June 2009

Moving to a 'cash-like' practice

by Dr. Bruce Parker

Have you ever heard "I can't afford it," and as a knee- jerk reaction, you actually believed what you heard and began to adopt financial policies in your practice to meet everybody's limited financial status?

Understand this: It's never about the money!

I want you to adopt a new policy right now. If a patient tells you, "I can't afford it," rather than believing this excuse, interpret the statement as, "I don't see the value in what you're offering, and how will I benefit from spending all that money for that service?" Then, look to yourself as the reason he or she didn't accept care. Ask yourself whether you really communicated the "why," or were you just selling visits? Think about it. There is a difference.

The solution is to focus on the "benefit" your patients will receive from having your service and the consequence of not receiving it!

Money in most all cases is not the real reason a client rejects your recommendations. Nor is it your technique, your hours, or your city, town or state... or the "recession."

The public responds to what it perceives to be actual fact.

Regarding health care, people will most often compare everything to what they know at the moment. All doctors and office practices will be compared to their personal experiences with doctors in the past. "My doctor's too busy to answer his/her own phone," "My doctor never discussed finances," "My doctor took care of me in one or two visits," "My doctor was covered on my insurance plan," etc.

All of this being said, a cash practice is just a metaphor for the state of mind you must have as a doctor in not only recommending care to a patient, but for the entire package -- the way you present yourself, the way your office presents, how your telephone is answered, the promptness in attending to people as they enter your facility. The information you give and most important, the certainty you portray when you deliver it to them, will dictate how often your care is accepted as recommended.

There's way too much emphasis placed only on finances to qualify a patient to care. Think in these terms. After consulting (and perhaps trying) others without success, a patient comes to you with a complaint that's affecting his or her ability to have a normal life. He or she has now arrived at your office in need of a solution. You offer a solution and the reply is, "Let me think about it" or, "I can't afford it." This, after you've just said you could help the person get his or her life back. That doesn't compute. It makes no sense.

The truth of the matter is, for whatever reason, the individual didn't believe you. People want to do business with people they like and trust and somehow you didn't get the person's trust and he or she is using money as an excuse. Period.

The "cash-like" practice is a practice that emphasizes the benefit of care first, and then how payment will be made in full is decided. So (as with any purchase) patients may receive the care they know they need to have in order to get the benefit they want!

If they have insurance, you'll help them and bill the portion that an insurance company will pay. The important thing is that this reimbursement is not payment in full. It's payment towards the recommendation and the patient will pay that difference.

Your fees are your fees, and you'll assist people in receiving money from any source to do their part, but you don't change the recommendation by judging their financial means. If they truly need charity, do a few charity cases a month by case importance, as long as they attest to their total lack of funds.

Again, it really never is the money. Think about it. If an individual actually had a life-altering problem, and believed that you were the answer, in a society where people rely on labels, set goals for more and more adult toys, take lavish vacations and spend $275 a pair for blue jeans… would a little money stop the person from getting his or her life back?

(A history of patient retention validates Dr. Bruce Parker's belief that his strongest attribute is communicating the need for lifetime care. A pioneer in establishing multiple practices, Dr. Parker personally owns 13 clinics and directs the operations of another 18-clinic chain. Through this experience he's developed and is now president of "thePARKERprocess." He teaches how to obtain total personal and financial freedom in just five-to-seven years. To learn more, and receive FREE video coaching and other gifts, visit thePARKERprocess.com/act1.)