or that our requirements for nutrients for cartilage repair become increased with age and how glucosamine/cartilage prod-uct may assist in this repair. Setting up a dispensary may seem like a daunting task with inventory and software nightmares, but this is not the case. Offering the most commonly dis-cussed products in the chiropractic of-fice, such as a joint repair, essential fatty acid fish oil, calcium/magnesium and multivitamins can be very simple. Most patient management software programs offer inventory modules that will easily track a dispensary. The dispensary need not be a mini health-food store but can be streamlined and practice-appropriate. Most of all, it will be convenient and ac-cessible to your patient’s needs. er clinic in Alberta, one that is not a full-time practice, grosses $150,000 per year, with an annual revenue from supplement sales of $14,000, representing nine per cent of the gross revenue. Another clinic that had a strong focus on offering sup-plement care, but still only concentrates on the basic products previously listed, had a gross revenue of $168,000 year, with a dispensary income of $30,000, representing 17 per cent of the gross rev -enue. I offer these examples simply to show the potential for residual passive revenue that is generated, without much effort or time management. I should also note these examples are from clinics that do not market their product offerings or mark products up to the suggested retail pricing! It has al-dispensary offerings over time. Most companies understand the variety of needs that clinics will have, and there-fore do not demand minimum orders to open accounts. Ordering one bottle or 12 bottles should ensure the flexibil-ity you require to meet your individual clinic’s needs. An obvious advantage of carrying your own supplements is the control over quality that you have regarding what your patients are taking. From a revenue potential standpoint, it simply makes sense. Your patients have busy lifestyles – they trust you as their doctor to do the homework for their health-care needs and make it as easy as possible for them to follow your recom-mendations. For your part, you should be compensated appropriately for doing so. With patient visits-per-week decreas-ing in previous years, and the ongoing reduction in third-party reimbursement, it has become more challenging for chi-ropractors to maintain their earnings. Providing sound advice and offering quality, doctor-endorsed products to en-hance your patients’ outcomes is a very beneficial way to enhance the business health of your clinic. ready been shown that supplements im-prove patients’ health, and that patients are more likely to implement your recom-mendations immediately and be compli-ant with these recommendations when they are offered right in the office setting. The other obvious advantage of car-rying your own supplements is the con-trol over quality that you have regarding what your patients are taking. Monitor-ing their use of these products you have recommended provides you with assur-ance that your patients are indeed fol-lowing your health-care advice. DISpENSARY REVENUE pOTENTIAL To better demonstrate the revenue po-tential that can be generated from offer-ing a few of the most commonly recom-mended supplements, I surveyed a few chiropractic clinics that are not nutrition or supplement focused, by any means, but do offer the “basics” to their patients. One clinic in Ontario that averag-es 300 patient visits per week grosses $405,000 per year; of this, $20,000 is from supplements sales. This represents five per cent of the gross revenue. Anoth-26 • Canadian ChiropraCtor | oCtoBEr 2011 HOW TO GET STARTED This, again, need not be complicated. Work with a company that offers you the top products that a chiropractor should recommend and that have a history of producing the best clinical results. Start with a small order of 12 bottles of the product and, when ordering these, have in mind at least six patients you would recommend the product to. Have an ad-ditional note in their file on supplement recommendations to record what you have suggested and when they purchase. A simple stand-alone shelf is all that is needed to store the product. Very little room is necessary to dedicate to this of-fering unless you decide to grow your MARKET YOUR pRODUCTS! This is often the piece of the puzzle doc-tors forget, and, again, it can be done very simply. Supplements sell themselves, but if you want to increase your sales, take it to the next level – good marketing can really help. Ask the company to provide a few empty bottles of the products you offer and simply place them in the adjusting areas, allowing for patients to touch and feel the product and indeed know you have them conveniently available. It is also a very good idea to place the product data sheets (provided by most companies) describing the products in a small binder in your reception area for your patients to read while wait-ing. Many companies also will provide product DVDs for in-office educational systems. Consider a supplement ques-tionnaire in your intake form to better understand how many more than of your patients are already using supple-ments. Potentially 65 per cent are al-ready using supplements, and often they are not using the best-quality products. An intake will assist you in learning these details. There is no need to review that supplements can assist your patients’ health and improve their clinical out-comes. That has been researched and the evidence supports several recom-mendations of nutraceutical use. As a health-care provider, it is prudent to understand what makes most sense for your patients with regard to the care you provide, and offering this service should provide an increased business benefit to your clinic. The most dedicated doctors know the value they bring to their patients with their health-care services. They also un-derstand health care is a business that needs to be properly monetized and that passive revenue from a small dispensary is an appropriate way to enhance not only the health of the patient but also the business health of the clinic. • www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor October 2011: Page 26
