Practice growth expert to new practitioners: Starting your own chiropractic practice

It is an excellent resource for starting your own chiropractic practice and also for well-established practices

Starting your own chiropractic practice can be a bit daunting. Okay, it can often be downright overwhelming. But with some guidance, you can know exactly what you need to do.

We interviewed Travis Schneider, co-founder and chief corporate development officer at Tebra, the parent company of PatientPop (the market leader in practice growth technology) about what chiropractors need to pay attention to when getting their practices off the ground.

What follows is our interview, edited for both length and clarity.

What is the most important thing DCs should pay attention to when starting your own chiropractic practice?

When starting your practice, your digital footprint becomes the front door of your office for prospective patients. In addition, the consumerization of health care means that patients want fast and convenient access to find and connect with your practice. As a result, here are some things you must do:

Claim online business profiles and keep them updated — Make it easy for patients to find you by claiming and updating all online business profiles. Google business listings are the most popular and consistently own 88% of the market share for search. However, there are many other business profiles like Yelp, etc. It is essential to claim all your profiles to ensure you are easily searchable.

When claiming and setting up your profiles, be sure that your information is consistent across all listings — this includes your location(s), hours, contact information, practice specialty, and website. Add high-quality photos that showcase your office, staff, and services to elevate your profiles further and demonstrate to patients what they can expect by choosing you as a provider.

Optimize your website — Because of the increased usage of smartphones and mobile devices, Google focuses on mobile content for indexing and ranking purposes. By providing value on desktop and mobile devices, you can reach patients where they are and positively impact your rankings.

In addition to a mobile- and desktop-optimized website, it is essential to deliver relevant content and new information about your services. By enticing visitors to spend more time on your site, you are more likely to convert visitors to new patients. Your website should also include strong keywords throughout the content, sticky calls-to-action to convert visitors into patients, SEO-friendly content pages, and lightning-fast speeds.

Leverage online reviews — Our latest research shows that about 69% of patients will not consider a provider with an average rating below four stars. Therefore, when implementing an automated online review strategy, consider the three factors that have the highest impact on your online reputation:

1. the total number of reviews
2. the frequency of reviews
3. the average star rating

Sending automated patient satisfaction surveys via text or email soon after the appointment will increase the likelihood of receiving feedback and reviews consistently. Not only do reviews improve your online reputation for others to see, but reviews also provide insight for you into what is going well at your practice and areas you may need to focus on more.

What are the most important tools to have in place when starting your practice?

An electronic health record (EHR) system is one of the most important tools for delivering top-tier care for any practice. With so many EHRs on the market for new practitioners, it’s important they select the one that is right for their practice’s needs. Unfortunately, only 40% of physicians have an EHR that meets meaningful-use needs.

The right EHR solution will streamline your practice with simple charting that mimics your workflow, secure lab management, dashboard analytics, secure messaging, and a patient portal where patients can access their medical records easily. In addition, it is highly beneficial to have an EHR that integrates with your billing system to improve accuracy and efficiency.

Are there ‘checklist items’ that new DCs would be surprised that they need to pay attention to?

We created a practice growth checklist to guide providers and ensure there are no surprises or missed steps. It is an excellent resource for starting your own chiropractic practice and also for well-established practices.

Chiropractors that own their practices are often tasked with responsibilities beyond health care. Moreover, 57% of physicians report that the time they spend completing non-clinical tasks takes away from their time with patients. While administrative tasks come with the territory of being a practice owner, once those tasks begin to impede time with patients, quality of care, or mental health — it’s time to delegate, whether that be by implementing software to streamline those tasks and automate or by hiring team members to take ownership over non-clinical tasks.

What are the biggest mistakes that new practitioners make?

Fragmented software solutions are one of the biggest mistakes when starting a practice. Practice owners often implement a software solution for one part of their business and add additional software for other functions at a later time.

Fully integrated software streamlines everything within your practice, from your EHR to billing and marketing. In addition, one system provides you with a complete view of your practice operating and KPIs.

Failing to streamline practice operations is an oversight too many start-up practices make, and it catches up to them. Tedious tasks that stall practice productivity should be avoided at all costs. Streamlining practice workflow eliminates time-excessive duties like manual data entry, documentation, and appointment confirmations.

When opening a practice, finding cost-effective solutions becomes a priority for software, medical supplies, etc. However, that often leads to short-term solutions that are more costly in the long run. Focusing on what technology, tools, and vendors will serve your business right now and grow with you eliminates many pain points in the future.

The last piece of advice for starting your own chiropractic practice is to employ key performance indicators (KPIs) to give their practice an edge over the competition. KPI awareness helps to identify the areas of growth and where there is room for improvement. For example, some KPIs can include patient sentiment, patient conversion, new patient inquiries, etc.

About the Sponsor

To learn more about Dee Cee Labs and its ongoing efforts to support and educate new chiropractic practitioners, visit dclabs.com/about.php.