the table, but the adjustment just takes a few minutes. So now what are you gonna do with the whole rest of your day if you're only gonna see eight patients a day? Yeah.

Oh, well, I'm gonna do $400 worth of services on every patient. Good luck. Good luck finding patients that are high value. I'm gonna call that high value because what about the gal that washes dishes at the school district? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Is 

Dr. Troy Fox: she gonna pay $400 a visit? I just excluded her from care. So you're excluding patients from care as well, and, and we're in this for the love of our patients and healthcare.

And I think when we go back to that, we realize that we have to have a tiered schedule. It's not, "Hey, I'm gonna see each patient and I'm gonna, I'm gonna do $400 worth of services." 'Cause the thing is, I might get a really great outcome with a patient at $45- 

Mm-hmm ... rather than $450. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: I wanna interject something on that.

I think this is a big thing that people miss, and I, I talk to new practitioners and, and doctors who have been in practice 40 years [00:19:00] about this and it's a light bulb moment- 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm ... 

Dr. Michael Perusich: literally when you're billing insurance companies and there's a tendency to kinda load up care because of that, and I'm not saying what you're doing is wrong- 

But you are showing the patient that you're very expensive. Because when they see that EOB and they see how the insurance company did the smoke screen of, "We saved you this much because we made the doctor discount," they see how much the doctor billed. Right. And so when you tell them, "Hey, I want you to go on maintenance care," and now it's out-of-pocket, th- their brain automatically goes to that EOB and thinks, "Well, I'm not paying $400 a visit."

And that's why they drop out of care. Right. Because you priced yourself out of their head. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Now, on the other side of that, though, you can do that and talk about maintenance care upfront, right? And here's the difference. And what 

Dr. Michael Perusich: the value of it's going to be. 

Dr. Troy Fox: And what the value of it's gonna be- Yep ... and so you preempt that conversation.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Preemptive [00:20:00] communication, 

Dr. Troy Fox: yeah. But again, that's where consulting comes in, and we're talking to you going, "Okay, you're losing patients on X visit. Let's talk about why you're losing patients on X visit." Yep. There's gotta be a dialogue issue in most cases that should have happened probably six visits ago, 12 visits ago.

Yep. And that's where, from a consulting standpoint, we can forensically dissect why you're losing patients. So isn't it much easier if you only needed, let's say for example, and, and, and I can tell you that there are practices that are mature practices- 

... 

Dr. Troy Fox: That only need 10 new patients a month to maintain.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. Sure. 

Dr. Troy Fox: They don't need 30 or 40. If you're a young practice, absolutely, you're hungry for new patients. But once you get to a level- Yeah ... where, where you're plane out, kinda like when a boat gets out on the lake and it planes out on the water- Mm-hmm ... it should be much easier for your practice. So at that point, wouldn't it make sense for me to preemptively explain to the patient what my long-term vision is for you- 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah

Dr. Troy Fox: and then get your agreement? Is [00:21:00] that what you're looking for as well? "Yeah, Doc, I've been wanting to get a maintenance care program going." "Fantastic. Here's what we're gonna do." Yeah. It's so... A- and you'd be surprised, folks, there are so many patients nowadays walking in... In my little practice in the middle of nowhere Kansas, I get people walking in all the time that have moved here because they, there, there's a college in my town.

And they've moved here to either teach at the college, coach at the college, work there. We, we draw a variety of people from all walks of life into our community. And I would tell you that about 75% of the time when I walk in and talk to them, they already are wanting to maintain. They're like, "Yeah, I don't wanna end up like my parents were," or- Yeah

"I saw my brother go through back surgery and I don't wanna do that." So- Mm, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: I don't wanna be that way. Yep ... 

Dr. Troy Fox: there, the, if you broach the conversation preemptively, there's a lot of people there. And now you can explain what wellness looks like on the back end, and it doesn't look like what acute care does on the front end, because we have to do a lot more services- Mm-hmm

with you to get you where you need to be. That's the point of that. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: [00:22:00] Yeah. I just pulled up a document that we had in our library because our, our conversation here reminded me that we have it. And I think, I think these points kinda summarize what we're talking about today, but I'm gonna hold it for just a minute.

Yeah. We're gonna take another word from our sponsors, and we'll come back, and we'll talk about these bullet points and how to kinda wrap this conversation up. All right, everybody, we'll be right back

Speaker 4: Patient numbers, dipping staff overwhelmed, and another marketing idea, promising the world, but delivering nothing. These pressures feel familiar to nearly every Chiropractic clinic today across the country. Chiropractors work hard, yet many find themselves stuck. Balancing patient care with the nonstop demands of running a business.

That's where the real strain begins. Most clinics face the same set of hurdles, inconsistent new patient flow, operational bottlenecks, and the constant challenge of staying visible in an overcrowded digital space. National [00:23:00] reports show that over 60% of clinics struggle with scheduling efficiency alone and even more lack of clear marketing strategy that reliably converts.

But the good news, these challenges aren't roadblocks. They're signals with the right procedures, smarter outreach and guidance built specifically for Chiropractic practices, clinics can turn daily stress into sustainable growth. Stronger clinics start with smarter strategies. Grow your practice with confidence.

Book your strategy session with Kats Consultants.

Numbers Systems Retention

Dr. Michael Perusich: Okay, we are back and we're talking about how great is it a time to be a chiropractor and how successful you can be, and yet we hear so many doctors who are not doing well in practice and complaining about it.

And just to sum up some things that we've been talking about you just talked about forensically evaluating the practice. You have to know your numbers- Yeah ... and you have to understand how to analyze. And I'm, I'm not talking about [00:24:00] PBA and services and collections and patient visits and new patients, I'm talking about going way deeper than that.

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: We analyze over 40 different statistical points every month for our clients, as well as do trending models, so we can, just like you said, Troy, we can dig in and we can really see what are those numbers telling us? And it's not... it takes the guesswork out of practice, and that one's huge, and I see too many doctors avoiding their numbers and not wanting to look at them, and either being scared of them or not understanding how to evaluate them, and that's fine.

Let us do the dirty work. You also have to build systems that eliminate chaos. So if you're spending 20, 30 minutes with a patient you may wanna take a look at your procedures and your processes because y- you may be creating chaos and don't even realize it, and that's why it's taking you so long.

So my point to that is you're taking away from your billable time. 

[00:25:00] We have to create value beyond insurance, and I still today watch doctors try to make patients think insurance covers everything, and that's a huge mistake. Insurance doesn't retain patients. Insurance doesn't create long-term patients.

Insurance doesn't cover the jewel of chiropractic, which is maintenance care, and maintenance care is all cash. So you've gotta have cash services built into your treatment plans because it's, it's in the investment side of care that patients will retain in your practice. It's not the insurance side.

Dr. Troy Fox: Um- And what's wild with that is that hasn't worked- Mm ... for 25 years. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Right. 

Dr. Troy Fox: It really hasn't. It's, it's not a, it's not, it's not a new concept. It didn't work 25 years ago. You would get patients in to schedules, and they would drop off, and we'd all talk about it. "Oh, yeah, patients, once they get to maintenance and they don't have insurance, they quit care.

It's probably a money thing or it's a this thing or..." No, it's b- you didn't have a preemptive conversation with them. You all of a sudden slapped them with the, "Hey, you're going to [00:26:00] maintenance and insurance doesn't pay for it. See you next month." And they went, "What?" And then they call in and go, "Hey, cancel my appointment."

Yeah. "Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good right now." That was the response we got. "Oh, my 

Dr. Michael Perusich: insurance isn't gonna cover it?" "Well, I, I see what you bill on the EOB, and I'm not gonna afford that." 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. So that hadn't worked for 25 years, and it hadn't worked for that reason. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. In today's world, we've gotta put a, a a focus on retention.

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And far too often, this profession wants to chase new patients. Stop chasing. If you've been in practice four or five years or longer- Stop chasing new patients. Start working on your retention. It's the retention model that creates long-term success in our practices. And, you, and you said this a little while ago, and I thought it was very poignant you have to be involved.

You have to be involved in the business side of your practice, and you have to look in the mirror and tell yourself, "I don't have enough business experience to do this on my own." And quit trying [00:27:00] to do it on your own. You don't need to. Find a good consulting group that makes sense, that's innovating practice methods, that you feel confident in bringing them in as a partner with you.

And- 

Dr. Troy Fox: Why wouldn't you wanna, why wouldn't you wanna grow? And that, that's... You know, free your mind and that thing- Yeah ... behind you, your butt, will follow. I mean, that's how it works. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. You 

Dr. Troy Fox: gotta free your mind up and realize that you didn't get a business degree. You got a chiropractic- Yeah ... degree.

Docs, you're fantastic at what you do. We love you as chiropractors. That's why we're doing- Yeah ... what we're doing. Absolutely love you. My goal is not to get into your pocket and empty them. My goal as an advisor is to see you be wildly successful, and we get- Yep. Mm-hmm ... and, and, and we get a little percentage just for being along for the ride, watching you be wildly successful.

But we help you grow big enough that it actually makes it worthwhile. And that's the thing. It's gotta be worthwhile if you're- Yeah ... gonna use a coaching system. And it, and if [00:28:00] you're coming out of school and you don't have any business savvy, and you don't know how to scale a practice, those are all things that small businesses get advisement to do.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Sure. And we have a unique set of skills at- Yes ... Kats Consultants, and that is- What, 

Dr. Troy Fox: what a Liam Neeson thing? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: What's that? Oh, yeah ... specific 

Dr. Troy Fox: skills acquired over many years, so that scares me a little bit that you said that. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: That's what she... But we do have business degrees, and we have business backgrounds- Right

not just in chiropractic, but in other things, too, and that gives us a unique perspective on how to run a practice. It also gives us a unique perspective to know how to remodel practices as we go along. Because the way we practiced 30 years ago doesn't make sense today. Yeah. So you've gotta change with the times.

And i- i- if a coach is trying to tell you, "Oh, just, just take these procedures and use them, 'cause it worked in my practice 30 years ago-" Yeah ... th- that, that's probably not the right [00:29:00] coach for you. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Um, and some o- and some of those may give you some foundational things, and that's great, but you want a coach that you can grow with long-term, and that was why we established the, 

Dr. Troy Fox: the- if you also get a f- a flash drive full of everything that you need within two hours of when you sign up with a consulting group, you probably are with the wrong cons- consulting group as well, because they don't know your practice.

That's why w- that's why we open up a library to you, but then we point you in the right direction because your practice is different and unique than the next practice or the one before that that we just coached. E- 

Dr. Michael Perusich: every single one of our clients- Yeah ... has, has a different practice than the next. We want you to have a unique practice.

We don't want you to practice the same. Yeah. We can have two Kats clients practice right next door to each other and both do fantastic because they have different practices. We wanna help you take your idea of what you think your practice should be like, and we wanna help you perfect it. We wanna help you avoid the [00:30:00] pitfalls of business.

We wanna help you- Smooth out the bumps that your methodology might have so that it works- Mm-hmm ... the way you want it to. And ultimately isn't the ultimate goal to have success and have a life and a lifestyle for you and your family, and be proud of what you do? And that's what we do. We help you find that path.

So if you haven't done it yet, go to katsconsultants.com and check out what we do. There's a bunch of free downloads on there. There's, uh, uh, some classes, free classes on there you can watch and get a taste for what we do. And you can also schedule a time to just chat with us. Let's find out about your practice.

Are we a good fit for you? What are your needs? We do that for free, so don't hesitate to go jump on our schedule and let's chat for just a bit. There's a button on the top when you first go on the, on the, uh, website that says, "Let's chat." So just go schedule something. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah, they let Dr. P do that. They don't let me do it anymore.

I made some people [00:31:00] cry, so they don't allow- ... me to do it anymore. But, uh, no. Dr. P does most of that stuff because I'm still in active practice, and that's why we also test some stuff in my practice as well to see- Yep ... does this work? Does, you know. And so Dr. P will sit down with you and find out what's going on with you, and that's a thing that we both love to do.

We like to do forensics up front. There- there's nothing better, when you meet a patient in your practice and you already know what's going on with them just based on the conversation you have with them, and you already know what you're gonna find in exam, isn't that reassuring to the patient?

And isn't it awesome for you? Well, we're kinda the same way. In a lot of cases, we can read you, we'll hear what you have to say. It's not our first rodeo. We've dealt with so many practices before. So we're able to look at your practice in a lot of cases and go, "You know, I have two other practices that are very similar to yours.

Let's dig a little deeper into these statistics, and I wanna see kinda what your numbers look like in these areas." Mm-hmm. And then we do do a forensic deep dive into your practice. So it's [00:32:00] different than what you're gonna see with anything else. And the truth of the matter is that if you're one of those people that said, "Hey, I don't think chiropractic's a viable option anymore," I'm gonna disagree with you, and I'm gonna say, "I think that maybe you just don't have the right team around you," or maybe you have no team whatsoever, and your friends are just telling you, "This isn't working," right?

So hey, we want you to be successful. Yep. Let's make it happen. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. And don't just listen to your friends. That's dangerous. That's 

Dr. Troy Fox: right. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: All right, everybody. From all of us here at Kats Consultants, where innovation leads to your success it's always great that you guys join us, so make sure that you like and share the podcast.

And, uh, we're growing because of you guys, so we appreciate every one of you out there. And remember, our goal is to make you successful. So from all of us here at Kats, and thanks to ChiroHealth USA too for being one of our sponsors, we'll see you guys next time. 

Dr. Troy Fox: See y'all later

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