May 2008

Congruency in your practice

by Dr. Lawrence Bellows

No matter what your chiropractic philosophy or purpose, congruency is absolutely critical to your success.

That's one reason you need to be aware of a highly refined technology known as Quixote that will lower your overhead, reduce doctor and staff hours, incorporate seamless integration of diagnostic tools, provide a pipeline for data collection (for research clinical investigators) and off-site backup of client files.

This software business system is designed to help enhance your awareness of business productivity, and can also help safeguard you from losing your license or going to jail for not having adequate patient documentation.

For years, I avoided investing in a "paperless" office management tool for the office. My focus has always been on seeing as many families as possible and creating a paradigm shift in my community toward wellness and health building.

Due to the attitude and vision I developed as a subluxation-based doctor, I used paper travel cards and wrote a few words and checked some boxes for documentation. I spent an average of eight hours per week dictating and typing notes. It really made chiropractic a laborious chore.

The billing for personal injury and Worker's Comp cases would often get behind a year or more, and sometimes not even get billed at all (resulting in more than $100,000 in losses!).

Every year, when I renewed my malpractice coverage with Chiropractic Benefit Services (CBS), I would get a pain in the pit of my stomach. I knew that if a time came when I needed to be defended from an attack, even thought CBS would do all they could, their hands would be tied as soon as they reviewed my office notes.

I'm also aware of many "well intended" doctors in our profession being sued, losing licensure and even going to jail. I was living a contradiction. I wanted wellness for humanity and taught the need for building health to avoid sickness and yet the administration of my practice was the antithesis of this beautiful philosophy. It was a time bomb ready for to go off at any moment.

Since I'm very focused on removing contradictions and implementing congruency into all aspects of my life, I decided to remove one great big hairy contradiction to bring my practice into alignment with the rest of my life.

After months of research, and first purchasing a less capable system for my needs, I was introduced to Quixote. I immediately ordered the system. My staff and I were professionally trained at the Quixote training center. While at the training, we learned that all Quixote employees are under chiropractic care! This congruency has allowed them to develop technology that will adapt to any technique or care protocol. The technical support has been outstanding and everyone treats our staff as though they can't wait to help us (which is good because no one on our team had a high level of computer skills!).

I choose to document visits at the end of each shift due to our volume and my focus. With the Quixote system, a legitimate chart note can be created in less than two minutes on average. I can even sit down and review radiographs, spinal scans, and document notes from the comfort of my home, as I can access our system from the Internet.

Right now, I'm saving at least eight hours of work per week -- work that I used to have to do on weekends. With my schedule, free time is a premium in my life.

During the adjusting shift, the client is now displayed on a touch screen in front of me and I can pull up any data including radiographs, spinal scans or adjustment protocols in seconds.

Our system is even customized for the exams that we do, so there is no wasted time searching through screens to perform evaluation. Quixote leads us right through it in a flow chart.

My staff is excited about the software and can go home 10-15 minutes after the last adjustment, instead of the hour and half it used to take them to close out everything. No manual posting, filing or pulling travel cards for the next day. We have gone from four full- and two part-time staff members to two full-time employees.

The billing portion of the system is second to none in my opinion. It is designed to use minimal mouse clicks and is easy to utilize. It also keeps track of the cases for us so that I will no longer lose thousands of dollars.

Quixote is dedicated to helping propel the profession forward. Also, since Quixote acts in concert with its chiropractic research and clinical science program, we can have all of the participating patients' information automatically sent to the program research database.

This means I can collect research data and participate in this historic research while upholding the chiropractic principle! The Quixote system will even telephone clients of upcoming appointments and events with the optional Q-mmunicate service.

I am now a much happier doctor. I now have congruency in a wellness-building practice that functions from above-down, inside-out. I don't have to worry about being attacked. My overhead has plummeted, and the income is rising. I am now able to collect research that can provide evidence about the impact of chiropractic care on children, and on asymptomatic individuals with vertebral subluxation.

Our team at Mansfield Family Chiropractic is happier than ever and can spend their time educating and pouring the principle into our family of clients. Our retention and re-sign rate has also increased.

I'm not associated with Quixote or being paid to write this -- I just want my colleagues, who save lives every day to do it with fewer "tolerances," less overhead, increased collections, and decreased staff. I want them to have the opportunity to become clinical investigators to bring chiropractic to the head of the wellness revolution.

For more information on Quixote, call them at 866-778-4377 (619-299-2930 from San Diego) or visit www.quixotesoftware.net. If you want to talk to me about my own experiences using the software, you can call me directly at 570-662-0927.

(Lawrence Bellows, DC, practices in Mansfield, Penn.)