October 2005

The new patient attracting image

by Dr. Peter Fernandez

Part 10 ‑‑ Office visits: Setting‑the‑stage procedures

The number one cause of practice failure is not attracting enough new patients. But why do doctors who are attracting 40 or more new patients per month also fail? The answer is that these doctors do not "keep" their patients ‑‑ they are suffering from a classic case of "new patient diarrhea." And, the number one cause for not being able to keep patients is an office visit that disappoints or upsets patients. 

Patients expect one thing when they visit your office .... professionalism.  Professionalism in appearance, attitude, and care.  The greater the professionalism achieved in all three areas, the more successful your practice will be. Failing to meet your patients' expectations in just one of these three areas is a practice killer.  It's not good enough to have a great attitude and beautiful office if your patient care is mediocre. Just as it's not good enough to provide superior care in a run down office with the doctor and staff dressed for something other than taking care of patients.

I wrote about exterior office appearances in Part Three of this series. Interior office appearance and the personal appearances and attitudes of doctor and staff were addressed in Part Four, and specific consulting room decor was detailed in Part Five. All of these are important in being able to provide your patients with the best office visit experience possible. There is one more major element to consider and that is patient care. To assure maximum professionalism in patient care, doctors not only have to continue honing their diagnostic and treatment skills by taking post‑graduate classes and seminars, they must also take action to assure its professional and proficient delivery.

When used consistently, the following setting‑the‑stage procedures contribute to an office visit experience that boosts patient satisfaction and significantly increases patient referrals.

Professional and proficient delivery of patient care begins with scheduling the patient's appointment. Learn to schedule patient visits so that your office appears successfully busy but not overburdened, and that your patients are seen on time. Learn and use the special scheduling procedures for new patients, chronically late or no show patients, regular patients who just want to drop in, and how to cluster your patient appointments together. 

The most efficient way to schedule appointments for established patients is by using a multiple appointment procedure. The advantages to using advance multiple appointment scheduling are:

***  It makes it clear to the patient that his or her problem cannot be fixed overnight, and that time and careful scheduling is required.

***  It allows the doctor to pre‑plan and know exactly when the patient should be re‑examined.

***  It allows the patient to pre‑plan, which makes it one of the best procedures available to insure that the patient follows through with the treatment frequency recommended, thereby increasing his or her chances of achieving the doctor's projected results, which in turn, increases patient loyalty and referrals.

***  It helps prevent drastic and potentially crippling fluctuations in a doctor's practice. If doctors know they have more time available, they can attract more new patients and turn empty time into productive time. But, if they bring in more new patients and then find they don't have the time to properly care for them, not only do they stand to lose the new patients, but their existing ones as well.

Be on time for every office visit. Unlike some other health care providers, DCs are not typically faced with life or death patient emergencies. Respect your patients' time and they will respect yours. Never keep your patients waiting and they will reciprocate by being on time for their appointments, coming in more often and referring more.

One very successful doctor told me that he schedules his patients according to his "procedures and mouth," i.e. what procedure he will be doing on the patient, the time necessary to do the procedure, and how much "talk" time he needs for that

particular patient. In other words, he would schedule more time for a personal friend or a talkative patient than he would for the more usual patient who just wants to get in and get out. Following this appointment setting concept, the doctor was able to schedule patient appointments to the minute, seeing over 100 a day and staying on schedule.

Never take a new or former patient ahead of a regularly scheduled patient, making the previously scheduled patient wait. If you make your regular patients who have kept their appointments wait, you'll lose them. Instead, have the drop‑in or new patient wait until the next opening in your schedule.

Always give your present patients, especially maintenance patients, first priority. Your maintenance patients are the most understanding and respectful of your care and recommendations, and consequently your best referrers. Since these patients pay your overhead and build your practice, giving them priority should be understood and accepted by everyone on your staff.

NOTE: Do not take patients on a first‑come, first‑serve basis. Be sure to take care of your patients according to their scheduled time. An office that respects a patient's appointment time, not only earns the patient's respect and referrals in return, it will also greatly reduce the number of missed appointments.

Always cluster your patient appointments together. No matter how good the doctor is, if a new or established patient thinks that he or she is the only patient in the office, that patient will have serious doubts as to whether the doctor is any good.

Being prepared is a professional quality that fosters proficiency.  In preparing for your patients' office visits, your CA should pull the file folders/travel cards the evening before for your morning patients, and just before leaving for lunch for your afternoon patients. In the case of a new patient, the CA should have a blank file prepared with the necessary forms to be completed.

(Dr. Peter G. Fernandez, is a 1961 Logan graduate. His practice with five staff chiropractors and 12 satellite offices, was one of the country's largest all‑referral, high income chiropractic clinics. As a practice consultant for the past 24 years, Dr. Fernandez has taught practice building techniques to nearly 15,000 DCs, and consulted in the opening of approximately 3,000 practices. Write to him at Fernandez Consulting, 10733 ‑ 57th Avenue North, Seminole, FL, 33772, call 800‑882‑4476, or e‑mail: DrPete@DrFernandez.com. Visit www.MBAchiropractic.com for free practice building newsletters.)