If you've heard some of the horror stories about chiropractic EHR implementation gone amok, or caught a glimpse of the new string of requirements that make up meaningful use stage 2, you have every reason to worry that introducing this technology to your practice could do more harm than good. You may even continue to delay the adoption process to spare the expense and hassle that this shift could bring.

Indeed, in light of reports that some doctors blame undecipherable EHR software for a loss in productivity, it's only natural to be concerned about what this step could mean for you and whether your patients will truly benefit. However, as we've noted in previous posts, the truth is that not all EHR software has been designed with the end user in mind, and that can make all the difference when it comes to your day-to-day operations.

When you invest in chiropractic EHR and other forms of health IT that are intuitive and adaptable to your workflow, you will likely find that these innovations can ease a substantial burden in terms of the time and energy you devote to administrative tasks. Recently, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Commonwealth Fund released findings that the widespread adoption of EHR, telemedicine and other technologies may even bridge the perilous gap between the number of patients needing treatment and the trained physicians who can help.

"[Professor Jonathan] Weiner and colleagues estimate that when electronic health records and other e-health systems are fully implemented in just 30 percent of community-based physicians' offices, U.S. doctors will be able to meet the demands of about 4-9 percent more patients than they can today due to increased efficiency," a university press release states.

So why is there such disparity in the reports on EHR use and overall efficacy? This may well be due to the disparity between EHR software providers, the product they offer, and the degree of support and training they provide.

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Trouble, it always seems to make it’s way into your practice. Whether it’s natural disaster, computer failure, theft, or even patient/staff health issues, they can throw your office routine completely off! Many times these mishaps can negatively affect your resources. You can loose time, money, staff, and new business. A little planning could make life a lot easier. Are you prepared for a disaster in your clinic?

The best Chiropractic offices have contingency plans. Period. If you want to be above your competition, contingency planning is an absolute essential. For example, when a town get’s hit with a natural disaster, there are many people that will need Chiropractic care. Many offices don’t have contingency plans; as a result, they will be shut down for longer periods of time & miss out on potential new business. However, offices that have contingency plans in place will be back in business faster. As it is commonly said, failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

Developing a contingency plan is not a difficult process, but requires some thought. Think about your business processes and what resources you need to execute them. Now pretend that you do not have these resources anymore, how will you conduct these processes? For example, what if your office floods or catches fire? What would you use to adjust your patients on? What about your e-stimulation or ultrasound system? How will you have access to your patient records? If they are on paper, will they be destroyed? Do you have backups of these records? If your records are electronic and are stored on your own server? Do you have backups off-site of your patient’s data? And if you do, when was the last time you checked the integrity of your backups?

One way to mitigate risks is to plan for the future of your business. Your contingency plan should include a deadline to switch to a web-based Chiropractic EHR software. A web-based EHR software can eliminate a lot of risks! In case of a natural disaster, you will be able start practicing immediately at another location! Many doctors even work out of their home, and by using a web-based EHR you can easily access your unharmed records.

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Here are 5 awesome tips on using Facebook to grow your patient base!

1)    Promote your Facebook page to your current office staff.  Provide an incentive or discount for current client’s to ‘like’ your page.  I would put a computer available at your reception desk for patients to easily sign in and like your page, or just have them use their smart phone.

2)    Create an additional incentive for patients to send an update about their visit to your clinic and how satisfied they are with your care!  Throw in a free massage, adjustment, appointment or something that will keep them coming back for sending out this quick update.

3)    Include a link to your Facebook page in any patient communications such as brochures, flyers, invoices, emails to patients, or on your website.

4)    Send an email to your current patients telling them about your new Facebook page!  Ask them to “Like” your page.  You should also include information on your facebook page about your office’s mission, vision, and what your about!

5)    Ask your most faithful patients to suggest your Facebook Page to their friends and contacts who are interested in Chiropractic care.  As you know, your customers are the best source of referrals and new business!

With nearly 156 million people on Facebook in the United States, it is without saying that it can be the most powerful marketing tool for a Chiropractor!  Don’t wait to use this tool to help grow your practice!  If you don’t know a lot about Facebook or social media, your first step should be finding someone who does and helping them assist you in getting started.  Opportunity awaits; it’s time for you to seize the day!

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                  If you have already read part 1 then you should have a sales funnel with rough data on where your patients come from. Now it is time to take advantage of it. You should be able to discern where your best patients come from. This part is a little subjective so think about the amount of time or money that goes into acquiring a new patient. You need to cast a wider net in advertising, online presence and word of mouth marketing to keep your clinic busy!

Your print and other traditional media (advertising) are most effective at reaching a wide audience and making a first impression. For example you can send out a mailer to thousands of homes. You wont reach a lot of people who are willing to set an appointment right away but you can invite them to your website where there is enough information to make them a new patient.

Digital marketing is an efficient way of targeting lots of prospects. It has the advantage of tapping into Google’s billion searches a day and the power to bring in new business . The cheapest way of reaching large groups of people is still email lists. You can reach more people by finding a complementary business who will let you use their contact list, like a nutrients store.

At the end of the day it is the human contact which is most important. The most effective patient sales funnel is always your conversation with someone. For many chiropractors most of their business is from people that they have some kind of connection with. So be intentional when you are interacting with people and talking about your work because networking is the most efficient way increasing your customers. If you want to grow this direct sales part of your clinic consider getting a booth at a conference where you can offer a free 5 minute massage when you can talk to a potential patient.

You have a lot of things to think about now but if you haven’t drawn a patient sales funnel take 10 minutes just to get a rough idea of where your work comes from. You will be more efficient as you focus in on your marketing that provides the highest return. Remember though that the funnel doesn’t really end at the new patient visit because you need to turn that person into a repeat patient and a fan of your practice!

What is the first part of your marketing that you are going to change to bring in new leads?

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Have you ever thought about how you can increase your revenue? A great exercise in knowing where your best leads come from is to draw your sales funnel. What is a sales funnel you might ask? It is a way of looking at all potential patients which come in contact with your brand whether it be through advertisements, word of mouth or social media and seeing where you get most of your revenue. You can expect a few interactions or impressions to turn into paying patients depending on each channel.

So to draw it up, get a whiteboard or large sheet of paper. Draw a large cone. At the top, write all of the channels that possible patients can take to learn about your company. It may include email lists, website, your direct sales or referrals from current patients. Spend a little time guessing the number of interactions or impressions at the top of the funnel in each category and then how many become patients at the end. In some of those channels like your emails you will likely be able to see exactly how many people clicked your link. Where you have these conversion points, designate the stages when people become a more qualified lead. You should write the percentage of conversions in each channel in the funnel. It is more difficult to estimate areas like word of mouth leads but even getting rough numbers can help. It will prompt you to ask more questions. For example ask your best patients if they ever tell their friends about your clinic. This kind of qualitative data will help you because in reality you cant measure exactly how much interaction or time it takes from initial contact to having a patient.

The value of this exercise is to get you thinking about where your best patients come from and how you can best spend your time and energy to reach those patients. The next step is to analyze your funnel and see where you can take some action to improve conversions!

What will you work on first?

Material referenced from Hubspot.

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Here are 10 great ideas to utilize social media sites to build your practice:

1. Write up brief health tips.  Your patients are hungry for information that will help them prevent injury & have better nutrition.  All you need is one tip every time you post.
2. Link a piece of information you’ve written, authored.  This can be a news-blog post, article, or online video.
3. Share patient stories and testimonials.  Include pictures if possible.
4. Link to relevant internet content published by a reliable source.  This could be from the ACA, Dynamic Chiropractic, or another local community health organization.
5. Share your mission & vision for the patients that you serve.  This helps build credibility and reminds patients who you serve.
6. Share information about your involvement in the local community (schools, universities, public health orgs, sports teams,  youth organizations & community festivals & events).  Serving the local community & posting online know is a great way to meet new patients where they are at.
7. Write about specific procedures that you give to patients, such as adjustments, therapeutic exercises, ART, Graston, etc… then write about how it improves patients health in the long term.
8. Link posts to your website that show positive outcomes, reviews from patients, and other case studies.
9. When you hire a new employee, associate, or staff member, create a post that welcomes them to your team!  This won’t only build more awareness of your practice, but also encourage the hearts of your employees.
10. Check out LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook profiles of your competitors.  Find out what they are doing.  No sense in reinventing the wheel!

In order to invite patients to LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter, it helps to have a list of emails for your current patients.  Exporting a list of patient emails from an electronic health record system can help!  BackChart gives you the ability to export this patient information and better market your practice!

For more information on how to build your practice, visit us at backchart.com!

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In today’s chiropractic office, many chiropractors have a negative view of electronic health/medical records (EHR/EMR).  They view them as cumbersome, complex, and not easy to use.  However, in today’s ‘web-based world’ EHRs have an opposite effect.  Web-based EHRs allow clinicians to sit at home and catch up on patient calls, review results & complete charts.   It is more comfortable than the office because chiropractors can take frequent breaks, multi-task with their person affairs, and not be interrupted with general office tasks.   Using a web-based EHR many clinicians and/or staff can call patients on Sunday nights with results from the prior week and to remind them about their upcoming appointments.   Most patients are home on Sunday evenings, and because the doctor is not rushed with their day-to-day tasks, this provides better quality care & follow up for the patient.   On top of this, easily accessing your patient information through a web-based EHR/EMR helps you better market & build your practice.

¹According to healthIT.gov many health care providers find that EHR/EMRs help improve their practice by increasing efficiencies leading to cost savings.  ²A national survey of clinicians ready for meaningful use found that 79% of providers report that an EHR helped their practice function more efficiently, 68% of providers see their EHR/EMR as an asset with recruiting new clinicians, 70% report that it enhanced their data confidentiality.

Cost savings are also created in the following areas, reduced transcription costs, reduced time spent pulling charts, storing charts, and re-filing patient information, better reimbursement coding with improved patient documentation, reduced clinical errors though better access of patient data, improved quality of care though enhanced prevention & patient education. Even if it takes more time to learn to use a new system, the amount of long-term benefits are well worth taking the step towards implementing an EHR/EMR  It goes without saying that EHRs help revolutionize the efficiency of a practice.

¹ http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/medical-practice-efficiencies-cost-savings

²Jamoom, E., Patel, V., King, J., & Furukawa, M. (2012, August). National perceptions of ehr adoption: Barriers, impacts, and federal policies. National conference on health statistics.

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Every chiropractor wants to know how to market their practice. When there are so many different options for where to spend your marketing dollars how do you pick the right avenue to reach your target market? The decision becomes more difficult when you are most interested in treating your patients and have limited time to put towards marketing.

The easy answer is email marketing. The direct marketing association reported that every dollar spent in email campaigns produced an average of $43.62 ROI!  With numbers like this why would you choose anything else? The truth is that email is just a part of the process. If you don’t have a good website or landing page to link to than email is going to be less effective. Google ad words and search engine optimization can provide significant returns but it is not something to rush into if you aren’t experienced in that realm.  Many EHR systems interface with marketing software like demand force which help with email marketing.  Also, chiropractic EHR systems like backchart have the ability to email patients on information they need to complete such as health history forms, patient demographics, and outcome assessments.  Engaging these patients will help with retention and take your practice to new levels!

Try focusing on doing a few things well. Many small business owners are wondering if they should get active on social media but it takes a lot of time and strategy before it pays off.  In social media it is important to continuously create relevant content for your target market.  The more frequently you make impressions on potential patients the better; social media is a great way to do this and remind people that you exist.  Lastly, it is most important to have a website and Google places for business account but after that you should market your clinic whichever works best for you and your customers.

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All chiropractors have a target market whether they have decided it intentionally or not. Everything about you and your practice is going to attract some people more than others! You need to always search for the balance between appealing to a large enough audience and targeting your ideal patients.

So who is your target market? Start by looking at your current patients. If you use an electronic health records system, such as BackChart, it will be easy to search by gender, ailment, address and age to get actual numbers for your client base. This would be good information to diagram and then discuss with at least one other employee. Then you are left with more qualitative research; all the intangibles. Estimate their income level by considering their age and average incomes in your city. What neighborhood do they live in? What percent pay out of pocket versus through an insurance company for treatment? Some may consider it discrimination to cater to a certain group of people but you have done this by default just in picking your location!

Now that you have an understanding of who your patient is consider how your marketing, services and atmosphere should be optimized for them. Maybe its time to offer a reduced rate for a shorter check up to attract young athletes who need affordable care. Maybe you realize that your elderly patients come in the most frequently for the most expensive treatments. Then it may be beneficial to pick your furniture, wall paper and music accordingly!

Have you considered creating a referral program? Referral programs that provide incentives for current patients are the easiest way to increase growth in your practice. You can also consider giving away a massage, supplements, or a health equipment for your most frequent patients. Finally, utilize the human senses to build your brand recognition & better target your demographic. People love a clean environment with free refreshments. Having some light snacks and tea will remind your current target demographic of their experience; as a result, you will retain them better and they will bring others.

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