Building Your Practice in a Slow Economy

by Steven L. Reizer, D.C., of Spartanburg

It’s no secret that we’re in an economically challenged time. A recent article in the Spartanburg Herald Journal reported that the number of South Carolina residents filing chapter 13 bankruptcies jumped 53 percent from 1997 through 2001. The article also stated that during this same time period, the average number of South Carolina home loans in foreclosure jumped 140 percent.

The government has said that an economic turnaround will happen sooner than expected but we’re still waiting to see it. Times are tough! So how do you build your practice in these trying times?

First of all, don’t panic. It is possible to build a practice in this economic environment. My practice has enjoyed its highest collections and patient volume in its history and it continues to grow. I am not pretending to have all of the answers. I just know what has worked for me. Maybe some of these ideas will work for you too.

Offer Payment Options. Chiropractic is hard enough to explain. You’ve got to break through the barriers of medical baggage that patients come in with (not to mention what some of our own colleagues have told them). Once you successfully break through those barriers, you’ve got to break through the financial barriers.

Make it easy for people to pay you. The best way to do this is to offer options. This can be done in any practice and with any fee system. A cash practice, for example, should not be just limited to cash but should be accepting checks and all major credit cards. If you regularly recommend extended care plans, offer an option to prepay with a slight discount as an incentive for prepayment.

Allow patients to spread their balances out onto two or even three different credit cards. Don’t allow patient balances to get too large. It’s much easier to collect smaller amounts more frequently than to try to collect on a large balance. If you’re using monthly plans, give patients the option of keeping their credit card on file and automatically charging it on the same day of each month.

Another option is to offer in-house financing. There are companies that will extend credit to your patients and set up very flexible payment options for them while you are paid in full.
If you offer flexible payment options, you’ll open your services up to more people and increase collections dramatically.