by Ray Foxworth, D.C., FICC •
President & Founder, ChiroHealthUSA •
1. Automating Processes
Excluding care itself, any aspect of your practice that is people- or paper-based should be reviewed for possible automation. Fully or partially automated processes can help achieve two prime practice goals: optimizing productivity and improving the patient experience. Some key areas for automation strategies are patient check-in, billing and appointment reminders, and the new patient intake process.
Using pre-appointment emails or in-clinic smart devices can reduce the administrative burden on staff while giving patients more control over the accuracy of their PHI and PII. Don’t forget to gather qualitative data by asking your patients how automation is helping or hindering them.
2. Increasing Patient Count and Revenue
Decide how many new patients you want, for example, 15 per month. Numeric benchmarks are essential to gauge a strategy’s efficacy. Attracting the “right” patient for your services and price structure is a connected goal that can minimize your per-patient acquisition cost and ultimately boost revenue.
It’s a good idea to create a patient persona based on key demographic markers, and then target your efforts toward acquiring them. Here’s a comprehensive guide to those metrics. The more desired type of patients you’re attracting, the more accurate your profiling is.
3. Marketing and Advertising
Essential to achieving goal 2 is getting your practice noticed by the right kind of patient while regularly keeping you on the public’s radar. Here are ways to create meaningful, educational content that’s useful to your target audience:
- Social media – The major SM sites have business-centric options, so consider Instagram, Twitter, and Meta.
- Informative blogs, videos, or podcasts
- An optimized website
- Sharing testimonials and reviews
Qualitatively, the great thing about digital and social media is that it’s very easy to see how effective your efforts are thanks to likes, shares, and page views. Don’t forget that paper is still powerful, even in the digital age. Becoming a ChiroHealthUSA provider can help extend your reach by providing free brochures, postcards, posters, decals, and more.
4. Measuring Profitability
Make it a goal to periodically review your goals; any degree of success can lead to getting too comfortable in a particular area. Keep checking to see if more growth and improvement is possible by generating a monthly or quarterly profit and loss statement. This can reveal valuable data on what’s working financially and where you should reassess your strategy.
5. Maintaining Regulatory Compliance
Audits and their potentially devastating financial consequences are a perpetual stress for chiropractors. In a sector where rules and regulations constantly multiply and change, strategizing to minimize improper billing and coding is a must. Outsourcing compliance to an expert team can be effective for both fledgling and fully established practices, reducing regulatory incidents and freeing their time to focus more on healthcare.
Expand Your Horizons – Connect with ChiroHealthUSA
Our ongoing series of free webinars covers every aspect of chiropractic giving you expert insights that can help you strategize in many key areas. From billing and compliance to work/life balance and the latest hot topics, you’ll find plenty of inspiration for your next planning session. Get in touch to find out what other ways we can help you reach your practice goals!
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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.