4 keys to patient retention, the foundation of chiropractic practice resilience

This article provides valuable insights into creating success in today’s landscape by implementing intelligent strategies for a resilient practice. The article emphasizes the importance of pandemic-proofing your practice, focusing on patient retention and revising payment collections for long-term success.

It shares data gathered during the global shutdown of March 2020, highlighting the significant impact of payment collection methods on practice stability. 

Pandemic-proof your practice

The year 2020 taught us many things, but one of the most important lessons we learned is you must pandemic-proof your practice. From implementing safety protocols to exploring telehealth options, the key to protecting your practice and livelihood lies in resilience and strategic planning.  

Revising payment collections has proven to be a game-changer for chiropractic practices. Automating monthly payments has emerged as a beacon of stability in uncertain times. In fact, we’ve taught for many years now that your PVA can be predicted by how you collect your fees. The message may evolve for today’s conversation: the survival of your practice is dependent upon how you collect your fees.   

Patient retention has never been more important if you really want to continue to succeed and protect yourself from downturns. As illustrated in Table A, the retention of a practice is generally well-predicted by the business model they use to collect their fees. The higher the retention rate, the healthier the practice. Some offices manage to get by with lower PVA, until a time of great stress, like a pandemic, happens. In times of stress and economic uncertainty, these numbers get accentuated.  

In the global shutdown of March 2020, we had the benefit of being able to gather data from thousands of offices. We were able to get a perspective on what was going on in the chiropractic industry.  

What the data tells us

Our data showed us a significant difference between those DCs who had strategies in place designed to increase patient retention and those who did not. The DCs who were having patients pay per visit saw a 50% drop in cash collections. Compare that to the DCs who have a majority of their patients on monthly auto-debits, a key strategy for increasing patient retention, who experienced less than a 3% drop in cash collections. That’s a huge difference.  

Which would you prefer? A 50% decrease or a 3% decrease? Having automated, recurring payments gives you financial stability in practice and fortifies your ability to keep the doors of your office open.  But it’s not just recurring payments that give this. It’s focusing on creating a high retention rate from the start.  

What’s the strategy for achieving this?

Now that we know we need to focus on patient retention, or what I like to call patient loyalty, the strategy for achieving this is quite simple. Focus on a successful patient journey for each and every patient you see. The patient journey is the process a patient goes through from the moment they call your practice through the eventual transition from initial care plan to lifetime wellness care patient. 

Think of this as the game plan you and your team take the patient through to turn them into a loyal patient in your practice.  

What makes up a successful patient journey?

So if we want to create a successful patient journey, you may be asking, how do we do that?  You may be thinking, I already educate my patients, and I’m doing all the things I’ve been taught to share the message of chiropractic. What else is there?  

I’ve identified four pillars that go into making a successful patient journey. The following are the 4 F’s of patient retention: 

• Intuitive feedback demonstrates the need for care and tracks progress throughout care.  
• Forecasting care ensures a clear path to wellness and doesn’t leave the patient confused about the game plan for treatment.  
• Frictionless payments take the financial discussions out of the equation and remove the thought of money. 
• Frequent contact allows for automated education and marketing. 

Feedback

Just how intuitive is your feedback? Do your patients understand the need for care and the progress they’re making? Do they realize improvements can still be made even if they’re out of pain? These questions are fundamental to think about. If a patient doesn’t understand how they’re doing or why they’re still seeing you, they’ll drop out of care. This is detrimental to your retention.   

Think about this: Have you had a patient come to you who’s been to another DC before? Did you ever ask the patient, “Why are you coming to me now? Why aren’t you currently seeing your previous DC?” If you’ve asked this, you’ve probably heard the patient say something like, “I didn’t know how I was doing over there” or “I felt like they just wanted me to keep going back, but I didn’t know why.” 

That patient chose not to return because the previous DC failed to communicate the patient’s progress effectively. You can stop this from happening by providing feedback your patient understands. 

Forecasting care

Do you forecast care for your patients, outlining their treatment plans with all of the recommendations you know they’ll need rather than verbally telling them?  Now think about your financial options for your patients. Do you have any? These go hand-in-hand and are so important for retention! 

It would be best if you made it convenient for your patients to pay and understand their financial obligation to the office with a professional care plan with your recommendations included. This simple step can reduce those awkward financial conversations no one wants to have, drastically improving conversions to wellness care.  

By recommending a plan initially and automating payments versus having them pay every time, patients will say yes, stay under care even when their insurance is exhausted and they’ll transition to wellness care. By spreading the cost over manageable monthly installments, patients are more likely to commit to long-term care plans, resulting in better overall health outcomes. 

Frictionless payments

Payments must be a frictionless experience for your patients and your team! Ask yourself, “How often are patients stopping to pay at the front desk? Could I make this more efficient and automated for everyone involved?”   

The number one reason patients drop out of care is the repeated thought of money, which directly affects retention. If you can take the focus off the patient’s payments and onto their care instead, you will increase your PVA, retention and profits. 

Automating all payments in practice will save time, headaches and frustration from manually entering billing information for all parties involved.  If you could save upward of 40+ hours a month by simply having billing automated, wouldn’t you do that?   

However, not all payment systems are equal. It’s vital to ensure you comply with your financial policies. 

The uncertainty brought about by the pandemic made financial planning a daunting task for both practitioners and patients. Automated monthly payments ensure a steady and predictable cash flow. This stability is not only beneficial for the practitioners but also fosters a sense of trust and reliability with patients, as they can be assured the cost of their care is set at a rate which fits their budget.  

If they were paying per visit, they are much less likely to come in during a stressful financial time. If they were struggling and asked to skip care for a month, it was a much easier conversation versus them not having any future payments scheduled and potentially disappearing as a patient.  

Frequent contact

How are you currently educating your patients? Are you flooding them with information on the first couple of visits? Or have you embraced a more practical approach to small bits of information shared over an extended period? It’s essential to have a constant connection with your patients to educate them frequently about the benefits of chiropractic.   

During the pandemic in particular, frequent contact was of the utmost importance. Letting your patients know the importance of your care, the safety measures you were taking, the fact that you remain open to them, etc.  

Final thoughts

Embracing these principles is a testament to a practice’s commitment to staying current with technological advancements. This not only enhances the overall patient experience, but also positions the practice as forward-thinking and adaptable, essential qualities in the ever-changing landscape of healthcare. 

As the world navigates the challenges presented by the ongoing aftermath of the pandemic, DCs have a unique opportunity to make their practices resilient by reevaluating traditional payment collection methods. The data speaks for itself; practices that have embraced monthly automated payments have not only seen a reduction in financial volatility but have also laid a strong foundation for patient retention. By fostering a sense of stability, financial flexibility and leveraging technology, DCs can not only survive, but thrive, in the new normal of healthcare delivery. So, let’s make the adjustment to automated monthly payments;  your practice and your patients will thank you for it!

MILES BODZIN, DC, ran a very successful high-retention wellness practice in his community for nearly two decades. He retired from practice in 2011 to dedicate himself fully to helping doctors of chiropractic grow their practices via his role as founder and CEO of Cash Practice Systems. He now brings his years of expertise and knowledge to thousands of DCs through his speaking, writing and software systems. Bodzin’s honors include best-selling author as well as having Cash Practice Systems listed on the Inc. 5000 and San Diego Business Journal’s 150 fastest–growing companies. With his down-to-earth approach and humble attitude, he’s able to connect and inspire audiences to empower them to achieve greater success.