An MD’s advice
5 ways to get more MD referrals
By Tel Franklin, MD

One of the best ways to attract new patients to your practice is by creating a referral network with local medical doctors. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

Chiropractors and MDs don’t always see eye-to-eye. As a family physician who has referred patients to many excellent chiropractors in my area, I believe the problem stems from the instinctive mistrust many physicians harbor toward chiropractic professionals.

MDs are skeptical by nature when it comes to therapies outside of what they learned in medical school. Mistakenly, they often view chiropractors as businesspeople offering health-related services rather than as licensed professional healers.

Patients also contribute to mistrust. At an annual checkup last year, a patient of mine said he stopped taking the medication I prescribed for his heart. When I asked him why, he said his chiropractor had manipulated his liver and told him it was being damaged by the medication.

I later learned that the patient had misinterpreted the chiropractor’s advice, but this dangerous form of the “blame game” can greatly damage your credibility with physicians. (This works both ways.)

Given the fact that trust is an essential part of building any successful referral network, is there anything you can do to improve your relationships with local MDs?

Yes. In fact, I believe there has never been a better time for chiropractors to approach MDs with the goal of creating healing partnerships that benefit patient, physician, and practice alike. All you need is the right approach.

Here are five ideas to get you started:

1. Meet us in a nonprofessional sphere. Physicians are bombarded all day by patients, phone calls, and pharmaceutical reps. The last thing they want is yet another phone call or scheduled meeting to drain their time. A better way to approach MDs is by creating an opportunity outside of work to get together.

This could be as simple as casually approaching a doctor at the gym or joining social groups of which local physicians are likely to be members. Another way is by volunteering your time at local clinics, or by working with physicians to conduct sports physicals at local community colleges or high schools. Get to know the person first — then the physician.

2. Ask for our opinion. It’s not uncommon for chiropractors to ask me for a second opinion on patients they’re treating — even if the patients aren’t mine. I’m flattered by the request and usually happy to oblige.

Some of the chiropractors I work with have done this simply by sending a professional note written on their office letterhead with the following:

“I just saw Mrs. Jones and would appreciate your evaluation and opinion before beginning therapy.” Or, “I just began therapy on Mr. Smith and he doesn’t seem to be responding. I’d appreciate working with you to find a better solution.”

When there’s communication and collaboration between the physician, chiropractor, and patient, the patient gets to a higher level of health and wellness.

3. Educate and reassure us. I didn’t know a lot about chiropractic until some of my chiropractor patients helped me understand the treatments they use in their practices.

Realize that most MDs don’t understand what you do and need reassurance about the value and efficacy of manipulative therapies. The best way to educate is by example. Invite local MDs for free exams. Show them how you work and why your work benefits their practice and their patients.

4. Send us referrals. If you believe in karma, you already know that what you give to others will come back to you twice. So, one of the best ways to establish trust and respect with MDs is by referring your own patients. (Though I still believe an even better way is to have the MDs as your patients!)

5. Don’t overstep your boundaries. Earlier I told you about the patient who stopped taking his heart medication because of what his chiropractor supposedly advised.

On that one occasion it was the patient who made the mistake. But over the years, I’ve had patients stop taking medicine or a treatment because of what their chiropractors told them.

If you have questions about a treatment a physician may be prescribing to your patient, contact the patient’s physician respectfully by personal letter. Approach the MD as a health professional interested in learning more, rather than as a critic questioning his or her techniques, and you’ll find the MD more willing to open up and share information — and patients — with you.

The hallmark of chiropractic care is being proactive instead of being reactive.

Be proactive in building personal relationships with physicians, and you’ll increase their level of trust and the amount of referrals you’ll receive.

Oh … you may be interested in this: My primary care doctor is a chiropractor.

Tel Franklin, MD, was recently recognized as one of the top 50 family physicians in California by the California Academy of Family Physicians. He is the founder of the Appreciative Medicine Network, www.appreciativemedicine.com, an online wellness community where chiropractors can receive referrals and integrative health advice from physicians.