Chiropractic Assistant Education Staff – investment or expense? business apart from our building cost (i.e., leases, mortgages, etc.). Because of this, most chiropractic practices are grossly understaffed in an effort to “save” money. Either the practice doesn’t have enough chiropractic assistants, or it has one – the doctor – who is the treatment provider, phone answerer, billing clerk, scheduler, booker, patient advo- cate, etc. The limits placed on a business, when it is understaffed, far outweigh the cost of having an adequate staffi ng complement. This issue, I want to explore some options for you to consider when staffi ng your front end. T Brandi MacDonald manages a multi-doctor, high-volume clinic in Edmonton.She is the owner of True Concepts,which consults with chi- ropractors all over North America regarding staffi ng. She also is an international speaker for chiroprac- tic assistants. She can be reached at [email protected]. WHEN TOADD STAFF TOYOUR EXISTING COMPLEMENT? The mechanism, for adding staff, involves analyzing your practice, and current staff structure, and asking the following questions: 1. Are you carrying out low priority activities, in your practice, that you could pay someone far less to do, thereby freeing up your time to engage in those high priority activities to build your business? To fi gure this out, fi rst you must determine what your hourly fee is. Your hourly fee is determined by how many patients you currently serve an hour times the amount collected per patient. So, if you are worth $350/hour, and are answering the phone, do you enhance or diminish your value? Could you pay someone $15/hr to answer your phone, and free up your time to see more patients? This would serve to increase your hourly value. Another way to think about this question is “How much does it cost you to perform low priority activities?” In chiropractic practices, whatever you focus on, expands – so where is your focus? Would it be possible to broaden your focus to include expansion, versus stability of the front end, and let someone much more versed in this area do this job for you? Continued on page 37 34 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | SEPTEMBER 2009 www.canadianchiropractor.ca he most common questions posed to me regarding staff are “when do I add to my current staffi ng complement?” and “when do I hire my fi rst chiropractic as- sistant?” Our staffi ng resources may be one of our highest fi xed “expenses” in our Brandi MacDonald feature
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor September 2009: Page 34
