chiropractic cash practice

Cash practices have been around for a long time in chiropractic. For the first few decades of our profession, all chiropractors ran a cash-only practice as there was little to no health insurance in those days. And even if there was, it sure wasn’t going to pay for chiropractic.

I previously wrote on the pros and cons of a cash practice here. In that article, I mentioned that I’m seeing more chiropractic (and even medical) doctors consider going to a cash practice. Many give the current health care environment as the reason why.

Here are just three pieces of news I’ve come across lately regarding the state of affairs in chiropractic.

#1. In Texas, the Medical Association is fighting (and currently winning)
a battle to keep chiropractors from diagnosing.

#2. On the east coast, insurance giant Kaiser Permanente has declared
they will no longer pay for cervical adjustments.

#3. Obama’s healthcare plan will be fully implemented by 2014. No one
knows for sure what it will do to chiropractors, but chances are it
will not be good.

One of my goals is to provide the information you need and want to
help you thrive in the midst of upcoming challenges.

To do this, I need your help.

I’ve put together a simple 10 question survey that will only take
you a couple of minutes to complete. This is your opportunity to let
me know what you think about this mess.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7YJ5FMV

Whether you’re for a cash practice or against it, let me know by
answering these short questions. And as a thank you for filling out
the survey, I’m going to give you a free bonus: “The Coming Crisis in
Chiropractic and How to Beat It in 2011: A Blueprint for Success”,
which includes the 3 most effective marketing strategies, the 3
advertising strategies you should stop doing now, and the big secret
that cash-practice gurus never, ever tell their clients.

After completing the survey, leave your email, and as soon as I get
the blueprint done I’ll send it to you.

Click this link to take the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7YJ5FMV

Yours for greater success,
Michael Beck, D.C.

In the last post (Chiropractic Marketing Is A Changing) I began revealing the answers to a recent blog survey I conducted. I left the answer to the final question to be discussed in full today.

The question I asked my readers was:

5. What is the biggest challenge you see facing you as a chiropractor over the next year?

The answers I received were very surprising. Let me explain…

First, a bit of history. I asked a very similar question in a survey about a year and half ago. The most common answer at the time had to deal with getting new patients. This was no surprise, as that has always been the biggest struggle in running a chiropractic practice.

Chiropractors struggle with the problem of getting new patients for a couple of reasons.

Reason #1: The common misconception of chiropractic by the public.

Reason #2: Most chiropractors complete disregard for using effective marketing and measuring ROI.

Number 1 above we can do little about individually, other than keep making our practices successful so we can reach more people. But the second reason above is totally within your control.

Why do most chiropractors have a complete disregard for using effective marketing? There are various reasons I’ve heard from doctors over the years, ranging from the “marketing is not professional” to the “it just doesn’t work in my area”.

So it wasn’t a big surprise to me that this was the most common answer with my survey last week. 36% of people mentioned new patients or marketing as their biggest problem. It’s definitely still a problem chiropractors face, and will be until we all become better educated on real chiropractic marketing.

What was a surprise was the second place answer, coming in at 35% of respondents mentioning it in their write-in answers. This new category of answers had to deal with health care reform (Obamacare) and the issue of cash practice or cash patients!

Now you may think this has been around for awhile, so it’s not big deal to see that answer. But think about it for a minute. Almost as many people are concerned about how the insurance industry changes will affect their practice as are concerned about actually getting new patients. This is a big change in our profession.

Especially when you consider only 4-5% of people mentioned anything about insurance or cash patients 1.5 yrs ago in my survey.

Also, what I’m noticing is that chiropractors are looking at the cash practice as a better, less stressful business model because of these new health care laws. This is much different from 5-10 years ago, when most chiropractors were switching to cash practices for more philosophical reasons.

I’m curious as to what you think about all this?

Leave a comment below telling us what type of practice you have now (cash or insurance), and if you plan to change it in the future (and if so, why.) If you didn’t participate in the survey last week and you leave a comment below discussing this, I’ll send you the link to the bonus marketing audios I gave away. (I can see your email address when you leave a comment, so you don’t need to put it in the comment itself.)

Chiropractic Marketing and the Cash Practice

Are Cash-Only Practices On The Rise?