Dr. R. A. Foxworth, FICC, MCS-P
What’s the one question that your staff dreads most? If your office is like many, it’s probably “How much does the first visit cost?”
Shopper calls are a normal part of doing business. And prospective patients are understandably focused on the cost of care. But in many offices, the answer to the above question isn’t clear. That’s because the average chiropractic fee schedule has, over time, become about who’s paying: Medicare or a private insurer? PI or Workers’ Comp? The patients themselves?
When you can’t answer this simple question, well, simply, it sends a weird vibe to the prospective patient. A garbled explanation that’s full of probing about what kind of health insurance is involved, the nature of the injury or issue, and whether it happened in a car or on the job sends the message that your staff is somehow trying to avoid answering the question. Awkward!
Sure, those prospective patients might go ahead and book an appointment—many of them feel it’s the “polite” thing to do, or simply the easiest way to get off the phone. But here’s a key sign that something’s broken in your system. How many of those shoppers actually show up for the appointment? If you’ve got a clear pattern of no-shows, it’s because you and your staff aren’t coming across as straight-forward, trustworthy, and affordable.
What if you could turn almost every shopper call into a paying patient? You can, by offering a single fee schedule and offering specific, legal discounts to patients who participate in a discount medical plan like ChiroHealthUSA.
ChiroHealthUSA is a Network that works in conjunction with a Discount Medical Plan Organization (DMPO). Doctors who become ChiroHealthUSA providers can offer legal discounts to uninsured, under-insured, and partially insured patients, making it easy for patients to afford clinically appropriate, if medically unnecessary, care, and cleaning up your shopper call confusion. There is no cost to you to join as a provider with an affordable $49 fee per patient family per year, easily recovered in the first patient visit.
When you’re a ChiroHealthUSA provider, you can answer shopper call questions simply and transparently. All it takes is a few simple changes to your phone scripts and your office policy, scripts we’re happy to provide, along with training for your staff.
Want to learn more about how easy it is to grow your practice using ChiroHealthUSA? We have several short videos that explain how ChiroHealthUSA can help you see more patients without spending a dime.
▶︎ 
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.