September 2004

40‑60 new patients monthly

by Geoff Ricchio, DC

It's always amazed me in my hundreds of consultations with DCs how important new patients are to their attitude and well being.

The chiropractic profession seems to make chiropractors manic depressive at times because they feel great if they have a lot of new patients, and then swing to a low depression if their new patients slow down.

To further drive them crazy, doctors will have slow collections on some months and end up "jumping the mail carrier" looking for insurance checks.

Let's be honest. This is a tough profession and the changes in health care certainly haven't helped over the last few years. I've found that the secret to a happy and healthy practice is a mixture of new patients in five specific categories.

These categories, important to maintain if a doctor's going to have a smooth and steady cashflow each month, are: Personal Injury, General Insurance, Cash, Workmen's Comp, and Wellness. I didn't include Medicare for, as in the medical profession, many doctors are finding it better to "opt out" of that program until the system undergoes reform.

The most important aspect of the above categories of patients is the ability to collect on each and every service ‑‑ a topic for future discussion.

Patient categories

Personal Injury patients are for many doctors the most important cases due to the large amount of services given, response to treatment, and income potential for the doctors. Techniques to increase PI patients are: Networking with attorneys, towing companies, autobody shops, and reports from the Highway Patrol or Sheriff's department. There are many marketing procedures you can do to get 10‑20 new PI patients each month.

General or Private Pay Insurance patients are important because generally these patients are the most prolific and usually have some coverage for chiropractic care. Techniques for getting insurance patients include networking with local school districts, police departments, fire departments, local businesses, and direct referrals from active patients as well as PPO networks. With specific techniques you should be getting 10‑15 new patients each month.

Cash patients have been an ever growing source of new patients as more and more patients have been losing their insurance coverage or have large deductibles ($5,000‑10,000). The secret to getting cash patients is developing an easy payment plan. Autodebit is the superior way for payment plans and wellness programs. Sources for cash patients are usually through referral.

Work Comp patients are always an important patient due to the necessity of treatment following injury at work. These patients are usually attained through attorney referral or referral from business owners or HR people. With proper networking and corporate wellness programs (I teach these), you should get 10‑20 new Work Comp patients each month.

Wellness patients in my opinion are the ideal type of patient to treat. These patients usually love the doctor and staff and will continue to come in for years and years to seek wellness treatment. Yet, most doctors have poor wellness programs as they don't understand the necessity of a wellness program or understand how to sell the program to their patients. Most doctors also don't know how to collect using Autodebit and, therefore, fail at developing any long term Wellness program for their patients.

Think for a moment. If every patient you've seen over your years of practice paid you $10 monthly, how much money would that be in your account each month? Probably $10,000‑20,000 dollars each and every month!

That's the magic of Wellness programs. Many doctors who use this technique and system have 100‑200 patients on their wellness programs after nine months. This becomes an important income and new patient source.

(Geoff Ricchio, DC, creator of programs getting 40‑60 new patients each month ‑‑ the "Rub Club Massage Income System," "Get Paid Autodebit System," "Get Paid Small Claims System" and "MRI Income System" ‑‑ currently consults with medical, dental and chiropractic physicians across the country to improve their practices and cashflow. He invites you to let him help you develop your new patient techniques by calling 831‑GET PAID. Or contact him by e‑mail at drgeoffricchio@aol.com)

**************

Special Note:

 The July"Getting Paid Report" contained Dr. Ricchio's frank opinions of the role of massage therapists in the chiropractic office. While he says many doctors contacted him to voice their agreement, the column also deeply offended many massage therapists and the DCs who work with them. Although The Chiropractic Journal apologizes to anyone who felt insulted by Dr. Ricchio's comments, our policy is to allow columnists to provide information and opinions with minimal censorship. We would welcome an article on the positive aspects of massage therapy in the chiropractic office.