Chiropractic apps to help run your business and for practice growth

Utilize the latest technologies to your practice’s advantage with chiropractic apps for project and time management and communications

Most chiropractors think their EHR is supposed to do everything to run their practice. But outside of their EHR there are many applications and chiropractic apps that are greatly beneficial.

After spending nearly two decades running a successful cash-based practice and founding one of chiropractic’s leading technology companies, here are the apps we’ve found valuable in running a business.

Chiropractic apps for organization and productivity

Trello — This project management app is perfect for visual people. You can take one project and break it down into smaller chunks and even into individual tasks. You can even assign people to certain tasks and set due dates. This can be used for planning marketing events, organizing blog posts, planning events in the office and even duties that need to be covered when someone is out of the office. Trello offers accounts for free.

Google Drive/Calendar — This comes free with your Google account, and teams can use shared folders for documents and spreadsheets. It’s in real time, so multiple people can be working on a document at the same time and, if necessary, revert back to previous versions. You can set permissions for viewing, editing, etc., and can even upload documents and share in a folder.

Each employee can have their own calendar that is shared with the rest of the team. It’s easy to see who is on vacation, plan out marketing calendars, set up meetings and include agendas, and link attachments. The best part is you can go straight from your desktop to the app on your phone in real time. At home and want to check the spreadsheet of the current stats that your office manager updated? Just log in and look.

Communicating as a team

Team communication is key, but not everything needs to be an email:

RingCentral — Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone systems have been around a long time, and we use Ringcentral as it’s really easy to configure, add lines, forward calls and more. It even lets you text from your business line. There’s really no reason to use old-school installed business phone systems anymore.

Instant Messengers — Sometimes you need to get a message to another person without speaking out loud or running to the other side of the office. We have tried tons of instant messengers but have stuck with Brosix. It’s affordable and allows us to securely host it on our own server. It also allows for administrative monitoring so you can make sure it doesn’t get abused. Slack is another option.

Marco Polo — This is something we were just introduced to by a colleague at a seminar. It’s a video messaging app, and you can think of it like a video walkie-talkie. It’s great for those who aren’t fans of texting or writing emails but don’t have the time to sit on the phone. In communicating you don’t lose the tone of voice and body language so important in many types of messages.

Practice growth and management

Video calls — FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Zoom, RingCentral Meetings — we use all these apps pretty regularly to communicate between team members and business associates, as well as for marketing and social media. One of my favorite ways to use video conferencing is during a patient report of findings to have their significant other join in. No more hearing patients say, “Let me talk to my spouse about it.”

Collecting payments anywhere — Mobile apps make it much easier to collect payments. These apps are also a great way to ensure the potential new patient shows up for their appointment in the office. What’s more, once the patient enrolls, automating payments whether they are one-time or monthly auto-debits not only saves time, but removes the thought of money for the patient. (#Retention!)

Patient communication via email and text — We live in Southern California where there is a definite “fire season.” One year the power was out and tons of businesses were closing, except for us. In a process that took about five minutes, we sent out a branded email to our patient database letting them know we were still there to see to their needs.

Texting is always a great way to immediately reach a patient. To keep patients on track for their treatment plan, once they are 15 minutes late for an appointment, they receive a text using an app/system like RingCentral. You can also use Google for this.

Timeclock management system — There are tons of these out there. The days of pen and paper timesheets are gone. Not only can your team clock in and out from a computer, but also from an actual time clock unit on the wall, or a mobile phone. There are tons of security features, and you can see where individuals clock in from.

Miscellaneous apps

TripIt — For our travels we build our itineraries, and it keeps the budget, confirmation numbers and a detailed agenda of the trip. It allows you to easily import reservations straight from your email as well.

TaskRabbit/Serviz — When something breaks in the office and you need a handyman to move a thermostat, build shelves, fix a toilet, etc., this is a quick lifesaver.

Amazon/Prime Now — Set up a Business Prime account and get extra deals on products specific to an office, set up different logins, and get last-minute items delivered within hours.

Food/meal delivery — Hosting a health talk and want to have food brought in? Or what about an all-day training or meeting with your team? Meal-delivery services like Uber Eats, Postmates, Yelp, Grubhub, etc., all keep meetings productive and people from getting “hangry.”

This list of chiropractic apps, many of which are free, can increase your success in practice, so use the technology to your advantage when appropriate.

MILES BODZIN, DC, is the founder and CEO of Cash Practice Systems, chiropractic’s No. 1 technology platform for creating loyal patients. He can be contacted at drbodzin@cashpractice.com or 877-343-8950 x200. Article contributions and additional editing by Amber Shepherd.