issue-09-2018 Archives - Chiropractic Economics

How to navigate the legal minefield of prepaid gift card programs

Michael “Akiva” Newborn June 26, 2018

Legal Ease While health care continues to be an in-demand commodity, the days of setting up shop and passively waiting for patients to walk through the door are rapidly fading from view. As insurance premiums and co-pays rise, health care consumers are looking for the most cost-effective way to obtain the care they need. As a result, the traditional “if you build it, they will come” ethos has given way to a new era of competition in health care, one that has made the health care industry look more like other businesses.

Offering constructive criticism is harder than it sounds

Monica Wofford, CSP June 22, 2018

Personal Growth Whoever developed the term constructive criticism was not familiar with the word oxymoron.Much as jumbo shrimp are still small in stature and a definite maybe still lacks certainty, there’s simply nothing constructive about criticism doled out to an employee. Yet, as the leader in your practice, it is imperative to evaluate employee performance and gain improvement in areas where they may be lacking. How do you do it? How do you evaluate in ways that truly provide feedback without crushing their spirit?

Should you buy an established clinic or start one from scratch?

Crystal Misenheimer June 21, 2018

When to buy an established clinic—and when to build one. When life circumstances bring you the opportunity to own a new practice, which is the better option: buying an established clinic or starting one from scratch? Many doctors are surprised to learn that in most circumstances, the benefits of buying an established clinic far outweigh building from the ground up—sometimes in surprising ways. There are scary statistics on startup failure rates; some sources say as many as 95 percent of startups go out of business.

Durable medical equipment and Medicare offer you a tremendous opportunity

James C. Antos June 20, 2018

Practice Central Medicare continues to reimburse properly certified chiropractic, physical therapy, and other health care professional offices a strong net return. Often as much as $1,000 on commonly used and needed durable medical equipment (DME) lumbar braces. Not only is it possible, but hundreds of chiropractic offices are enjoying these levels of reimbursements. One category of brace for lumbar curvature (scoliosis) patients now gives about a $2,000 net return and is a lifesaver for the patient whose condition is “hopeless.”

How you can help chronic pain sufferers with healing sleep

Jacob Teitelbaum, MD June 19, 2018

Research Results But as you’ve surely noticed, many patients simply can’t get the restorative sleep they need because of pain from chronic conditions or acute injuries. Since the dangers of opioids and even over-the-counter medicines are well reported, your patients may feel frustrated trying to find relief that allows them to rest and recover. The result is that individuals with ongoing pain either put themselves at unnecessary risk hoping that they won’t become a statistic or put up with inadequate sleep each night.

Assessment and treatment of frontal plane dysfunction in runners

Jonathan Mulholland June 15, 2018

Clinical Concerns Treating runners is big business. There are a lot of them, and they’re frequently injured. A common cause for many of these injuries is a lack of stability in the frontal plane. When a runner’s foot strikes the ground, they need the stability to control two to three times their body weight. If they don’t have it, they will likely pay the price in the frontal plane. There are three common frontal plane dysfunctions you will see in runners. So what common factor can explain all three of these frontal plane deviations in runners?

TTAPS: Standing on the shoulders of giants

Alan Bonebrake June 15, 2018

Technique Speak The science of touch. Over several years, from high school through college, I experienced manipulation, adjustments, auriculotherapy and trigger point therapy to correct severe low-back pain with sciatica and thigh atrophy, severe breathing issues, and severe foot and shoulder damage. Injured from time to time, I was in the habit of going to MDs first [never helped], osteopaths second [helped once], chiropractors third [nearly always helped]. That’s why I decided to become a chiropractor instead of an abstract mathematician.

Chiro World, aka ‘The National’

Debra Minor Brown June 13, 2018

Every August, thousands of chiropractors, CCPAs, CAs, LMTs and other industry professionals gather in Orlando, Florida, for the largest event in chiropractic. Walt Disney World is down the street, but this is Chiro World, aka “The National,” held by the Florida Chiropractic Association. With the greatest range of CE options and biggest vendor exposition, attendees can find everything they need in one conference. The National has steadily become the premier meeting place to connect with the chiropractic community.

Increase your potential with a naturopath integration

Tammy Worth June 12, 2018

Feature When Stéphane Provencher, DC, graduated from chiropractic college in 2007, he had plans of being a “doctor.” Not only did he want to work on subluxations but he planned to help patients improve their nutrition, cognition and overall health. To that end, he embarked on studies in functional medicine and energy work, homeopathy and nutrition. For a while, he treated patients in every way his scope allowed. But his move to a high-volume practice in Virginia increased his patient load from two visits per hour to 10.