       |
||
      |
|
Success Profile: February 2002 Texas Multi-Disciplinary Practice
These days, consumers are looking for quality, but also for convenience and “one-stop shopping.” Today’s on-the-go, drive-through-window society is even asking for this type of service when it comes to health-care delivery. DFW Advanced Medical, a three-doctor multi-disciplinary practice near Fort Worth, Texas, understands this. The clinic offers chiropractic, medical, physical therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, physical rehabilitation, nutrition, sports medicine and occupational health-care consulting services. The practice includes Dr. Ken Cooper, a chiropractor and licensed physical therapist; Dr. Jeff Connors, a chiropractor, who is also trained as an acupuncturist and is a diplomate of the American Chiropractic Board of Nutrition; and Dr. Glenn Hansen, an osteopathic physician. Patients tell the doctors how much they appreciate that holistic approach - not to mention the convenience. “Everyone commutes,” Cooper says of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “Everyone is tired and everyone is stressed. Everyone has very little time to spare. So we have had many patients thank us for having multiple services available in one location.” Connors says the multi-disciplinary set-up benefits everyone involved. “Being multi-disciplinary provides a lot of diversity to our clinic and the future treatment of our clientele,” he says. “We’re providing not only spinal adjustments and therapy, but also medical treatment, diagnostics, and rehabilitative exercise. These additions have resulted in superior outcomes for our patients, as well as increased our revenue for our practice.” Practice Evolution Connors and Cooper joined forces with Hansen in 2000 to establish DFW Advanced Medical, P.A., which is solely owned by Hansen. Hansen is the medical director of DFW Advanced Medical. Together Connors and Cooper own Harwood Medical Group, a management company that handles all business activities of the medical clinic. DFW employs all three doctors and any other professional staff, while Harwood Medical Group employs the non-professional staff. In 1998, Connors also opened Alliance Back & Neck Care in the Alliance area of Fort Worth; he has maintained that practice in addition to his involvement with DFW. He is looking forward to expanding this practice with Cooper into a multi-disciplinary practice. The information in this article, including financial statistics and patient numbers, focuses on DFW Advanced Medical and the Cooper Center for Chiropractic. Growth Spurt In 2001, DFW Advanced Medical saw an average of 40 new patients per month. In 2000, the new patient average was 32 per month; in 1999, it was 25; and in 1998, it was 16. In 2001, patient visits per week (PVPW) stood at 225-250. In 2000, the PVPW was 160-180; and in 1999, it stood at 140-160. In 2000, Cooper and Connors teamed up with Breakthrough Coaching, and they say that move has been a pivotal factor in their success. The practice management firm assisted them in setting up the multi-disciplinary practice properly, and the firm’s practice analysis and advice on marketing procedures, coding, collections and other aspects of running the business have proven to be extremely valuable, Cooper says. “We really didn’t have any marketing plans in place before Breakthrough Coaching,” Cooper says. “We didn’t watch our statistics very much. We didn’t have a set plan in mind of how we could grow. We just came to work. We still worked hard and did a good job, but we didn’t pay much attention to the future.” Dr. Mark Sanna, CEO of Breakthrough Coaching, explained: “We coached the doctors in the new rules of the business of chiropractic today, and helped them implement the systems to legally and ethically grow their practice.” DFW Advanced Medical is now also working with Corporate Health of America (CHA), a sister company of Breakthrough Coaching that provides marketing and management services to multi-disciplinary practices working with the occupational health-care industry. Group Effort “It’s just now that the two fields are coming together and saying, ‘Let’s work together on the behalf of patient,’” Cooper says. “I’ve been a physical therapist now for 20 years, and I’ve just watched it slowly, slowly change over time to where there’s finally some cooperation between the medical field and the chiropractic field. The chiropractors and physical therapists are slowly ‘fighting’ less as well. The educational requirements have risen in all the health professions, and the mutual respect is slowly rising as well.” Because of Cooper’s background as both a physical therapist and a chiropractor, he and Connors had a “multi-discipline” mind set from early on. They were simply bringing things full circle when they joined forces with Hansen in 2000. Hansen had been looking for some time to work with chiropractors, knowing his skills would complement chiropractic (and vice versa). “I had practiced a couple of different places, but they were doing some of the things I like to do,” Hansen says of Cooper and Connors. The multi-disciplinary set-up clearly helps patients, Connors says. The ability for patients to diversify their care in one location is a crowd-pleaser, and its benefits were immediately visible. However, the doctors are ever-cognizant of individual patients’ wants and needs. “It’s not like all patients get the same program of care,” Connors says. “There are patients who come into our office that have been going to chiropractors their whole lives, and they just want maintenance care. They may not be placed into the medical mold. Or, sometimes if their condition requires additional treatment and structural rehabilitation to further improve their current condition, they may wind up there.” Working in a multi-disciplinary practice allows doctors to realize the benefits of integrated care right away, Cooper says. Doctors will become better-educated by helping one another. This in turn leads to patients becoming better-educated. That ultimately leads to patients - even those who may have been a bit wary of the chiropractic side of things - realizing what the profession is all about. “...Patients are comfortable knowing there is more than one opinion reviewing their case,” Cooper says. “It brings a lot broader potential for a diagnostic and therapeutic application.” Having Hansen on-hand has also allowed Cooper and Connors to provide more thorough assessments of their patients’ overall conditions. “We see the benefits clinically to us because he’s a brilliant physician,” Cooper says of Hansen. “Clinically, it’s been a big blessing to us to have a medical physician on the staff. Especially when we get to areas that he’s sorely needed in. For example, when a person has chest pain and there’s so many things it could be, we certainly want a physician to rule out the dangerous things internally.” The doctors refer patients to one another, but most patients start out seeing one of the chiropractors. If a medical course of action is needed, the patient is referred to Hansen. On the flip side, Hansen will refer patients if he thinks chiropractic would better solve their problems or complement their medical care. Sports Medicine The practice became affiliated with members of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys a couple of years ago through a referral from massage therapist Helene Cowell. The doctors now treat 30-35 Cowboys players; their autographed photos grace the walls of the practice, catching the eyes of first-time patients. “We have developed quite a good relationship with the players over the past two to three seasons, and they come to us for both corrective care, including spinal manipulation, as well as acute care for conditions such as shoulder, knee and ankle injuries,” Connors says. In addition to the Dallas Cowboys, the doctors have worked with players from the Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, L.A. Raiders, Texas Rangers, and professional track athletes. Getting the Word Out They also take out small Yellow Pages advertisements and community advertisements such as Booster Club ads. In addition, they have affiliated themselves with several reputable major medical plans, Cooper says. He notes that DFW has not tried to get on many HMO plans. By hooking up with larger PPOs, the practice gets exposure both on-line and in printed membership books that publish names, addresses and phone numbers of practices, which essentially amounts to free marketing, even if it is not direct, Cooper explains. “When we have questioned most patients in our area that were not directly referred by an existing patient, they look to their PPO book first to see who is on the provider list,” Cooper says. In addition, by familiarizing themselves with, and often meeting face-to-face, area physicians, Cooper and Connors have developed relationships over the years with various doctors with different specialty areas. “We enjoy an excellent relationship with a local TMJ specialist,” Cooper says. “We also send and receive referrals from pain management physicians, neurologists, neurosurgeons and orthopedists.” Under the guidance of Corporate Health of America, the doctors also market their occupational health-care consulting services to employers and industry. CHA provides the practice with a professional marketing representative who markets the practice for the doctors through venues such as presentations at occupational seminars to human resources directors and risk managers. “This type of marketing has shown great potential,” Connors says. “We had six to seven companies at our first marketing seminar, and our next one (this month) could have up to 60 companies attending.” When it comes to internal marketing, patient education begins with the first visit and is emphasized during the report of findings (ROF). Patients are carefully informed about what the clinic can provide them and what course of action would most benefit them. Questions and answers may follow, with all three doctors available for answering queries. “We want to give our patients the best care that we can,” Connors says. “The fact that we can generate additional revenue for our practice is important. But being able to provide the patients a diverse array of services under one roof and a high quality of care is our primary goal.” Vital Statistics DFW Advanced Medical Office Hours: Team Players: Practice Revenue by Payment Type: Percentage Increase: New Patients Per Month (Avg.): |
Advertising | Classifieds | Cardpack | Datebook | Past Issues | Chiro History
How are we doing?