can happen for a few reasons. For ex-ample, if we take the example of the runner wanting to run 10km races without knee pain, the treatment plan of care could change because the runner had a more significant issue that re-quires specialized medical attention, thus ending the current treatment plan of care due to medical referral out. On the more positive side, the runner may experience significant improvements in a shorter time frame than recom-mended by the practitioner. If we dis-charge the patient at this point, we may be doing them a disservice. The reason why is the runner may have deeper, un-derlying dysfunctions that lead to their knee pain that may surface after the initial chief complaint has been fixed and they increase their running volume. This explains the need for a mainte-nance treatment plan of care to best help the patient return to their regular desired running volume without risking a subsequent injury by having consistent treatments scheduled and a medical clinical impression. Even if you have a system in place and re-book your patients at their ini-tial consultation, it is very common that the patient doesn’t end up rebook-ing or schedules but cancels prior to coming for that appointment. This can happen for many reasons such as the patient got busy, they had a last minute event or work project, they moved away and so on. Life gets in the way and the patient doesn’t get back in your sched-ule for months. The important item to note is they most likely still have that chief complaint as the majority of the time the problem won’t just go away, especially if it is chronic. For the patients who have not re-booked or have discontinued their treatment plan of care (drop offs) you will need a system and strategy to re-activate them in order to get them back on your schedule and moving towards their desired results. One of the most successful ways for reactivation of past patients and drops offs is a strategy by an expert marketer named Dean Jackson called “Short Personal Expecting a Reply” (SPER) This is where you reach out to the past patient or drop off and ask them a specific question such as: “Have you been successful at running 10km races?” You can send these questions via email, text, or even during a phone call. These types of questions are based on the patient’s desired outcomes and are designed to elicit a response by the patient with the objective of engaging communication and ideally having the patient re-book so that they can get back on track with their desired out-comes of your treatment plan of care. The importance of ethical re-book-ing from both perspectives is crucial and having a system and strategy that you implement will allow for better results, happier patients and a more profitable, consistent business. Do you want to write for Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor? Do you have a story to share with your fellow chiropractors and naturopaths? Whether it’s an exciting case study, overview of a new technique, or business tips and tricks (or something completely different), feel free to send an email to our Editor at [email protected] to get the details of how YOU can appear in print and online! #CanadianChiropractor www.Cndoctor.ca CC_HouseAdwritefor_May20_MLD.indd 1 October 2020 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor 21 2020-04-14 10:18 AM
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