The Lifetime Wellness Patient!
While not as allusive as a unicorn the amount of effort, sales energy and just plain misconception that is attached to the “Lifetime Wellness Patient” tends to put them into the same category. There has been practice management programs built around the perfect practice based on patients who become “regular” patients since the beginning of the Chiropractic profession. So much so that this pressure to convert every patient entering into Chiropractic care in this idyllic patient that the profession has become tainted in the public opinion. If you have not heard the comment, “once to start going to a chiropractor they want to keep coming” you haven’t been listening.
Now don’t get me wrong with this – I’m not opposed to a regular life time patient but the way we have gone about developing this type of client has created some serious criticisms. Over my years in practice I seen and heard about every method of practice management around and most are just a rehash of the same approach just tied with a new ribbon. The main challenge to the method was that most practice management is based on selling and much of it involves high pressure fear selling. I know of one system that taught the DC to confront the new patient with the challenge that if they didn’t bring in their entire family and have them all sign up for life time wellness care they would not be accepted as a patient. Take about pressure selling – no thanks and no thanks for my profession as well.
Jim Parker realized that the profession needed help in how to build a stable income practice. He developed a care plan with a goal to build regular visits programs. He called it the maintenance based practice. The method was simple and easy to recommend. New patients were booked three times a week for two weeks, twice a week for 2 weeks and then once a week for two weeks. Within that 6 week period the majority of patients responded with reduction of their presenting problems. The final step was then to convert them into once a month regular care for maintenance. While this method was very successful, the challenge was that not one of the steps was based on any objective information as to why the visit schedule changed. So it came down to the intent of the care wasn’t about the patient’s needs but rather the Doctors need for a stable income. My exposure to many of the practice management program over the years has left me with the opinion that the maintenance plan was the basis for most with a twist added to make them seem different.
So is there such a thing as a lifetime wellness patient. Listen up if the people of the world knew what I know based on my years of experience with Chiropractic care they would all volunteer to be under regular chiropractic care in their lifetime. That said, what is it that I know that they don’t. This is the secret to building a patient committed based practice. If my commitment is based on knowledge which allows me to make an informed decision wouldn’t it be the way to build the commitment in others? Presenting the facts and options so that the patient makes the ideal choice will bring about and higher level of commitment on the part of the patient.
Now I need to clarify a couple of issues here – 1. What does Regular visits mean and 2. What is wellness? Both of the words have little meaning in the real world. Regular visits can mean any number from every day to every year, so we need to start using a different term as it applies to each patient. Regular for some may be three time a week or once every two week. The term wellness is also a slippery slope with little to no meaning. Wellness for someone diagnosed with a term illness versus someone eighteen years old and in good condition will have completely different meaning.
Life time wellness patients are the strength of any successful practice but the truth of the matter is that the intent of the care, based on mutual agreement of Patient and doctor is the keep to these long term relationships. The first stage of care intent may be to help the patient get the current challenge under control. This involves more than simply symptom reduction and address the cause of the neurological challenge at the center of the issue. The next step would be to start monitoring the changes in neurological function and helping the system back to stabilization. The last step is greater than maintenance and is focused on peak performance. This involves monitoring the patient neurological responses throughout life and responding with appropriate care which the intent of keeping the system in balance.
How does the patient gather the knowledge about their choices in health care? Well not from medical ads seen on television, in magazines, on the radio or now the Internet! If you want to build a practice based on patient making the right choices about Chiropractic in their lives you best be ready to offer the information in your office. B.J. Palmer bought a radio station so that the public would get to know what he knew.
Click HERE to read the next article in this series.
2 comments