Your CAs and patient retention What they do can build your practice


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Issue 3 - March 2005

Your CAs and patient retention
What they do can build your practice
By Kim Klapp

Chiropractic assistants are the gatekeepers of your office. They get patients successfully through the door and play a critical role in patient retention. Offices with exceptionally trained CAs garner rave reviews from patients who often swear that they come in to see the staff as much as to receive care.

Conversely, the patients who experience contact with CAs whose attitude and training are less than good have nothing to report, because — well — they just don’t come back.

But even a well-intentioned and well-trained CA might act in ways that can cause patients to discontinue care prematurely.

Here are just a few problems — and solutions — that affect patient retention:

• Problem: Large out-of-pocket balances. CAs who lack the ability to collect payments confidently may be a patient’s best friend — but only for a short while.

Allowing a patient to build up a large balance creates at least two negative consequences. The first is that a balance increases the likelihood of missed appointments. Many patients become no-shows rather than face the scenario of being confronted about their balance.

The second is that allowing a patient to accrue a large balance adds stress to their life. Why would we exacerbate their stress level, and further compromise their health?

The truth is that non-paying patients violate the universal law of fair exchange, and subsequently will not get the results they should.

Solution: Train your CAs to perform successful financial consultations and watch your retention (and collections) soar.

• Problem: An office filled with chaos and drama. Even with the best systems in place for processing patients, taking phone calls and handling priorities and office flow, it’s possible for things to go awry, unexpected problems to pop up or office equipment to break down. And these things always seem to happen when the front desk is swamped!

When not everything goes as planned, it’s especially important that your CA maintains control, smiles and remains calm. If your CA starts running around like the proverbial chicken sans head, this fills the office with chaos. Patients can sense this chaos. Rather than adding to the stress of your staff, they eventually choose not to return rather than continue to be part of the “problem.”

Similarly, CAs who imbue the office with drama that should be reserved for an episode of the Jerry Springer Show are a “turnoff” for patients.

Solution: Designate a depository, such as a shelf or mini wastebasket, near the staff entrance as a place to leave personal problems, traffic hassles or crabbiness before CAs begin their day. Patients deserve to experience a haven from the negativity and rudeness that they encounter in their lives. Create a warm, friendly, healing environment where patients look forward to escaping to.

• Problem: Patients viewed as an increase in workload. When a patient walks in, does your CA hold up a finger without making any eye contact, indicating that she’ll be with the person in just a minute? Many task-oriented CAs are more concerned with their work tasks (such as scheduling appointments or processing claims) than focusing on the experience of the patient in the office.

Obviously this attitude sab-otages the growth of a practice.

Solution: Refocus the office mission and put people before papers. Remind your CA to shift his or her full attention to patients and convey an attitude of gratitude that they have come in to the office.

Teach your CAs to make patients feel special. Phenom-enal CAs look for opportunities to enrich their connection with patients. They send notes to patients to thank them for always being on time or referring others. They take a personal interest in patients and wish them luck on an upcoming test or congratulations on a new job.

More ideas to help your CAs retain patients

Here are some additional things you can train your staff to do that will positively affect your patient retention:

• Keep patients on their care schedule. Help your CAs develop the assertiveness, confidence and tools to put the patient on a standing appointment schedule or a schedule of multiple appointments.

One tool that can help CAs in this task is a chiropractic care calendar — a calendar showing the current month and the next month. Your CA fills in the appointments for two months and gives the calendar to the patient.

The care calendar should have your office hours, phone number and e-mail address written on it in case the patient needs to reschedule an appointment. This tool allows many patients to organize their time.

Empower your CAs to convey how crucial it is for patients to maintain the specified frequency of appointments and to make up any missed appointment in order to obtain the results they desire.

• Act as an advocate to every patient. Train your CAs to serve as patient advocates who serve as a liaison or ombudsman to patients in the “hand-holding” stage of care. The advocate develops a relationship with the patient so that if any problems arise, the patient will feel comfortable discussing them and not drop out of care.

The advocate relationship is particularly important in converting new patients into established clients.

• Abide by office policies. No one likes the rules changed mid-game, including patients. To avoid upsetting patients, make sure your staff adheres to office policies on every visit.

• Think long term. If CAs routinely chat with patients for an excessive amount of time, the patient will begin to expect that scenario each visit. What happens when your staff gets busy with other clients? It sends a message that the other patient is no longer important because the relationship was based on quantity of time, rather than quality. Teach your team to think of the long-term implications of their actions and act accordingly.

• Seize the moment to educate. CAs have many opportunities to educate patients about the benefits of continued care. Whether it’s a patient calling to cancel an appointment due to sickness or a patient at the front desk mentioning how the rain causes aches and pains, a CA armed with helpful information can help your practice blossom.

Train your CAs to explain the difference between being healthy and being symptom-free. Teach your staff metaphors for long-term care (such as dental hygiene) and for nerve interference (such as a dimmer switch) to facilitate their explanations to patients. A simple starting point to patient education is for CAs to get adjusted during office hours and wear stickers on those days. This provides a great lead in to explain the benefits of wellness care and share their personal miracles.

Successful CAs are empowered and also have the tools and training to give patients what they want — care, concern, respect, a positive experience and an understanding of how to get great results. Keep these keys in mind and they’ll come back…and bring their friends and families.

Successful CAs realize that it is the patient who “signs” their paycheck.

Kim Klapp is the director and coach of Assistants for Chiropractic ExcellenceTM (www.chiropracticassistants.com), which provides CA coaching and training via monthly tele-classes. She is a 1993 graduate of the University of Michigan and author of Office Systems Reference Guide. She can be reached at kimklapp@att.net or at 734-434-1100

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