January 2009

How is your fiscal fitness?

by Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz

This month, in what's sure to be one of our most thought-provoking columns (at least, we hope so!) we address the discrepancy of the socially accepted re-imbursement system of medical practitioners and chiropractors. A caution perhaps to the DC who receives crumbs from an allopathic table and considers that to be okay. You really need to re-think your fiscal fitness. We're all being underpaid for what we provide and create for society. The only way to increase our fiscal fitness is to stop accepting those crumbs and increase our belief in ourselves and our profession.

An example of this discrepancy might be the person who enters your office after a $67,000 unsuccessful spinal operation (that amount of money buys a lot of chiropractic care). The $67,000 expenditure was completely unsuccessful and yet is paid in full... by someone else.

Whenever somebody else assumes an individual's responsibility, it breeds a lack of personal excellence and encourages indifference to life. This individual now baulks at coming to your office three times a week for 12 weeks and having to pay a portion or all of your $2,500 charge. The person informs you he or she can't attend your new patient orientation, can't afford you, and will not commit to the process of health. This is the social conditioning your practice members have in their brains. Is your fiscal fitness strong enough in chiropractic, yourself and society not to cave in and start making deals?

Let's examine the third party pay system. Let's create a belief (third party) that rewards people for not being healthy. The sicker you are, the more gets paid out to doctors on your behalf. Where's the incentive to stay healthy? Shouldn't the dollars be paid out as incentive to people who make it their responsibility to be healthy? Yet, third party says don't worry about your health, don't concern yourself with it, we'll take care of you in your time of need. Who pays for this system? People who do take responsibility.

At The New Renaissance, we have nothing against insurance. It's another vehicle for us to share our gift with people who have insurance benefits. That being said, we all pool our monies and resources to feed a system geared to giving more attention and resources to sick people. Again, where's the incentive to stay healthy? Where's the personal responsibility of people to avail themselves of practitioners who focus on health and prevention instead of sickness and disease?

We have a world project called "Love Has No Color," which helps Native American people on a Reservation in Montana regain their dignity, their spirit and their heath. Theirs is not only material poverty. It's a belief in limitation, lack and hopelessness that's been perpetrated on our Native American brothers and sisters for centuries. Their spirit's been broken. Their beliefs have degraded from their philosophy of people helping people, to one of government helping people. While their beliefs previously empowered, now there's an enabling mentality. We've witnessed firsthand what depending on third parties (government, insurance companies, etc.) will do to the collective consciousness of a society.

Many DCs have been conditioned by society and insurance to accept the belief that we are undervalued. Why is it that some DCs willingly accept lower income levels and yet we produce and create so much for society? They willingly accept the belief that the practice of chiropractic is limited and financially unrewarding. This is why so many chiropractors continue to take scraps from the allopathic table. With a limited fiscal fitness, you'll attract resistance, conflict and drama into your life. You'll lose your love and passion for chiropractic and people. We must change our beliefs in ourselves, our profession and society before we become a footnote in American history as a once proud group of people who dared to be different and distinct for the benefit of humanity.

The belief in third party pay is even more widespread than the belief in theology. There are so many people who are either atheists or agnostics, not believing in or unsure of God, a supreme source, a creator, etc. Yet, if you check their wallets or their pocketbooks, you'll find that they all carry an insurance card, that they DO believe in a higher power -- called insurance. They've allowed themselves to be conditioned to believe in third party.

Fortunately, so many DCs continue to be part of a movement that believes in increasing our value and commitment to society, which leads to society's increasing its value to us for our unique gifts and talents. Join us. Your fiscal fitness depends on it!

(The New Renaissance is a movement of passionate chiropractors dedicated to changing the world. The leader in patient education since 1977, the Mentor IV Coaching Program is a step-by-step navigational guide that embodies the very essence of The New Renaissance vision of healthier people creating a healthier world. Without patient education, your patients won't "get it." To learn more about The New Renaissance, contact world headquarters at 800-525-3879.)