UPFRONT | Columnist BUSINESS TALK 5 ways to grow your practice T BY DR. ANTHONY J. LOMBARDI, DC he first step in creating a successful business is to keep in mind your target audience. This will al-ways be the patient. Your systems should ulti-mately make patient visits turn into experiences. When things happen easily and run smoothly, it creates a positive experience for the patient and indirectly helps your practice. 1.Booking your patients Making things easy for your patients is essential. Everyone likes options, so give these to them. There are three ways a patient can book an appointment: Online from your website, online from your social media pages, by email, by text mes-sage, or the conventional way -by telephone. When you give the patient these various options, it takes the pressure off your front-end staff. Rebooking patients. It is vital that there is smooth com-munication between you and your front desk staff. In order to keep the flow moving smoothly, you shouldn’t need to disrupt the process of going from one patient to the next by having to stop at the front desk. Routing slips or electronic messages make this exchange run quick and easy. A routing slip is a piece of paper inserted into the file at the end of each visit informing the front desk what treatment was done, the amount thepatient owes, and when the doctor needs to see the patient again. If you use a paperless filing system, sending an electronic message works in place of a routing slip. An iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch or similar electronic device makes things even easier. product or find patients who value you. Better yet -do both. B) Paying your bills and payroll. Maximize what your bank and your bookkeeper have to offer you. Arrange with your bank to pay all of your bills online automatically every month. This includes credit card balances, utilities, and your salary. Your bookkeeper can arrange through your bank to pay your employees through direct deposit. 3.Collecting money 2.Billing ANTHONY LOMBARDI, DC, is a private consultant to athletes in the NFL, CFL and NHL, and founder of the Hamilton Back Clinic, a multidisciplinary clinic. He teaches his fundamental EXSTORE Assessment System and practice building workshops to various health professionals. For more information, visit www.exstore.ca. 16 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor December 2020 www.Cndoctor.ca Photo: © Yakobchuk Olena / Adobe Stock This area includes billing insurance companies for services rendered and also paying your bills and covering payroll. A) Direct Billing insurance companies. Do not direct bill for patients. Read that again. Insist patients pay you for every visit after the treatment is ren-dered. Give the patients a receipt and have them submit and collect from their own insurance company. Have faith in your product. If you are worth it to them they will pay up-front. If you find you are losing patients because you won’t direct bill then you either have to learn to provide a better Read number two again. Successful businesses should model themselves around grocery stores. You have to pay for your groceries before you leave the store. Providing services with-out payment is like taking milk from the shelf and walking out without paying. It wouldn’t be tolerated in a supermarket, and shouldn’t be allowed in your practice. This is short and sweet but it is a bitter pill to swallow if you are unable to successfully collect your fees. Your accounts receivables should be zero with the exception of auto and work insurance cases. 4. Find brand champions Use every visit as an opportunity to grow and expand your brand. You are building a relationship with the patient, so make it a habit to thank your patient in advance for their kind referrals, even if they haven’t yet referred anyone. In our own practices, we must search and cultivate those patients who can become our brand champions. Brand cham-pions are advocates who promote and refer your business to others. They are passionate about your brand and are active in your promotion. Over the years, I have developed between 20 and 25 patients who have become champions of my prac-tice. This is part of the reason why I stimulate as many refer-
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