Boost your bottom line
Add massage Therapy as an ancillary service
By Amy Mitchell

Perhaps you’ve hit a profit plateau, or you’re simply ready to expand your scope. In either case, adding an ancillary service might be just the enhancement your practice needs.

According to Chiropractic Economics 10th Annual Salary & Expense Survey (Vol. 53, Issue 8), 44.5 percent of chiropractors employ a licensed massage therapist (LMT) in their clinics and 53.1 percent provide massage modalities to their patients, including the use of mechanical massage devices and hands-on work they do themselves.

Additionally, a reader survey conducted in 2005 by MASSAGE Magazine, the “sister” magazine of Chiropractic Economics, revealed that 12 percent of massage therapists work with chiropractors.

Bringing a massage therapist into your practice can boost your revenue. Practices that employ LMTs have a mean total net income of $143,229, compared to $128,052 for practices without an LMT. (For more comparisons, see the sidebar, “A case for hiring an LMT.”)

Many of your patients may already be paying out-of-pocket for spa treatments, cosmetic procedures, acupuncture, or massage therapy. So why refer them elsewhere when you can provide an ancillary service in your office?

If you decide massage therapy may be a good match for your clinic:

• Do your homework. Conduct research into massage therapy: How it works physiologically, the health benefits it imparts, and what conditions it has successfully treated. Be sure it is a treatment you believe in.

While chiropractic aims to treat musculoskeletal and general health problems through spinal adjustments, massage therapy focuses on manual manipulation of muscles and other soft tissues of the body to reduce pain and enhance relaxation.

Other noted benefits include stimulation of blood and lymph circulation, as well as reduction of stress, heart rate, and blood pressure. Although the focus is different for each modality, practitioners in both camps agree that when massage is incorporated into a chiropractic treatment program the results are better.

• Analyze your potential market. You’ll need to determine whether massage therapy is saleable in your market. Identify if there is a demand for it by asking your patients if they would use this service.

If you already refer patients elsewhere, track how frequently this happens. You could do your own feasibility study or work with a practice-management consultant.

• Set a fee schedule. Calculate the number of patients you’d need to treat to make the service profitable, and set a fee schedule. Insurance carriers are beginning to cover massage therapy for treatment of certain conditions. Find out how much your most common payers will reimburse. And check with your own liability insurance carrier about risk-management issues.

• Market. Spread the word about your new service by sending letters to your patients, announcing it in your newsletter or on your Web site, and posting an announcement in your waiting room. Gather testimonials if possible.

If you opt to hire a licensed therapist, you have several options when creating an employment contract. (See sidebar, “LMT working options.”) Aware of the benefits of working for an established chiropractic practice, massage schools are encouraging their graduates to seek employment at chiropractic offices.

For a massage therapist just starting out, this situation offers hands-on experience in a professional environment, continuing education about physiology and anatomy, and an opportunity to get her name into the community.

The concerns some massage therapists may have about this arrangement include working in a clinical setting rather than a relaxation environment, losing their autonomy, or ensuring a fair work exchange. Nevertheless, members of both professions say if done the right way, it can be a rewarding collaboration. A massage therapist can provide a valuable service to your patients and benefit your practice — and your office can provide the massage therapist with a unique opportunity.

SIDEBARS:
A case for hiring an LMT
LMT working options

Amy Mitchell is the online editor for MASSAGE Magazine and Chiropractic Economics. She can be contacted at amitchell@chiroeco.com.