|
Dr. Andrew Dixon’s vision for wellness
By Todd Stumpf
|
Vital Statistics
Dixon Center of Chiropractic, Inc.
211 Old Hickory Blvd.
Bellevue, TN 37221
Phone: 615-646-1003
Fax: 615-646-5686
chiro@dixoncenter.com
www.dixoncenter.com
|
|
| Office Hours |
M and W: 9 a.m.-Noon, 2-6 p.m.;
T and Th: 2-6 p.m.;
F: 9 a.m.-noon, 2-5 p.m. |
|
| Team Players |
- Andrew S. Dixon, DC, owner
- Christy O. Diaz, DC, associate
- Jason Payne, DC, independent contractor
- Kelly Judd, LMT, NMT
- Chad Berry, LMT, NMT
- Tanya Gattis, LMT, NMT
- Melissa Hotz, CXT, CTA,
office manager, CA
- Lynn Adams, CRT, CA
- Heather Patterson, CA
- Jennifer Ashford, CA, CNT
- Heather Chasteen, CA
- Jeanie Neuton, PT
|
|
| Gross Billings |
|
2005
|
$1.4 million planned and projected |
|
2004
|
$1,188,179 |
|
2003
|
$984,365 |
|
2002
|
$852,929 |
|
2001
|
$643,800 |
|
2000
|
$476,738 |
|
1999
|
$452,091 |
|
|
Gross Collections
|
|
2005
|
$1 million projected |
|
2004
|
$893,139 |
|
2003
|
$718,651 |
|
2002
|
$621,185 |
|
2001
|
$470,768 |
|
2000
|
$396,780 |
|
1999
|
$370,192 |
|
| New Patients and PVA |
|
2004
|
651 |
|
2003
|
563 |
|
2002
|
482 |
|
2001
|
461 |
|
2000
|
365 |
|
1999
|
359 |
|
| PVA 22 Patient Visits |
|
2004
|
14,046 |
|
2003
|
12,262 |
|
2002
|
11,105 |
|
2001
|
9,244 |
|
2000
|
7,592 |
|
1999
|
7,116 |
Dr. Andrew Dixon has been proprietor of his practice, Dixon
Center of Chiropractic, Inc., located in a suburb of Nashville, Tenn., for 15 years. He was generally successful from the start, when he established the practice in 1989. But the practice didn’t really catch fire until, well, it caught fire.
What could have been a tragedy instead provided the spark for what it has grown into today — a $1.15 million practice that employs two associates, three massage therapists, a physical therapist and five CAs.
But the practice wasn’t anything like this on that Thursday night in 1992, when Dixon’s security company woke him with a call that his office was on fire. Dixon, along with a firefighter neighbor, went to the office, where they saw smoke coming out of the front door.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he recalls.
A faulty exhaust fan had shorted out, igniting some x-rays, which in turn burned the building down. At first, it seemed Dixon had lost everything. The interior of the building had to be gutted. His equipment, patient records … everything he had at the time was gone.
But Dixon didn’t waste time lamenting the tragedy.
“I knew we had a lot of patients who were counting on us,” Dixon says. “We had a lot of employees who were counting on a job.”
The fire happened on a Thursday. By the following Tuesday, Dixon was seeing patients again. He rented space in an office vacated by a bank. He rented a truck-full of chiropractic equipment. And he rented office equipment and everything else he needed to get his practice going again.
BLESSING IN DISGUISE
The fire was actually a blessing in disguise. In the few years he had been practicing, Dixon had been forming an idea of what he wanted the practice to be. “I began to realize that being a chiropractor wasn’t just about caring for the spine,” he says, “It was about caring for people — each person unique unto himself. I realized that in addition to spinal integrity, proper nutrition and exercise were tantamount to good health. I also began to realize physical therapy and massage promoted the healing process and made for healthier and more satisfied patients.
“So when the soot and ashes were finally swept away, I had a clear vision in my mind of the kind of practice I needed in order to care for the whole person. That’s what I built.”
Is it a wellness spa or a clinic?
Today when you walk in the door of Dixon Center, you immediately feel the positive flow of energy. Many patients testify to feeling better seconds upon entering the door. The office is designed to appeal to the many senses: It has spa-like décor; a wall-mounted waterfall that provides soothing background sounds; adjustable incandescent lighting, kept low; and relaxing music piped throughout the office.
Although the new office is built where the old one stood, it has a more efficient floor plan. “The floor plan is more open, allowing for freer flow of patients,” Dixon says. “It allowed us to easily double our volume. We were having bottlenecks in the practice prior to the fire. Taking all that into consideration in the same square footage that I had before, with the different design, we basically were able to see dramatic changes in the numbers. Every year it’s just gotten busier and bigger.”
|
NUTRITION, EXERCISE AND CHIROPRACTIC
And build it, he did. Not only do his patients enjoy a beautiful spa-like office setting, they are introduced to nutrition and exercise as well as chiro-practic from their first visit.
Patients fill out a nutritional assessment form during their initial consultation. They identify the vitamins and minerals they are taking. They are then measured and weighed. These assessments are the ideal tools to bring up nutrition.
“That’s a good time to bring the weight issue up, if it is an issue,” Dixon says. “Obviously if weight is associated with the problem that they’re having, it’s easy to go for a nutrition-based approach to care. Many times we find there is a connection and the condition we’re treating will not respond as well if we’re not addressing those other areas. If we can get them eating right, exercising and watching their weight, in addition to getting adjustments, massages and physical therapy, we’ll have a good outcome.”
Nutrition education is an aspect of Dixon’s weekly staff meetings. The practice’s nutrition approach is one of whole-food nutrition and a recommendation for patients to seek minerals from supplemental sources.
|
An aim at profit centers
With three DCs, three massage therapists and a physical therapist already on the staff, Dixon is always looking to add more profit centers to his practice. Profit center is the term Dixon applies to any revenue-generator. His goal is to combine the skills of the DCs, LMTs and PT in one location.
The clinic’s physical therapist — Jeanie Neuton — is a recent addition. “I’ve been moving in that direction for some time,” Dixon says. “I want the physical therapist to do active rehab with our patients — coming in and going over exercises and actually having the patients perform those exercises. The physical therapist can evaluate patients. It’s really an active approach to physical therapy. We provide passive physical therapy with our chiropractic assistants, through electric stimulation, ultrasound and hot and cold packs. I want more active care.”
The PT can do things with patients that the current staff either can’t do or doesn’t have time to do, explains Dixon. She also educates patients about movement, posture and exercise.
Dixon envisions that 20 to 30 percent of active patients will work with the physical therapist. PT sessions take more time, so capacity is limited. Despite that limitation, adding a PT to the practice gives it another service to offer, which Dixon says translates to a higher dollar-per-visit ratio.
He also plans to market physical therapy services to other providers in the area — medical doctors and other chiropractors in the area.“There is no other physical therapy in any other chiropractic office the community I’m in,” he says.
Adding physical therapy to the practice takes Dixon one step closer to growing his gross billings to $2.5 million in the next five years. To get there, he also envisions adding an MD or DO and an acupuncturist.
“That’s where the integrated practice will come in,” he says. “The growth of the practice is going to be on the chiropractic aspect of it, no doubt about it. But we’re hitting on all cylinders right now. I’m looking to develop additional profit centers, not just in chiropractic.”
|
RX FOR EXERCISE
A fitness enthusiast, Dixon preaches what he practices. He encourages patients to take care of their bodies inside and out and not just from a chiropractic standpoint. An avid weight trainer and former college athlete, he says that “99 percent” of his patients are prescribed some form of exercise program, such as an at-home stretching program, isometric exercises or resistive-exercise program.
Sports and fitness have become a focal point in his family life, as well. Because his children are athletically inclined, he and his wife spend many weekends in gyms, watching sports, cheerleading or dance competitions. The Dixon family vacations typically involve some type of athletic activity, such as skiing.
Now 44 and more than two decades removed from his football-playing days at Marshall University, Dixon remains active. When he’s not lifting weights, he’s doing cardiovascular workouts or yoga. After college, and during his time at chiropractic college, he competed as a body builder. He did it for the competition, a thirst he still tries to quench daily.
COMPETITION WITH COOPERATION
“In practice there’s competition with other providers for the acquisition of patients,” he says. “We have competition in our office for things we want for our patients. I try to encourage patients to set goals for themselves, outside of just getting out of neck and back pain, but also for losing weight and things like that.
“We also like to look at our numbers as well. I manage by statistics. You set goals for doing something and it’s a competition to reach those goals.”
Competition with a lot of cooperation. As Dixon puts it, each patient will typically interact with all the doctors at the practice. The idea is to keep the pace brisk with the goal to have patients in and out in 15 to 20 minutes.
“I don’t want to take up a lot of their time,” Dixon says. “Most find that’s something they really appreciate. Others prefer to wait for a particular doctor. Sometimes they may have to wait a little bit longer …We want each patient to know each doctor and each staff member.”
Dixon credits his staff for a lot of the success. He believes a happy staff is a good staff, so he pays them well. Many have been with the practice for five years or more. Dixon calls the staff his greatest asset.
“Time and time again I am complimented on the doctors’ and staff’s professionalism, training, and efficiency,” he says. “Our staff is very well scripted when communicating with patients. We all are trained on how to answer questions and deal with situations that may arise. If a patient asks one CA a question about insurance or their appointment, you can be sure if they ask another staff member the same question they will receive the same answer. The team really goes the extra mile for our patients in every aspect of their care in and out of the office.”
They have a good time doing it, too. In fact, Dixon insists on that. Having fun in the office is almost law. Dixon believes levity keeps everyone fresher and better able to handle stressful situations. With that in mind, he encourages laughter and joke-telling — all clean, of course.
KEEP COMING BACK
Add that type of atmosphere to the list of things that keeps patients coming back. Many patients date back to the start of the 15-year-old practice. From Dixon’s point of view, keeping people coming back has been a product of getting people well first and foremost. But after that, developing and cultivating relationships with patients is nearly as important.
“Make it a goal to develop a relationship with your patients that is based on trust and professionalism that supersedes any change in health insurance that the patient will more than likely experience,” Dixon advises. “I tell patients I want our relationship based on a lifetime of care, not on insurance coverage.”
|
Contests, calls and referrals bring patients in
While many DCs rely on letting their “fingers do the walking,” Dixon lets his patients “do the working.” More than 60 percent of his patients come through his doors because of patient referrals.
Of course, as an astute business person, Dixon uses a variety of approaches to attract patients. And, thanks to his CA Melissa Hotz, who manages the practice’s marketing budget, he knows which activities are effective. He has a goal of generating $10 for every $1 spent in marketing. If a project falls short, it is either reconfigured or axed.
Some of Dixon’s more effective campaigns include:
• Patient-referral contests. This might be the most unique way in which he markets his practice.
In February, for example, the practice held a contest in which the patient who referred the most patients over a period of time won a weekend at a posh Nashville hotel.
• Computer-generated calls. Patients learn about contests via an automated telephone-calling system. Computer-generated calls go out to his patient base, with a friendly message about the contest.
Other announcements are compu-generated throughout the year, just to keep patients apprised of what’s going on at the practice.
Dixon also uses the system to send public-service announcements to existing patients or prospective ones.
• Billboard thank-you.The practice hosts two patient appreciation days each year. And Dixon really appreciates his patients. So much so that part of his advertising budget this year was spent on a billboard thanking patients for voting his the most popular chiropractic practice in Bellevue.
• Corporate screenings. The practice has recently established a relationship with a local health club, which schedules screenings at large corporations. The return on that project isn’t known yet, since it’s only been going on for nine months or so, but “I think that’s going to be something we’re going to want to keep and expand on,” Dixon says.
• Branding. Dixon budgets about $20,000 a year for collateral work done by a local advertising agency. The bulk of that initially went toward the creation of a brochure that doubles as a report-of-findings folder.
The agency has also developed items that help brand the practice within the community, posters for the office and a small brochure used at health fairs.
All those items have the same design as the report-of-findings folder.
|
|
An aim at profit centers
With three DCs, three massage therapists and a physical therapist already
on the staff, Dixon is always looking to add more profit centers to his practice. Profit center is the term Dixon applies to any revenue-generator. His goal is to combine the skills of the DCs, LMTs and PT in one location.
The clinic’s physical therapist — Jeanie Neuton — is a recent addition. “I’ve been moving in that direction for some time,” Dixon says. “I want the physical therapist to do active rehab with our patients — coming in and going over exercises and actually having the patients perform those exercises. The physical therapist can evaluate patients. It’s really an active approach to physical therapy. We provide passive physical therapy with our chiropractic assistants, through electric stimulation, ultrasound and hot and cold packs. I want more active care.”
The PT can do things with patients that the current staff either can’t do or doesn’t have time to do, explains Dixon. She also educates patients about movement, posture and exercise.
Dixon envisions that 20 to 30 percent of active patients will work with the physical therapist. PT sessions take more time, so capacity is limited. Despite that limitation, adding a PT to the practice gives it another service to offer, which Dixon says translates to a higher dollar-per-visit ratio.
He also plans to market physical therapy services to other providers in the area — medical doctors and other chiropractors in the area.“There is no other physical therapy in any other chiropractic office the community I’m in,” he says.
Adding physical therapy to the practice takes Dixon one step closer to growing his gross billings to $2.5 million in the next five years. To get there, he also envisions adding an MD or DO and an acupuncturist.
“That’s where the integrated practice will come in,” he says. “The growth of the practice is going to be on the chiropractic aspect of it, no doubt about it. But we’re hitting on all cylinders right now. I’m looking to develop additional profit centers, not just in chiropractic.”
|
Todd Stumpf is a freelance writer. He can be reached at tstumpf22@yahoo.com.
|
