Let’s talk plans, protocols, systems and solutions to “un-stuck-ify” your chiropractic practice. In other words, how do you get to that mythical “next level” that is just past the point of where you repeatedly bang your head on the same problems that seem to perennially evade decent solutions and defy concrete systems?

Do You Have Systems?  Good Ones?

Admittedly, we all need systems if our businesses are to succeed.  Most chiropractors believe they already have such items present in their practice but “McDonald’s we ain’t.” A quick look in most practices will reveal that  IF systems are present, many are poorly designed, inconsistently applied and most creak like old floorboards when the slightest pressure tests their merit.

If completely truthful, many DC’s will admit to being “stuck” at a certain level (volume, income, new patients, collections – whatever). Analyzed closely, they would also admit that their systems seem to “break down” at certain arbitrary, upper limits.  Viewed as a mathematical exercise, this can be seen as attempting calculus with an algebra skill set.  Einstein applied the same logic to physics (and life) with the often quoted mantra that “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” In other words, “you can’t get there from here.”

Most chiropractors who have experienced frustration time and again by getting to that “stuck” point would be smart enough to realize that your tools may not be strong enough for the job, but few actually go out and get new tools.  Most just keep using them until the whole boat breaks – which isn’t much of a plan and won’t really solve the problem.

When Systems Break Down…

So, yes, systems, protocols and plans are part of your solution. But they either must add to your current systems in place or significantly change the ones that aren’t working.  Case in point brilliantly illustrated by a recent visit to the dentist:

I go to leave with my cavity stricken child and the friendly receptionist asks “When would you like to come back?” Most dutiful patients would give her a nice answer but I can’t resist, so the painful conversation goes like this:

Receptionist:                                     When would you like to come back?

 

Father of cavity child (me):          No offense to you, but never.

 

Receptionist:                                     Did your visit not go well?

 

Father of cavity child:                     No.

 

Receptionist:                                     Did we do something wrong?

 

Father of cavity child:                     No.

 

Receptionist:                                     Oh good.  Well, it looks like Dr. X wants to see {insert cavity boy/girl’s name here} again to fill that cavity.

 

Father of cavity child:                     Yes.

 

Receptionist:                                     So did you want to set an appointment for that?

 

Father of cavity child:                     No.

 

Receptionist:                                     OK.  Well you have the right to choose but we certainly don’t recommend that.

 

Father of cavity child:                     Yes.

 

Receptionist:                                     So should we set an appointment to have that cavity filled?

 

Father of cavity child:                     I guess so.

 

Receptionist:                                     What time would be good for you?

 

Father of cavity child:                     What day?

This conversation went on another few rounds until finally an appointment was made.

You get the idea, but don’t laugh. Similar things happen in your practice every day.  Poorly trained staff at the front desk can undermine your best efforts – new patient or otherwise.  At the least, they are wasting valuable time (yours, your patients and theirs).  On the other end of the spectrum, they are letting appointments, new patients and ultimately, money, slip away through poor training or systems.

I’ve seen similar poor training botch financials, re-route patients to other doctors and cause the doctor’s blood pressure to repeatedly soar to unhealthy levels.  What seems like common sense unfortunately isn’t very common: develop protocols for everything that you can possibly systematize and standardize to reduce the chances of things not going well.  Many claim to understand this concept; few implement it to a significant degree.

Why Systems are Vital to Chiropractic Success

There are several good reasons systems and chiropractic protocols are so necessary:

  1. Without them you run a haphazard, stress-filled roller-coaster of an office
  2. Without them, you never rise above the level of your present organizational skills or ability
  3. If you don’t have a solid “Plan A” in place, how can Plan B save the day?

No office is immune to blips and blunders. But the only thing that prevents total chaos when things go awry (and they will), is “Plan B.”  So yes, you should have detailed systems that both tell you what to do under normal circumstances (Plan A) and what to do when things go sour (Plan B).

EVERYONE Has System Failures…Sometimes

If you get this concept, you can begin to spot weaknesses in major conglomerates and apply the same techniques to your own practice.  Case in point: the infamous “Gmail lockdown.”

I am extremely cranky due to the fact that I am in the second week in a row of an unexplainable Gmail lockdown that has randomly prevented me from sending/receiving email more than a dozen times over the past couple weeks. Each time I go to sign into my account, I am taken to the same nonsense page that hands me a half-dozen generic reasons why I am prevented from accessing my account.  That’s frustrating enough. Worse, I cannot identify why my account specifically has been targeted.  To add insult to injury, there is no explanation, nor anywhere to go to take my beef.  No “contact us” button, no phone # so I can speak to a sympathetic voice in India, nothing.  According to Mr. Gmail, I must sit and wait until the smoke clears anywhere from 1-24 hours.  Then, when I finally re-access my account, I get hit again with the same penalty.  This continues with no apparent end in sight.

Besides my personal beef, what’s the point for you, Doctors of Chiropractic? Many of you have the same nonsense going on in your practice.

Protocols to Avoid the Practice Roller-Coaster

Randomly applied rules with no real no systems, no explanations – just a big haphazard mess.  In my Chiropractic Office Protocol Book, I included 79 protocols so common, so necessary that they probably should be part of every office.  But even if you only need or use 59, 39 – heck, even 19, it would be a step in the right direction for many offices.  I’m not saying I’ve got all the answers in my book (or in my head) but I am saying that I have witnessed way too many “sloppy” procedures and protocols that are the cheese for your whines.

New patients schedule and are seen on the same day; some adjusted, some not.  Some get a report of findings, some don’t.  Some get taught exercises, some maybe have to beg for what they can do at home. Financials are a mess – some of you have payment plans, a clear sense of structure. Some “wing it” from the back or have the front desk go over patient benefits on the fly at the front amidst a bevy of other things going on.  Recalls happen whenever.  Marketing, whenever.  Patient education, whenever. Consistency of care, whenever.

It’s all random but one thing that most chiropractors universally dislike: random results!  All of you hate the roller coaster of one month great followed by the next one in the toilet.  No one likes the unpredictability of income because the payroll is very predictable.

Don’t Forget the End…

Unfortunately, one day you either wake up and make a vow to get this handled in your office or you ride the sloppy wave until you pay the price in the end.  Because if you haven’t planned, systematized and strategized how to maximize your office during the peak income producing years of your practice, chances are you will leave your retirement in the air as well.  In The Ultimate Chiropractic Exit Strategy and in my seminars, I will rant and rave that dying or shutting down are both very poor exit strategies.  And yet, they are some of the most frequently used.

Questions to Help  “Un-Stuck-ify” Your Practice

So, what’s a good chiropractor to do?  Get to work!  Prepare your practice now – either for profit or retirement or both.  Based on my visits to offices all across the country, here are a few questions you can ask yourself and your staff, as they are the bolts that need tightening in most practices:

  • How can we better answering the phone?
  • How can we handle new patient processing better?
  • How can we better prepare our day so we minimize time wasting?
  • How can we maximize daily production
  • What are three situations that commonly go wrong and how can we fix them?
  • How can we schedule more business, rather than more new patients?
  • What area do I (we) need to develop more consistency?
  • What do I need to develop a plan for my transition / retirement?