November 2004

Scare care

by Dr. Eric Plasker

Scare care is becoming a major issue for chiropractors around the world.

On my recent trip to Australia where I conducted a three city Family Practice Seminar tour sponsored by the Australian Spinal Research Foundation, chiropractors expressed outrage about the issue of scaring and intimidating people into long term contracts for themselves and their children. Several chiropractors lost their license because the patients felt intimidated into making a commitment that they never really felt good about and eventually dropped out of care and filed a report with the board.

Here in the States, we hear story after story about chiropractors who are trained to apply fear based tactics to intimidate people into the care.

I spoke to a chiropractor just last week who was turned in to the board. He told me that he needed to learn better ways of communicating with patients to get them to commit to care because the only way he knew was being perceived by his patients as scare care. He was concerned because his new patient compliance was slightly less than 50%, and patients not committing to care were leaving his office with a bad attitude about his practice.

Scare care tactics are not necessary to create lifetime patients. We've all heard stories from our patients who know family members or friends who were bullied into surgeries that we felt were unnecessary. I remember a new patient who was scare cared into having her gall bladder removed. The doctor told her that her gall bladder was causing her scapular pain and if she had it taken out, her digestion would improve and so would her pain.

The doctor was very forceful and intimidated her into the procedure. Unfortunately, the symptoms did not go away after the surgery and she was angry. What really made her mad is that she felt bullied into the procedure. Unfortunately for the medical doctor, he had to deal with her wrath for a long time after the procedure was complete, not because of the results, but because of the scare care.

Scare care is an outdated model of communication that was created when doctors were perceived as gods by the public and their egos matched this perception. This model was effective prior to the wellness paradigm shift and information age. Now, however, years after this shift has occurred, the same types of communication that created committed patients can instead create a practice bad will and upsets.

A much better way to build a lifetime care family wellness practice is to become a master at education and value creation. Scare care is not necessary.

We live in a society where people are searching for lifetime wellness. They don't need to be bullied into it, they want it. Our job is to become effective at communicating the value of the care so that our patients can make educated decisions about their wellness and choose lifetime chiropractic care for themselves.

We should communicate this value in everything we do. Our office systems and procedures should be educational and create value. Our staff should be excellent at creating value. Our environment should be positive and create value. Our ads and marketing should be current, up to date, and create value. Our lectures should create value.

Everything you do should build on everything else that you do to create value for lifetime family wellness care. When this is in place, not only will your compliance jump dramatically, but you'll leave a trail of love and success rather than a trail of dissatisfied, angry people.

Lifetime relationships are created through a foundation of trust. Use your expertise as a chiropractor and family wellness provider to build trusting relationships with thousands of individuals and families in your community. Your practice results will skyrocket.

(Eric Plasker, DC, is the founder of The Family Practice where chiropractors unite to lead family health care around a mission of Lifetime Care for Everyone [LCfE]. For seminar, coaching, training, or product information, call toll‑free 866‑532‑3327. Be sure to inquire about the $10 audio sample titled, "Lifetime Patient Creator," a preview of the "Live Your Life Without Limits" CD about creating value for lifetime family wellness care. Visit The Family Practice website at www.thefamilypractice.net. )