September 2005

The new patient attracting image

by Dr. Peter Fernandez

Part 9 ‑‑ Health care class ... The DC's #1 practice‑building tool

In part eight of this series, I outlined the elements and importance of presenting your patients with an "impact" report of findings that patients will understand, appreciate, trust and be motivated by. Using those elements, your patients will "want" the care you prescribe, will diligently follow your recommendations and will eagerly refer others. To further help you achieve this patient follow‑through, I strongly recommend you regularly conduct health care classes, also known as chiropractic orientation classes.

Why a health care class?

Reason #1:

Patients who know more, refer more. By giving your patients a working knowledge of chiropractic, you enable them to be able to tell others about the value of your services, in professional but easy to understand terms. For instance, if Mr. Patient tells his neighbors he is getting his back popped or cracked, they may be concerned (and rightly so) that their friend may not be getting the health care he needs. However, if Mr. Patient tells his neighbors about the mechanics of a subluxation and the concepts of adjustment and chiropractic, not only has he assured them of the value of chiropractic health care, but he's also promoted your professional credibility. This could motivate them to become chiropractic patients, to be examined, or at the very least, not say anything to interfere with your patient's health care.

Reason # 2:

Too often is the case that when the pain is gone, so is the patient. The health care class helps patients to understand and accept the idea that correction takes time.

It's the doctor's obligation to explain the course of illness in such a manner that the patient no longer equates the mere absence of symptoms with the presence of health. Time spent teaching this concept will greatly help the doctor preserve patient care control, as it promotes an overall understanding and cooperative attitude from patients for the duration of their care programs.

The health care class allows the doctor to teach about the tremendous health benefits to be realized in receiving his or her chiropractic services.

Reason #3:

The health care class is a great opportunity to recommend a preventative approach to health care, and to establish the "BIG PICTURE" of chiropractic. In doing so, you promote the idea of chiropractic health maintenance, wellness and prevention for the whole family.

Reason #4:

The health care class also offers an easy portal of entry for newcomers. Often, it's not only your patient's family that enters into your care through your health care class, but also his or her friends.

Remember, one out of every three people has back or neck pain. A health care class is the best way to teach people what chiropractic can do for them. A properly conducted health care class can easily double a doctor's referrals and patient longevity.

Reason #5:

The doctor's first objective in presenting a health care class, is to establish her or his professional credibility. If this credibility or trust in you as a doctor isn't instilled in your patients and the others attending your health care class, they will understandably question the validity of what you're telling and/or showing them, and your efforts will ultimately be wasted.

Reason #6:

Health care classes allow the doctor to take care of more patients by saving him or her valuable office visit time. By teaching a whole group of patients at once instead of one patient at a time, a tremendous amount of time is saved.

Do patients really need to know why? Don't kid yourself that simply because you're a doctor and you tell your patients to do or not do something, that they'll follow your instructions. As responsible adults, we need to be able to justify our actions, and that can only be done if we understand why we need to do things. Plus, patients will have no choice but to accept responsibility for their health when they have been taught the possible consequences of not getting chiropractic care.

When to conduct health care classes

The best time to have health care classes is on Tuesdays every two weeks, alternating one class at noon and the next class at 7:00 pm. If the doctor has a large influx of new patients, she or he can use a health care class as a mass report‑of‑findings. The doctor will give those new patients appointments for their report‑of‑findings that correspond with the time of the health care class. Then, each of these patients would be given a five or 10‑minute personal report‑of‑findings immediately after the class.

Health care classes should last no longer than 30 minutes.

Who to invite

All new patients must attend and are requested to bring a spouse or guest.

Re‑activated patients should be asked to attend.

Referring patients should be invited to attend as often as they like and they can be used for reference as well as testimonials.

Anyone and everyone can be invited to the health care class, including lawyers, other doctors, important people in the community, political people in your community and business owners.

Location

Health care classes should be conducted in your office, close to the materials you'll be using and this way your non‑patient attendees will know exactly where you are located. If classes become too large, move to a public meeting room, i.e., library, hotel, school, etc., close to your office.

Your #1 practice‑building tool

When conducted properly and at regular intervals, health care classes produce the greatest patient compliance, generate the most referrals, save the most office visit time, create the greatest number of lifetime patients, and provide more boost to the doctor's new patient attracting image than any other single office technique or procedure. All of this is accomplished on a consistent and professional basis and all for the small cost of a few sodas and cookies. There is no question that health care classes are a DC's #1 one practice‑building tool.

(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. Visit www.MBAchiropractic.com for free practice‑building newsletters, or contact Dr. Fernandez at Fernandez Consulting, 10733 57th Avenue North, Seminole, FL, 33772, 800‑882‑4476, or DrPete@DrFernandez.com.)