February 2004

Family wellness, financial wellness

by Dr. Eric Plasker

Chiropractic family practice is extremely profitable. Rather than working harder and harder for their money, chasing insurance companies only to be denied payment, losing patients because their insurance doesn't cover the care anymore, and dealing with the incredibly stressful, high overhead that comes with other types of practices, thousands of chiropractors are becoming the family wellness provider for their community.

The foundation of family practice that makes it work is scientifically‑ and wellness‑based. We all know that a healthy spine is necessary for people to be healthy. We've all seen the patient with severe spinal deterioration who did not have pain until their body couldn't handle the pressure anymore.

Christopher Reeve, the Hollywood "Superman" who was paralyzed in a horse riding accident, stated in a recent article, "people don't realize that when you hurt your neck, you hurt every organ in your body." Spinal injuries can be caused by horse riding accidents, car accidents, childbirth, childhood falls, intense athletic activity, stress, pregnancy, as well as numerous other causes.

According to the medical journal Spine, "nerve root compression can exist without pain." E.J. Wall reported in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery that stretching a nerve as little a six degrees can decrease the strength of the nerve impulse by as much as 70%.

Left uncorrected, spinal injuries can alter spine and nerve development and lead to immediate and long term health problems that cause pain, or disguise themselves as other types of sicknesses and health problems.

For all these reasons, every member of the family should have their spine examined during every stage of growth and development, regardless of whether there are symptoms present or not. People should have their spines checked regularly even after their initial care is complete and all their symptoms are gone. Patients should bring in their family members for a chiropractic examination within the first two weeks of beginning care.

The economic impact of this strategy will be both immediate and long term. The immediate impact is that you will double, triple and even quadruple the number of new patients you get every month because you will turn every new patient into a new family. With excellent patient education in place, you will become the family doctor for these families and they will pay you for their immediate care, as well as for their long‑term regular chiropractic checkups.

The long‑term impact of attracting these lifetime families to your practice will be seen by the growing value of a patient to your practice. Unlike pain‑based care, which is very heavily loaded on the front end financially, family wellness care is front AND back end loaded financially.

A chiropractor who sees 20 new patients per month in a pain, symptom, and insurance based practice might collect $2,000 to $3,000 over a short period of time from that patient. In a family practice, you get the same front end income as the pain based practice, plus the front end income for the other family members, and the back end income year after year as you become the primary health care provider for the family.

For example, an average of 20 new patients per month might bring in $20,000 per month collections the first year. The second year, the 20 new patients per month would bring in the same $20,000 per month collections.

However, in a lifetime care family practice, 20 new patients per month might bring in $20,000 per month collections. The second year, the same 20 new patients per month would bring $30,000 collections. The third year, the same 20 new patients per month would bring in $40,000 collections.

The reason for this growth is that when you become the family chiropractor, people don't leave your practice. They stay with you year after year.

I have seen chiropractors who are new in practice build a half‑million dollar practice within three years practicing this way from day one. I have also seen practice veterans of 10, 20 and even 30 years, transform their practices implementing this strategy after years of frustration from a leaky bucket practice.

At the end of next year, rather than wondering where all of your new patients have disappeared to, wouldn't it be nice to see that you are building your practice with the stability of lifetime chiropractic families? Most chiropractors are sitting on a goldmine and they don't even know it. It's time to capitalize and mine the gold by turning every new patient into a chiropractic family for life.

Whether you want a family practice exclusively, or you want to add this solid financial base to your practice, master the system the economics of family practice and make your practice dreams come true.