Become your community’s healthcare gatekeeper


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Become your community’s healthcare gatekeeper
By Eric Plasker, DC

This year you can create more wellness care patients than you ever thought possible. With healthcare headed away from allopathic answers and toward integrative solutions, now is the time for you to step into the role as the “gatekeepers of health” for the children and adults in your community.

As a frequent first “point of contact” for patients in today’s world, chiropractors have become a primary healthcare provider and a valuable resource for their communities when it comes to family healthcare issues. If you haven’t already done so, you should be thinking about how you can refer to, support, and integrate the services of other holistic healthcare providers in your area into the active care plan recommendations you are making to your own patients.

Not only will the recommendations benefit your patients, but they will also open the door for dozens of referrals to roll through your practice each month as these same providers begin to reciprocate and respond in kind.

In fact, most chiropractic offices around the country are becoming “gatekeepers” of knowledge and are assisting patients in finding the care they need, whether it is from one resource or from a combination of care options, including anything from acupuncture, massage, homeopathy, or traditional medicine.

The time when healthcare providers were competing against one another is now ancient history, and today the goal is to unify and integrate services in order to achieve optimum health for our patients.

As a gatekeeper of health, you can capitalize on this new climate of cooperation to create a cross-referral system that will consistently bring you new wellness care patients.

Make sure that you network with businesses that support your vision. Visit these establishments in person and introduce yourself and your services. Show them the value of what you can offer them. It doesn’t matter whether your practice is already established or you are just beginning, you are going to have lots of patients and they will need other services and products in the community, from nutritionists, herbalists, exercise outlets and spas, to homeopaths.

PROMOTIONAL IDEAS

Here are some mutually beneficial promotional ideas you can offer these providers:

Conduct complimentary onsite health screenings,
Provide health handouts and educational material that they can give to their clients,
Include their marketing materials (or gift certificates) in your new patient folders,
Collaborate with them on fundraising or other special community events,
Give their patrons discounts on chiropractic care, or
Invite them to give a lecture or do a demonstration in your office.

BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP

Once you’ve introduced yourself, here are some great questions you can ask to help build a relationship that will deliver results for everyone involved:

Where do you envision your company in the next three years?
What are your greatest challenges in getting there?
How can I support you in solving those problems or helping you reach your goals?

Remember: Referrals drive any profitable business, including chiropractic. So don’t pass up the opportunities that are waiting right outside of your front door. Become the primary referral source for other healthcare providers in your community and build a first class family practice.

Eric Plasker, DC, is a licensed chiropractor and the founder of The Family Practice — a practice-management group focused on building successful and profitable family practices. For a seminar schedule, coaching, training, or product information, call The Family Practice 866-532-3327, ext. 118 or visit the Web site at www.thefamilypractice.net.

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