Services Overview

Consulting to a chiropractor can be very similar to what you do for patients: We identify your "chief complaint". This is where you are feeling pain, but may only be a symptom of something else that is wrong in your system.

The most common areas are:

• Finances
• Staffing
• Patients
• Conflicts

Finances

Since you are running a business, and you are required to make a profit to stay in practice, this area comes up in almost every consulting relationship. You may actually be in financial trouble due to billing problems, tax burdens, lack of budgeting or control of spending, or underproduction. Or, you may not be in financial trouble, but feel that the net pay to you is not worth the time and effort you put in. You may feel that you cannot get ahead, or feel burned out.

Staffing

Staffing problems usually come in two varieties; the underperforming variety and the prison guard variety. The underperforming variety is obvious when you do not trust the staff to complete things, to follow up on projects and routine tasks, and the entire relationship is flavored with a sense of entitlement and resistance to change or improvement. The prison guard variety has many variations. The common element is that a staff member has control over a critical part of the organization and holds you hostage.

Patients

Patient issues also come in several varieties. Common ones are poor follow through with treatment programs, inadequate documentation of care, lack of referrals, and difficulties with coordination of care.

Conflicts

If you are entering the consulting relationship with open conflicts with any regulatory agency, our first order of business is to fix the relationship, and change your organization so these do not happen again. This can include insurance companies, licensing agencies or open litigation. If you are entering with personal conflicts that are interfering with your ability to perform as a doctor, that must be addressed initially as well.

However, just as with patient care, the acute problem may be the result of longstanding chronic weaknesses or problems. Common chronic problems are:

Finances

If you are actually in financial trouble, we must know who is in charge of this critical area of your practice. Have you delegated this without controls or understanding? Do you understand the reports you get back from your financial manager? Do you know reasonable proportion and total outlays for critical expenses? Do you have a budget? Do you understand the basis of your practice economics and how to improve your profitability? Here’s a critical question: do you know what it costs to provide care for the average patient?

If you are feeling burned out or insufficiently compensated, do you have a good understanding of your personal or home expenses? Do you have a plan for debt retirement and wealth accumulation? Do you have an easy way to track your financial performnce by month quarter and year?

Staffing

If your staff is underproductive, do you have a written set of values and a mission that gives them context for all patient interactions? Do you have a procedural manual? Do you know how to hire and train efficiently? Do you have a policy document so they now the expectations and guidelines? Do you run regular and productive staff meetings? Do you have to inspect staff production to insure for accuracy?

If you are being held hostage by an employee, do you have a knowledge document for all passwords? Do you have an audit function for all financial transactions? Do you have a common set of written practice procedures for all to follow?

Patients

Most patient problems are actually problems with your own concepts, procedures and language choices. When patients do not follow their programs, are you giving clear, simple directions to the patient about what is expected? Do they understand the difference between acute pain care and chronic rehabilitative care? Are they actually making appointments at the front desk, or are you hearing, "I’ll call you"? Do you have too many walk-in and call in patients? Are they following an agenda of "I’ll come in when it hurts", rather than following a rehab protocol?

Conflicts

Ending major conflicts is crucial to a harmonious professional life. If the conflict is with a regulatory agency, do you know what caused it? Do you have a clear understanding of the remedy? Have you created greater transparency in your organization so recurrence is less likely?

Once we have both the chronic and acute conditions identified, the consulting relationship seeks to address both the present problem and any underlying issues.

For full service clients, comprehensive consultations either over the phone or in person will be necessary. Acute problems must be dealt with first.

Chronic issues are dealt with by helping you develop new understanding of what caused the problem in the first place, and to install effective ways to make your weakness into a strength.

No matter what the first action step is, we offer:

• Weekly phone consultations as the minimum contact. You will receive a numbered action item list following each consultation via e-mail.
• Open access through telephone, text and e-mail during business hours. Maximum response time is 24 business hours in 98% of cases. This will usually be followed by a shorter action item list.
• Day-long site visits for practice of procedures, physical plant inspection and interview of staff. This is a high value day, and is done in the absence of patient care. Typically, we can get everything done in about 6 hours.
• Reading lists and web links from outside your field of expertise for broadening your practical knowledge base. This includes Planning, organizing, developing your company, marketing, communications, finance, economics, etc.

Finances

1. Excel tracking forms for important office statistics
2. Monthly composites of financial and production information in simplified form, along with action steps to corect imbalances or deficiencies.
3. Interpretation of profit and loss statements, both for office and for home.
4. Planning for debt retirement and wealth accumulation.
5. Marketing and brand development
6. practice growth through increased productivity and staffing (massage and DC associates).

Staffing

1. Written procedural manuals for the doctor and the key staff members.
2. Hiring procedures and employee management procedures in manual format.
3. Job descriptions and expectations
4. Staff meeting training and assessment
5. Direct staff assessment at initial site visit.

Patients

1. Direct training for the doctor on standard patient procedures from start to finish
2. Enrollment in different care protocols for spinal conditions
3. Referral cultivation through relationships and reputation
4. Language choices for greater patient engagement

Conflicts

1. understanding your role in creation of the conflict
2. creating ways to decrease or eliminate the chance of recurrence through greater transparency.