Dr. R. A. Foxworth, FICC, MCS-P
If you’re like many chiropractors, you’re likely to see a seasonal decline in business as patients go on vacation or simply spend more time outside and less time at the office, theirs AND yours. And that’s ironic, because summer is one of the more high-injury times of the year, and certainly one in which you’d probably like to make sure your patients receive some extra attention and care.
That’s because summer is when your patients who spend most of their time sitting at their desks or curled up in front of their fireplaces or their TVs, suddenly head out to the links, take up parasailing, tube down the rapids, shove a heavy lawnmower around their yards, and haul landscaping rocks in their gardens. And the phenomenon isn’t restricted to adults; children, even those you might consider essentially fit, will be taking on new and potentially risky ways of using their bodies, from zip lining, horseback riding, and water slide slithering to a full roster of summer sports.
How do you convince existing and potential patients that their best start to a healthy summer is chiropractic evaluation and treatment? Start with some facts. The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (F4CP), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the value of chiropractic care, points out that all 32 NFL teams include the professional services of a doctor of chiropractic as part of their integrated health care team approach. Shawn Caldwell, DC, who has served the Denver Broncos since 2004 and helped prepare the team for its this past winter’s Super Bowl win, says, “I work hand-in-hand with the athletic trainers and focus on performing chiropractic spine and extremity adjustments that restore joint function. The goal is to enable players to perform optimally or heal from injuries. I am at the facility two-three times weekly or more if necessary. Some players get an adjustment every time I am in the training room, while others when they are symptomatic so they can return to the playing field.”
And that doesn’t just apply to professional athletes. According to Dr. Elise Hewitt, president of the pediatrics council for the American Chiropractic Association, over 2 million kids are treated by DCs each year. Many of them receive regular and preventative treatment throughout the summer high-injury season.
Bringing the whole family to the chiropractor on a regular basis can be more affordable for patients if you help create a financial plan for them that supports it. ChiroHealthUSA is simply a great solution for this, and you can help your patients most by telling them about it during the Financial Report of Findings (FROF). $49 allows the whole family to take advantage of legal, compliant, discounted fees. There’s no cost to you as the doctor, and patients often make up that modest annual fee in savings on their very first visits.
Your FROF can show patients just how treatments can be affordable for the whole family, this summer and beyond, even when out-of-pocket deductibles have not been met or benefits are not available for routine therapies or adjustments. Click here for an easy, downloadable form that allows you to plug in your usual fees, available insurance benefits, if any, and the ChiroHealthUSA discounts available to you when you become one of our providers. You and your patients will both see just how affordable whole-family chiropractic care can be.
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Why is the Discount Challenge prize amount $15,024? Because that is the average “per-occurrence” fine for Medicare inducements. That’s not $15,024 per patient, that’s not per provider, that’s PER VISIT. Stinks, doesn’t it? To us, the prize amount is worth the investment if we can help our profession better understand proper discounting.