Ever get the feeling that your chiropractic office is “sweating the small stuff” or “majoring in the minors?”  Or that you are stuck at a certain level, doomed to repeat the same mistakes or scenarios time and time again?

You know what I mean.  It’s those tiny little irritants that seem to add up to a big pain or problem in your practice. It’s the fact that you have already faced this issue for 10 times before, but it keeps rearing its ugly head every few months.

Whether these challenges cause you to lose revenue, lose patients or lose patience, these issues tend to bog us down mentally and well…make practice not so profitable and not so fun.

A perfect description for them is: persnickety.  As defined, this is

1. Placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details; fussy.

2. Requiring a particularly precise or careful approach.

Let’s tackle a few of these persnickety problems that are common to every chiropractic office and what to do about them:

Lucy the Latecomer, Skip the Appointment Skipper

Obviously, this may be a sign of bigger issues (patient doesn’t value care or patient doesn’t believe your treatment schedule is necessary), but on a systems level, most offices that have too many missed appointments have one of two issues:

o   Issue #1:  No real appointment schedule.  Let’s face it, if you schedule patients for 9am but routinely run late, you do not honor your own schedule, so why should your patients?  Similarly, if you allow walk ins to waltz in ahead of scheduled appointments, you send a message that the scheduled appointment is an unnecessary item.  Solution:  get off the fence.  Either go full-boat free-for-all and have no scheduled anything or stick to the schedule.  You will be amazed how your patients will do the same.

o   Issue #2:  Presuming you have a schedule, you need to follow Item #1 and you need some teeth to enforce it on both sides.  Many chiropractors hold their patients to a higher degree of accountability than themselves. The patient runs late and whammo – penalty, guilt, fees, shame!  The doctor runs late?  Oh sorry, he’s a little behind today. Smell the double standard?  Good, now fix it.  Devise an appropriate “penalty” for the patient and one for the doctor as well.  Personally, I don’t like no-show fees for chiropractors who routinely only spend a few minutes with patients.  But that doesn’t mean you set them free. Perhaps,  the penalty is waiting until the schedule clears.  Or perhaps repeat offenders are made walk-in patients who will be low on the priority list.  Whatever you decide, have a penalty for the missed or late appointment.  On your end, have one too.  Doctor is late more than 15 minutes, the visit is free.  Or give a $10 Starbucks gift card as an apology for being late.  Whatever you choose, have some tangible solution to say “Sorry, we goofed.”

 

Terry the Talker

Due to their natural predisposition to pontificate on all matters, these chatterboxes suck up the doctor’s time, staff time and anyone else willing to lend an ear.  They may be great patients in every other sense, but they really tend to foul up the schedule.  Here’s three potential solutions, choose whichever you’re your style best or try a combination:

  • Solution #1:  Schedule talkers at off peak times only.  This method works well for those whose habits cannot be changed.  Even if your office was on fire and everyone was bolting out the front door, they would still be attempting to tell you their story.  In their defense and to your credit, they may value your opinion, trust you and/or genuinely enjoy your office.  So, don’t try to turn off the love, just give them some room to express it in a more conveniently located appointment where it won’t botch up the schedule.  Translation: do not say “what time works for you next week, Chatty Cathy?”  Say:  “we have an opening at 10am or 1:30pm – which works better?”  Typically, talkers have more free time on their hands and aren’t driven back to work with a rigid schedule, so take the opportunity to steer them where you want them.
  • Solution #2:  Sandwich and Schedule.  This strategy works well for doctors who have some confrontational skills but also have a soft side that makes them good listeners.  If this is you or your doctor, sandwich the Talker’s appointment during a peak time when the office is particularly busy.  Even though the talker wants/needs to talk, they will generally observe that you are slammed.  They will still attempt their discourse, but the doctor must acknowledge that “this sounds like a great story, but we’ll have to continue it next time” or that “we should sit down and discuss that on a separate appointment when I can devote some time to that.”  Then you can steer them to Solution 1 or towards an extended appointment (such as a re-exam) or other session where you may have opportunity to legitimately be reimbursed for your time (if it is care related).

The Next Level Catch-22

This last one is not a patient-generated problem per say, but more of a management dilemma.  Many times our businesses seem to stagnate or become stuck at a certain level.  Sometimes, the obstacle is obvious.  But often, it’s hard to put our finger on exactly what is root of the problem. Is it a system issue holding us back? A policy that’s not serving us or the patients the way it should? A staffing issue? Fees?

Whatever the potential blockage may be, some chiropractors overanalyze the situation and rejection potential solutions because, quite frankly, they aren’t sure if they will work.

Duh!  Well, if you knew with 100% confidence that something would help you get to the next level and you aren’t doing it, then you are just sabotaging your own success.  However, for most of us, the “leap” that is required for instituting change involves crossing a chasm of undefined depth, length or terrain.

The 120-Day Solution:

Don’t linger in your own self-imposed Catch-22 for eternity.  Instead, use the 120-Day Rule. Ask yourself the question: “If we tried this and it failed, would it ruin us in 120 days?”

If the answer is “Yes” then stay put – your potential solution comes with greater risk than rewards.

If the answer is “No” move on!  As hockey great, Wayne Gretsky said:  “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” So, ask the questions:

  • Could we use another front desk CA?
  • Should we raise our fees (or some of them)?
  • Do we need to change the length of our appointment times?
  • Should we open on Saturday mornings?
  • Should I take Tuesdays off?

The 120-Day Rule helps because these types of questions are all scary and hard to quantify.  But this approach gives you the peace of mind to know that you can weather the storm, if you try to sail those waters.  Or that you have a defined time period to know when to bail out.

The beauty of this methodology is that most of the time, your idea works.  You don’t have to go back home.  And you’re practice benefits for the obstacle that you’ve hurdled and the leap that you’ve made.

More Problems? More Solutions!

If you face daily problems in this vein or need solid systems or solutions for these common obstacles that are holding your chiropractic practice back, you may be interested in our newest resource: What to Do When: The Chiropractic Office Protocol Book (click link to read more). It’s filled with dozens of similar scenarios, simple solutions and proven systems for how to handle the most nagging situations that occur daily in chiropractic offices around the country.  Do not continue to muddle through the everyday fiascos in your office – define, set and implement these protocols for success!