In treatment or buying or selling a practice, post-COVID-19 will be a better time and place to advance chiropractic care
A beacon of light is shining for chiropractic as we deal with the worst pandemic we have known in our lifetime. A bold statement to make, but the following is my rationale to advance chiropractic care.
For many years now, long before the pandemic, the dark side of technology has been the preferred method of communication and has distanced us from businesses and each other. Before “social distancing” became an obsequious lexicon in our language, we were already experiencing the impersonal, distant but modern ways of communicating and connecting with businesses, family, community and friends.
Technology and interaction
The use of voicemails, texts, emails, chatbots and automated customer service representatives at virtually all major companies sums up how most person-to-person communication occurs today. But, despite these modern ways of messaging and connecting, people now and always have wanted human and physical interaction. A recent survey cited at review42.com regarding the most preferred method of communication demonstrates that over 75% of us choose face-to-face, human interaction over all-digital and voice-automated platforms.
The medical profession is currently heralding telemedicine as a necessary way of caring for patients who dare not venture into the office. But, this type of “band-aid” medicine will never replace the need for a doctor to meet with a patient personally — to see, hear their facial and verbal cues, and most importantly do a hands-on diagnostic examination. In the case of chiropractors, touching the patient and the adjustment is primary and the most important therapeutic and treatment modality.
There is no question that even beyond the need for receiving chiropractic protocols for acute, corrective and health maintenance care, is the very basic biological and human need to have face-to-face communication, emotional connection and personal touch. As doctors of chiropractic we know there is immense therapeutic value in just the laying on of hands above and beyond the very mechanical movements that various spinal and soft tissue adjustments require. Social media platforms via computers or cell phones will never replace the need for physical closeness in all its forms.
This is the reason chiropractic practices will actually enter into a golden age of referential health care to advance chiropractic care and practices will become more successful than ever.
Advance chiropractic care via wellness
For decades now only between 8-10% of the population of the U.S. has ever received chiropractic care. Despite all of our marketing and management consultants’ techniques, that dial hasn’t moved upward to a higher percentage. But during and post-COVID, more people will be seeking natural ways of becoming healthier, preventing disease and maintaining good health through chiropractic care, lifestyle, exercise, nutrition and de-stressing.
Practices are starting to see a boom in patients seeking care, and physical touch offering therapeutic benefit and health guidance. This coming post-pandemic golden age is now creating a simultaneous seller’s and buyer’s market for chiropractic practices. For those selling their practice, the market value will likely increase from the current depressed prices as their incomes, existing and new patient visits rapidly increase. Banks and lending institutions have already begun freeing up their capital reserves to eager buyers looking to jumpstart their careers by assuming ownership of successful practices.
Buying a practice will once again be considered a safe loan for the lender. Practice buyers can now begin to feel confident that they are buying a profitable business that will provide them with a fulfilling and secure financial future.
Sellers once again will receive a great return for all the years of hard work it took to build and maintain a successful health care business. Buyers, on the other hand, will feel confident in assuming the goodwill of a going concern and have faith, confidence and belief in their investment to advance chiropractic care.
Gregory M. Kingsbury, DC, is the founder of ChiroEquity, a nationwide chiropractic practice brokerage and appraisal service company. With more than 35 years of experience, he has assisted hundreds of chiropractors in the sales and practice acquisition process. He can be reached at greg@chiroequity.com, 908-419-7510, or chiroequity.com.
