Forging relationships in the medical community
By Shawn Finn, DC

How many referrals do you get from medical doctors? If you are like most chiropractors, you don’t get many. For many, the medical community is uncharted territory. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

With persistent and consistent efforts to build relationships, you may find 20 percent of your patients come from medical referrals.

Practice building by building relationships with medical doctors is cost-effective and can add credibility to your practice’s reputation.

Here are some steps that worked for our practice:

1. Compile a list of physicians in your area. Use the Internet or phone book to put together a list of MDs and DOs within a 10-mile radius of your office.

We focus on spine care and rehabilitation, so we target general practitioners, orthopedists, and neurosurgeons.

If you have a specialty such as soft-tissue treatment or extremity adjusting, you can add other targets to your list such as podiatrists or sports-medicine doctors.

After compiling your list, call the offices and get directions as well as hours of operation. Build your list based on geographic location to optimize your time.

2. Visit the doctor’s office in person. Set up a time to return to bring lunch to the doctor and staff.

Most physicians have free time around lunch so they can visit with pharmaceutical reps. This is the perfect time for you to visit as well. And by bringing lunch, you will have time to sit down and interact with the doctor in a less stressful environment.

Hint: Eat before or after the visit. That way you can spend time talking instead of eating.

3. Schedule marketing time. When you go on lunch meetings, don’t squeeze them in around patients or during light times. Instead, schedule marketing time just as you would patients, and set a goal to have lunch with at least one or two medical offices per month.

If you don’t have a lunch scheduled, use the time for follow-up visits to bring extra business cards or information. When you set a measurable goal, you will be much more driven to achieve it.

4. Prepare your practice message. What is your mission? What is your practice philosophy by which you live and breathe every day? What is the one quality that makes you unique and should compel physicians to send you their patients?

For example: Our practice gets a great response from the medical community because of our focus on restoring our patients’ function. We emphasize that we teach our patients exercises in the office and that they perform the exercises until their function is restored. We then prescribe a home plan to help patients maintain their newfound strength.

This approach makes sense to a medical physician because I can hand the medic a journal article citing the efficacy of combining manipulation and rehabilitation. I also emphasize that we are primarily spine-oriented, which gives us a competitive advantage over physical therapists, who rehab many different areas of the body.

Focusing on the spine has made me a spinal expert in the eyes of MDs. I also emphasize my advanced training in whiplash care, especially acute care, which is met with great interest by medics.

5. Practice your presentation. Now that you have a message, rehearse it! You will get only a short period of time to deliver your message to the MD, who is just as busy, if not busier, than you.

Don’t do your presentation on the fly. A smooth, rehearsed delivery comes off as professional and relaxed. Have confidence in your ability and look your audience in the eye.

The first couple of times I spoke to MDs, I was nervous and intimidated. After a few years in practice, I realized that we are the experts in musculoskeletal injuries, not the MDs. Suddenly, I was the one who could speak with authority.

6. Focus on what you can do for the doctor. Let him know you can help with chronic or tough cases and that you will take acute-care patients the same day.

Some MDs have expressed frustration to me about neck and lower-back pain patients. Many of their typical treatments, such as NSAIDs and physical therapy, do not work, and patients inevitably end up back in their office, frustrated and in pain. Medical doctors need our help. Offer that help and the referrals will come.

Let the doctor know you are interested in helping his patients. Walking into an office and telling the doctor how he can help you is not a great way to start a relationship.

7. Emphasize ongoing feedback. Trust takes time to build. Abide by the referring doctor’s wishes and provide ongoing feedback on the patient’s progress.

In my presentation, I discuss flexion and distraction therapy, mobilization, and trigger-point therapy as alternatives to chiropractic-manipulation therapy. The fact that we perform in-office rehabilitation also provides a viable alternative to pure manipulation therapy.

The MDs who send us patients greatly appreciate co-management of patients. The bottom line is that MDs are concerned about one thing — their patients. They want to know what to expect in terms of treatment and results.

8. Establish a personal rapport. Find out the MD’s personal interests and look for common ground. Every expert in the business networking community emphasizes this technique. It all comes down to making a connection with another human being on an emotional level.

I do homework on new contacts, especially physicians. The Internet affords a way to check the doctor’s alma mater and bring it up in conversation, perhaps about the college’s team. I also like to observe different restaurants in the general area and ask if he has eaten there. If he has and likes it, I will say, “I haven’t been there, but we should get together and go there sometime for lunch or dinner.” A dinner outside of the office can further solidify the new relationship.

9. Follow up. Lastly, solid follow-up is necessary to build the relationship. Have a thank-you letter ready and send it the day after the appointment. Emphasize your eagerness to help the doctor’s patients in any way possible.

Building a practice in this fashion requires hard work, persistence, and patience. However, once you establish yourself as the chiropractor MDs can trust, your practice will have an influx of patients who are motivated and who listen to your instruction because their doctor referred them.

Shawn Finn, DC, is a 1997 graduate of the National College of Chiropractic. He founded Finn Chiropractic, www.finnchiro.com, a multidoctor practice north of Pittsburgh in 1998. His facility practices evidence-based chiropractic, focusing on functional restoration through acute intervention, then in-office and at-home rehabilitation. He can be reached via e-mail at drfinn@finnchiro.com.