Chiropractors, as well as most healthcare professionals, have never experienced a government-ordered shutdown of their practice. Besides the loss of immediate income from their inability to practice for over 12 weeks during the initial pandemic lockdown, there comes an unexpected additional period of recovery for the next 6-12 months in which even a thriving chiropractic practice prior to the shutdowns is likely going to have to take in order to restore their practice volume.
Regardless of whether patients in your practice have been loyal to your healthcare philosophy and services for years, many chiropractors are seeing that the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown(s) has broken their “practice rhythm” and find that they have only half of the patient volume they used to have. Based on some of the phones calls we field from chiropractors looking for help, most are questioning whether their usual practice building methods will still work.
Here are 3 quick and proven recovery strategies we are recommending to chiropractors who are clients in one of our consulting program.
STRATEGY #1: Communicate to both your active and inactive patients each day.
Hopefully you have all of your active patients, inactive patients, and prospective new patients in a content management system in which you can easily communicate to them through email. And perhaps you make it a practice to send them informative emails every now and then. But now is the time to step up the frequency of your communication.
It’s a proven fact that the chiropractor who emails their established patients and their prospective new patients more easily acquire and maintain their “know, like & trust” factor and subsequently is not only able to maintain their patient volume but experience consistent success in acquiring new patients mainly through referrals. Daily communication through email is a powerful and free practice building/rebuilding strategy that takes 30 minutes or less each day.
STRATEGY #2: Offer incentives for inactive patients to return for checkups.
Very few practitioners in other healthcare disciplines have mastered the maintenance or wellness care model. It’s one of the reasons people still only seek out their doctor when they can seem to overcome an illness or health issue themselves.
And chiropractors have been preaching the maintenance or wellness care approach to health since its beginnings. But the true masters of wellness care have been those in the dental profession How? It began at least 5 decades ago when they implemented dental hygiene into their practices – a true wellness program. And as a result, dentists were able to stabilize and grow their practices without even having to deliver the service.
It should be no different in chiropractic. You should develop an incentive program for “wellness clients” who see the advantage of maintaining their health rather than always having to deal with more difficult conditions when they arise.
STRATEGY #3: Expand the services you offer beyond chiropractic.
Even though chiropractors tend to think of themselves as “wellness doctors”, many chiropractic patients still only view them as back pain doctors and seek out their services when they think they need you because they are in pain. You must take steps to change this if you want to survive and thrive during the next 6-12 months of the post pandemic shutdowns.
Now is the perfect time to seize this opportunity and begin expanding your practice in offering definitive wellness services that the public sees as wellness. When you take a formal planned approach to doing this:
- You’ll be able to predictably attract more New Patients to your practice;
- You’ll be able to boost your practice with more Referrals;
- You’ll be able to increase your Practice Retention;
- You’ll be able to tap into the goldmine hidden in your inactive patient files;
- You’ll be able to have an additional New Cash Revenue Stream.
Here are just some examples of the types of wellness programs we help our clients implement in their practices:
There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns have delivered a blow to healthcare practices in all disciplines. But smart practitioners will seize this opportunity to change the future course of their practices and thrive while many perish. Don’t wait… we can help shorten your learning and implementation curve. For more information, contact us at OneRoomWellnessCenter.com.
Rich is a Health and Wellness Business Adviser to a variety of health professionals including medical physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, nurse practitioners, massage therapists, health club owners, and fitness professionals throughout the U.S. During the past 30 years, Rich has conducted training programs for thousands of health professionals regarding the planning and implementation of effective, sustainable, and profitable wellness programs in their practices.
Rich is also the founder of the Medical Fitness Academy, a wellness practice consulting company specifically for health and fitness professionals. The company offers a wide variety of consulting programs that help healthcare practitioners plan, implement, grow, and profit from adding cash-based wellness programs in their practices.
The Academy features wellness practice and business management, marketing and operational materials in the form of multimedia training programs as well as articles, business tools, downloadable forms, checklists and a wide variety of information on the systems and procedures required to operate a successful medical fitness and wellness program.
Rich is recently the the developer of the One Room Wellness Center Strategy, a complete proven business model for implementing a successful wellness program in just 80-200 sq. ft. of any healthcare professional’s office in 60 days or less.
To find out more about our One Room Wellness Center Strategy and if it’s a profit-generating solution for you and your practice, start by talking with us today during a FREE 15-Minute Phone Consultation at 888.311.1345.
