No other time in history has there been so many forces fighting against the success of hard working chiropractors. Low insurance payouts, Medicare cuts, restrictive HMO/PPO agreements and a bad recession have all combined to make it difficult on chiropractic offices nationwide.

Add to that the recent recession, which continues to put many doctors out of business, and you have what some call the Perfect Storm.

It’s not getting any easier. Even with the new Health Care Reform Act, things are likely to get much worse. After all, when has bringing more people into the third party payment game made things any better?

This is why in 2010 and forward I’m going to be stressing that you should diversify the types of cases you see. You can no longer sit back and simply think that all patient cases are created equal.

While as doctors, our heart always aches to help every patient, we’ve got to pay the bills or else close the doors. And while the occasional charity case is seen in chiropractors offices (probably more than any other health care profession), most of us did not open our practice to struggle through. As a doctor of chiropractic we should get paid, and get paid well for what we do.

How should you diversify your practice right now, to bring in more profits and protect against future health care changes?

One of the biggest ways to change your practice income and protect against future health care changes is by growing your PI cases. Here are just a few reasons to focus on PI right now and in the future:

PI cases are at a minimum 2-3 times higher in payouts than Major Med or Medicare patients.
It’s very likely that someone involved in a motor vehicle collision will require more care than the average chiropractic patient. Not necessarily more visits, although that could be the case, but more services per visit due to bruising, ligament damage, disc herniations, etc.

PI cases are not part of the national healthcare/health insurance mess.
Who knows what’s going to happen with the changes in medical insurance. But, one thing we do know is that these changes do not apply to Auto Insurance Policies. This means if done the right way, you’ll get paid for what you did on that injured PI patient.

Most Auto carriers pay generous fees for your services.
Have you ever had your fees cut 40%…50%…60% by a Major Med carrier? Rarely have I seen a PI carrier cut PI case fees. What about attorneys cutting fees? (See below for upcoming webinar to discover more on how to deal with attorneys.)

You’ve got an attorney fighting for the patient (and you!)
Attorneys aren’t always bad right? Especially when they’re working for your patient so you can get paid. Sure it takes a bit longer to get paid on some PI cases, but at 2-3 times the payout, its well worth it.

There are copious amounts of studies backing up your care for auto injuries.
If you’re trying to build your case as to why the patient needed all the care you provided, you’ve got a plethora of studies that have been published in peer-reviewed journals. This comes in very handy when writing a narrative.

Want to find out how one chiropractor is bringing in more new PI patients in a week than most chiropractors see in a year?

Click here to learn more about PI Marketing.