Category: Other Articles

Many of the profession’s leading practice coaches answer questions about the most common problems chiropractors face in their practices.

 

 

Practice Smarts from the Pro’s:

As we wrap up the end of 2008 and prepare for 2009, we’ve asked eleven of the profession’s leading practice coaches to answer what they feel are the most important questions to help you advance your practice. From focusing on who you are as a doctor to over-all advice to the entire profession, these experts have the answers to help guide you through the rest of this year and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The first step toward absolute victory in the success of your office is creating an infrastructure that works.”— Dr. Mark Studin, CMCS Management

 

 

Q: Who do you work for?

A. The answer is, usually, our staff, as most doctors are not experienced in business policies and procedures. Therefore, it is much easier to abdicate the creation and implementation of those procedures to those we hire.

Many of you will also change procedures with each new staff member under the banner of, “It will work better because the new staff member says so.”The truth is, most offices have such little or no infrastructure (business systems) and this is the single reason for the “Roller Coaster” weeks and months in business. One week is great and the next, unpredictably, is horrible, where you can’t meet payroll or rent. I know, the problem is the insurance industry, the staff, the patients, the accountant and the dog. Did I miss anyone?

The truth is, every week can be very predictable.

The problem is you! A doctor is also a business person and, as the CEO of your business, you need to lead with an infrastructure that is reproducible (just like McDonald’s or IBM) and tested. Your staff has no leeway in changing your systems and they must answer to you, not the other way around.

The first step toward absolute victory in the success of your office is creating an infrastructure that works. Secondly, take absolute control by delegating and not abdicating every facet of your practice. Remember, it’s your name on the shingle out front!

For more information, call 1-631-786-4253 or visit www.CMCSmanagement.com.

 

“When your actions in practice are supported by your values and guided by a clear vision, you will stay on purpose.”—Dr. Jeffrey Slocum, Learning Curves

 

 

Q: Why is it that so many chiropractors have a hard time with burnout and frustration in practice?

A. Chiropractors are a very unique group of individuals that are, at the core, very compassionate and altruistic, which, in a service model, makes us very good care givers. On the other hand, we have, as a profession, a general lack of training or education in entrepeneurialship or business acumen, which, in a business model, makes us very uncertain and insecure. What this creates is a driven, ambitious, and optimistic care giver who lacks confidence, clarity, and certainty in business. The answer is to build a practice that is values-based and vision-driven which incorporates the success triad in both the service and business aspects of the practice. When your actions in practice are supported by your values and guided by a clear vision, you will stay on purpose and this helps you maintain confidence, certainty, and consistency, which are the keys to avoiding and/or curing burnout.

For more information call 1-800-613-2528 or visit www.LearningCurves.us.

 

“Training your staff on how to market your practice will instill awareness, generate interest and pay big dividends.”—Dr. Peter          Gambacorta, Access Health Consultants, LLC

 

 

Q. Who is in charge of promoting your practice?

A. The short answer is, “Everyone”. Training your staff on how to market your practice will instill awareness, generate interest and pay big dividends. Knowledge and pride about what you do as a team and the positive effects that has upon the lives of your patients produces a desire to share their personal story with others outside of the office. Viral marketing is sharing that personal story with everyone they come in contact with, letting them know that they take pride in what they do helping others. Train your staff to “Catch it, give it, and send the word along.”

For more information, call 1-866-912-4355 or visit www.AccessHealthConsultants.com.

 

“A practice clearly requires a chiropractor to wear two hats—one as a doctor and one as a businessperson.”—Dr. Pete Fernandez      Fernandez Consulting

 

 

Q. Why does my practice lack new patients?

A. A practice clearly requires a chiropractor to wear two hats—one as a doctor and one as a businessperson. Typically, if a practice lacks an influx of new patients, it’s because the doctor is not keeping up with business. Business is like an automobile. The only way it runs by itself—is downhill.

Learn how to wear both hats comfortably, and take pride in being the treating doctor and businessperson who professionally and proficiently serves his/her patients. When you do, your patients benefit, your profession benefits, and you benefit. Everybody wins.

For more information, call 1-800-882-4476 or visit www.DrFernandez.com.

 

“Get your patients thinking in terms of a process, not a quick fix. Complete your report with the idea of the process of correcting dysfunction.”—Dr. Bruce Parker, Inside Out Practice Development

 

 

Q. How I do I convince patients who are “feeling” better, and say they will come back when it is “out” again…to remain under corrective care?

A. The largest misunderstanding patients have is “symptoms vs. no symptoms.” In your report of findings, as you walk in the door, say, “I am so glad we performed those tests yesterday. I found some very important information. The pain you have been having, well it is NOT your problem! This is why the other treatment you have been receiving has not worked. The other doctors were simply working to cover up your pain and, when the treatment wore off, your pain returned because they did not address the real issue.

“Let me explain. Your body is designed to work in a specific way; your skeletal alignment is important for smooth joint function. When your body is in a normal state, it has normal function. If the structure begins to fail or become misaligned, it causes joint dysfunction. Dysfunction leads to irritation, then inflammation and results in pain.”

Now, ask this question: “If you were going to ‘fix’ your problem, what would be your approach…treat the pain or the dysfunction? Dysfunction, yes!”

You have now got them thinking in terms of a process not a quick fix. Complete your report with the idea of the process of correcting dysfunction.

For more information, call Dr. Bruce Parker at 1-951-471-0601 or visit www.BackInActionsdc.com.

 

“You and your team must always be able to predict what will happen next in your practice.”—Dr. C.J. Mertz- Team WLP

 

 

Q. How do you provide high quality service to your existing patients and still attract a steady flow of new patients?

A. To accomplish both of these critical practice-building elements with any regularity, you must never ad lib! You and your team must always be able to predict what will happen next in your practice. However, eliminating ad lib in your practice is not easy. Generating consistent results requires three critical steps:

1. Learning a system that has been proven to yield such results;

2. Fully implementing this system in your practice; and,

3. Training diligently as a team to constantly improve your execution of the system.”

For more information, call 1-877-832-6957or visit www.teamwlp.com.

 

 

 

“When you do something that no one else does, you own the marketplace.”—Mark Sanna, DC, ACRB Level II, FICC, CEO, Breakthrough Coaching

 

 

Q. How do I make my practice more profitable?

A. For over 100 years, the chiropractic profession has adopted a business model based upon two components: the fee for an examination and the fee for an adjustment. A recent survey reported that only 50 percent of chiropractors offer their patients exercise instruction, nutritional advice, or any other ancillary services. As we move ahead into the era of healthcare reform, our business model must change. It’s been said that “diversification dominates,” which means that, when you do something that no one else does, you own the marketplace. In order for you to thrive in the years ahead, you must diversify your business model. As the Baby Boomers exert their market forces on the healthcare delivery system and the chiropractic profession confronts the pressures of healthcare reform, one choice becomes obvious. That choice is to adopt a business model based upon delivering wellness services along with the traditional chiropractic services of examination and adjustment.

For more information, call 1-800-723-8423 or visit www.MyBreakthrough.com.

 

“Your patient documentation must be done at the time the patient is in your office for the visit.”—Dr. Timothy J. Gay     Director, Ultimate Practices

 

 

Q. Why do I dislike doing my reports and chart notes?

A. What I find with doctors is they are creatures of habit and have a tendency to look for the short cut or the path of least resistance. Unfortunately, if you are depending on a third party to pay for your services, there are rules and regulations that dictate when and how reports and chart notes must be done.

Your patient documentation must be done at the time the patient is in your office for the visit. Don’t put off taking notes or writing the report because it will come back to you in the form of sleepless nights and even more work for you and your staff later.

Furthermore, if you were a little kid that didn’t like eating broccoli at dinner and you were scolded by your mother, your reports and documentation methods that you are avoiding may be stemming from that same feeling, so maybe it is time for you to become responsible for your destiny and step up to plate, no pun intended.

For more information, call 1-866-797-8366 or visit www.UltimatePractice.com.

 

“If you don’t ever speak to people about what you do and how you can help, then no one will know to come to you.”—Dr. David Singer      David Singer Enterprises

 

 

Q. How do I obtain more patients and remove their financial barriers to care?

A. New patient marketing has to do with you telling people what you do and how you can help them. If you don’t ever speak to people about what you do and how you can help, then no one will know to come to you.

Referrals are nothing more than patients telling others about you and what you do. Marketing is you doing the same thing except for yourself. The more people you meet and tell how you can help them, the more new patients you get.

You can meet people by doing lectures, health screenings, in-office workshops or by offering free consultations to the families or friends of your patients. Talk to ten new people a week and describe how you can help them and watch your practice go
up.

Once you get new patients, you need to handle their ability to pay for your care. There are two ways to make your care affordable. You can either lower your fees or put people on payment plans they can afford. Most doctors are reluctant to let patients pay a fee they can afford on a payment plan for fear they will drop out of care and never pay their balance. However, by using outside financial institutions, you can give your patients the care they need and still get paid.

Care Credit, found at www.carecredit.com, provides money for the patients with a credit score above 650. They pay you directly, in advance, but charge you a 10 percent fee. Mention “chiropractic legal action fund” when you register and they will donate 50 percent of your fee to our legal action fund.

Then there is Healthcare Payment Solutions. They will pick up and provide financing for all patients denied by Care Credit and charge 6 percent to the patient. Contact them at www.healthcarepaymentsolutions.com and, again, mention the “chiro legal action fund” and they will donate $100 to our legal fund when you register.

For more information, call 1-800-326-1797 or visit www.dse-inc.com.

 

“The quality of compliance is always the end result of the quality of communication…. Effective communication is a practiced art. Keep working on your skills and your patient compliance will improve!”—Dr. Danny Drubin     ProPractice Partners.

 

Q. How can I improve patient compliance?

A. It is important to remember that, when it comes to causing patients to follow your recommended program of care, responsibility falls as follows…about 80 percent of patient compliance is directly the responsibility of the doctor and the remaining 20 percent is the responsibility of the front desk assistants. What we know for certain is that the quality of compliance is always the end result of the quality of communication. The doctor and assistants that truly understand how we impact others will ultimately be the most effective in influencing the actions of their patients.

Consider the following: When it comes to how we impact others, only 7 percent has to do with the words we choose, 38 percent of our impact is how we present those words and the remaining 55 percent are all of the other important factors to effective communication. These factors include eye contact, hand gestures, physical appearance, attire, animation, energy and enthusiasm. Remember, more people are moved by the height of your emotion, than the depth of your logic. This is why the more passionate presenter has the greatest opportunity to motivate their patients to health.

Effective communication is a practiced art. Keep working on your skills and your patient compliance will improve!

For more information, call 1-520-575-0207 visit www.ProPracticePartners.com.

 

“How you do anything, is how you do everything. Think about that. If you learn to discipline yourself in the small things, and work up to the big things, this will spill over into all aspects of your life, including your practice.”—Dr. Andy Harris, Dynamic Practices

 

Q. How could I improve my practice?

A. Many chiropractors have presented their problems to me, and most of the time these problems are simply symptoms. One of the biggest underlying causes of these symptoms is simply DISCIPLINE.

There’s a great saying I heard from Zig Ziglar a number of years ago: “When you’re hard on yourself, life is easier on you.” And there’s the old military saying, “If you sweat more in peace time, you’ll bleed less in war time.”

It takes discipline to get up early and workout. It takes discipline not to go back for a second helping of food. It takes discipline to take your vitamins and minerals. It takes discipline to raise a healthy and well functioning child. Discipline can be painful…but look at what happens to those who lead lives without any or very little discipline. They typically don’t exercise regularly, thus they gain more weight than they should. They eat until their heart is content; they don’t learn new habits; they are lazy.

I don’t know about you, but I cannot stand the word lazy, and I want to be the exact opposite of that. It’s a challenge for me to see so many chiropractors who haven’t disciplined themselves in their eating, exercise, etc…and they wonder why their practice is so slow.

The truth is, how you do anything, is how you do everything. Think about that. If you learn to discipline yourself in the small things, and work up to the big things, this will spill over into all aspects of your life, including your practice.

For more information, call 1-800-471-9421 or visit www.DynamicPractices.com.

America’s #1 Peak Performance Coach

by Anthony Robbins

 

Having directly impacted the lives of more than 50 million people from 100 nations with his work in the field of leadership psychology and peak performance, Anthony Robbins is the one who gets the call from the superstar athlete when the game is on the line—fierce competitors like Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, Greg Norman, Wayne Gretzky, and marathon runner Stu Mittleman, who set the world record by running 1,000 miles in eleven days. Having spent the last three decades mastering the principles of vibrant health by studying a diverse cross-section of experts to find the most efficient and effective tools for getting real results, Anthony Robbins knows the mechanics behind taking the invisible and making it visible.

Continue reading “America’s #1 Peak Performance Coach”

What Does Your Office Say About You?

by Dr. Mark Studin DC, FASBE, DAAPM, DAAMLP

 

Image is everything. That is why Fortune 500 companies spend millions of dollars every year to create, perfect and perpetuate their images. Lexus cars have built an image around the “Pursuit of Perfection.” Coca Cola has built an image around their slogan, “Coke Adds Life,” with fun commercials, and presidential candidates build images by “looking presidential” in their dress.

Continue reading “What Does Your Office Say About You?”

Retrospective Reviews

 

Dr. Mark Studin has been an associate clinical professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Department of Health Science and Technology, where he taught prospective health care administrators medical coding. He has also consulted with numerous hospitals and hundreds of chiropractors, medical doctors, podiatrists and dentists over the last twenty years on documenting, coding and compliance issues and has been retained as an expert to help defend many doctors who have been formally charged with fraud, Federal RICO and utilization abuse. In an interview with The American Chiropractor Magazine (TAC), Dr. Studin presents his case for properly preparing your practice for an audit.

 

TAC: What is a retrospective review?

Studin: A retrospective review is when an insurer pays your claims for care for any period of time and then audits you to see if your records match the claims paid during that period. It has been reported that up to $90 billion is the estimated annual amount in fraud losses, with $20 billion in “honest errors” by doctors. The carriers are going after both categories aggressively. Whether the error is honest or not, the results are the same. The carrier wants the money back. If it is determined that fraud was perpetrated, the carrier has the right to refer the case to the authorities for prosecution or sue under the criminal code vs. the civil code. The difference to a doctor is paramount.

 

TAC: What triggers a retrospective review?

Studin: In most cases, a computer triggers the audit, as the program is written to recognize patterns of care. In addition, a “whistleblower,” meaning a disgruntled employee or patient, can alert the carrier to what they believe are discrepancies in billing practices. In addition, if a doctor does the same (or close to the same) thing for every patient, this can trigger an audit. A few examples would be:

1. Utilizing similar diagnosis for every patient;

2. Never changing diagnosis during care;

3. Rendering the same, or close to the same, number of visits;

4. Utilizing the same modalities;

5. Never changing the treatment plan;

6. Rendering extensive diagnoses for minors.

These are a few parameters. However, the insurer’s intent also dictates an audit. One of the largest chiropractic managed care companies in the nation, at a recent meeting in Minnesota, just announced that they were beginning to perform retrospective audits. If the corporate policy is to ensure compliance with their panel of doctors as a fiduciary responsibility to those they insure, this is a responsible action and a sound corporate policy. However, if their goal is to recoup 10 percent of their payouts using the retrospective audits, this becomes a predatory policy and the threshold for compliance becomes much lower. As a result of the lowered threshold for compliance, a doctor can be asked to repay, sometimes with interest, a significant amount of money.

 

TAC: How is the amount to be repaid determined?

Studin: Here’s the frustrating part for doctors. After spending countless hours and significant resources to get paid 30 or 40 cents on the dollar, they now get a demand to pay back an exorbitant amount of money.

Insurers use different methods to determine the amount. Some go case-by-case and others extrapolate the amount. A carrier can request as few as six or seven charts and determine that, in those charts, there was a discrepancy of one service not being billed and/or documented correctly. As a result, they can extrapolate that the doctor was in the program for five years and treated fifty patients per year, with an average of thirty visits per patient.

Let’s do the math:

Service “A” = $20 reimbursed

X 50 patients per year

X 30 visits per patient

X 5 years

$150,000 to be repaid to the carrier

 

While this seems a large number, the truth is most retrospective reviews have much larger numbers and, at the end of the day, are usually repaid to the carrier by the doctor. The carrier always holds the specter of litigation for fraudulent billing over the doctor’s head and, when the doctor realizes the cost of defending such litigation, a deal is cut with the carrier and paid.

 

TAC: How would a doctor know if his/her office is being audited for a retrospective review?

Studin: The carrier will send the doctor a letter requesting files to review in one of two scenarios: they will request for you to copy and mail them your complete records or they will inform you of a planned site visit and ask you to prepare files for them to review upon arrival.

 

TAC: What typically happens during a site visit?

Studin: Nothing that involves the staff or the doctor other than surrendering the records for review. In some cases, such as Health Insurance Plan (HIP) of New York, they bring a scanner to the office and copy every paper in every document to take back with them. In many cases where the investigator does a site visit, if they do not find what they are looking for, they request more and more files until they find something. Remember, in certain cases, the investigators are rewarded for finding reimbursable issues and often will not stop until they find something to ensure their job security and increased income.

Two days ago, I received a phone call from a doctor that had a managed care company in his office reviewing charts. After the eleven charts originally requested by the carrier to be reviewed were completed, the investigator asked the doctor for another eleven charts in the middle of a very busy practice day. The doctor, not knowing what to do, called me, and the solution was to deny the carrier the right to disrupt the office, but instead to request in writing any further charts for review. That afternoon, the doctor received a fax with the formal request for the next eleven charts. The carriers will often not stop until they find something, as it is always about the money…. Your money, and they want it from you!

 

TAC: What happens after the site visit?

Studin: More than any doctor realizes. The files inspected or copied are reviewed and scrutinized for certain standards that fit into a formula created by the carrier. Often the carriers have other doctors or statisticians reviewing the charts to determine if the records match the bills sent and for clinical necessity issues. Depending upon the carrier’s corporate policy, triggering a demand for repayment will determine the level of aggressiveness with which they will go after you and to what standard they will hold you.

 

TAC: Are the carriers getting more aggressive?

Studin: Yes. In fact, the carriers are now suing the doctors under Federal RICO, which is a civil charge carrying treble damages. Meaning, if the carrier prevails, the doctor has to pay 3-1 back to the carrier, which is the reason the carriers are doing it in the first place. The bigger problem is these can be referred to criminal charges if fraud is determined and the doctor stands the chance of not only losing money, but having a criminal record and a high probability of losing their license if found guilty.

 

TAC: What are the carriers looking for, specifically, in an audit that will be cause to request repayment?

Studin: The first thing that a doctor must ponder is, “What do I get paid for?” When I pose that question to doctors, the answers range from an adjustment to X-rays to therapy to evaluations, and the real answer is, “None of the above.” Doctors only get paid on what is written down on the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) form and they get either to keep that money or have to give it back, depending on what is written in their notes. These are the facts and are non-negotiable. A doctor’s rhetoric will not hold off a predatory carrier who wants to make a windfall profit based upon poor notes.

Specifically, these are a few of the areas the carrier will make a claim to get re-paid:

1. High number of visits without timely re-evaluations

2. Diagnoses that do not cross link with Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), such as:

a. Cervical diagnosis and lumbar X-rays and

b. Cervical and thoracic diagnosis with cervical, thoracic and lumbar treatments

3. Billing for services not documented

4. Treatment of undiagnosed areas

5. Over utilization of modalities with no clinical indication

6. Ordering of tests with no clinical indication

7. Treatment of any part of the body without a full examination documenting pathology in the specific area being treated

8. Up-coding on evaluation and management (E/M) codes without the documentation reflecting the level billed

 

TAC: What can a doctor do to protect his/her practice?

Studin: First, ensure that you are documenting to the standards of practice, as prescribed by the Board of Chiropractic in the state where you practice.

Second, according to Peter Birzon, Esq., an experienced and highly respected health care lawyer and former federal prosecutor, retain a compliance auditing company and have your records reviewed. Mr. Birzon goes on to explain that, should errors be found that are considered fraudulent, a voluntary refund should follow. However, if there are errors that reflect poor documentation and not fraudulent issues, the corrections need to be made in the practice and documented. In addition, this will take any issue found from a potential felony charge to a misdemeanor, should a doctor have to defend his/her billing practices.

As a note: I urge the profession to listen to a 44 minute conversation with Mr. Birzon that is free at www.TeachChiros.com..
Click on “Audio Library” and find the file at the beginning of the library. This conversation goes into depth about how to “Bullet Proof” your practice on compliance issues and is a MUST for every practitioner.

 

TAC: What is the cost for a practice audit?

Studin: Compliance companies range in fees that go from $500 to $25,000 for a small practice. I, personally, deal with the company at the $500 range and their work is outstanding. You do not get as comprehensive a report as the more expensive companies, but you get everything you need to bring your documentation up to a compliant standard. Many of the doctors I work with have utilized the compliance company and, with every doctor I have worked with, the compliance company revealed areas in which the doctor needed to make corrections. This is what Mr. Birzon referred to when speaking about “Bullet Proofing” your practice.

 

TAC: What should doctors do if they receive a request for records, signifying a retrospective review?

Studin: According to Stephanie Jones, CPC-EMS, Vice President of Member Services of the American Academy of Professional Coders, knowing your rights is critical. The following should be considered:

1. A doctor should be fully aware of his or her rights and responsibilities prior to responding to a request for medical records in retrospective overpayment recovery audits. Contractual agreements prompt payment laws, payer settlement agreements, and other statutes may govern when a retrospective audit and overpayment recovery is allowed to occur.

2. In some cases, a retrospective audit is not allowed without suspicions of fraud or advance notice to a physician at the time of payment. Many states have laws that will only allow overpayment recovery on claims billed within a limited time frame. Other states have rules that govern how long a physician has to produce the records, appeal rights, and when repayment by deduction from future claims is permissible.

3. There may be specific rules regarding who is allowed to conduct the audit, where only a practicing physician of the same specialty is allowed to make overpayment determinations. From a practice expense aspect, physicians may be allowed to bill a payer for producing records.

4. The rules are different based on governing laws, and doctors practicing in different states may have very different rights and responsibilities. Fully understanding physician rights within a state is the key to ensuring an audit is properly and fairly conducted.

5. When a payer returns unexpected and unfavorable results, the doctor should carefully examine what caused the level of service to be down-coded. Due to problems of subjectivity in the audit process, a doctor may be able to overturn audit results with valid and reasonable debate.

6. There are times when two separate audits of the same service produce different results and neither party can technically be proven “wrong.” Correct interpretation in these cases requires a sophisticated understanding of the requirements of code selection, citable references, and logical argument. These discussions often have the expanded positive result of improvements in future payer policies and physicians who are better informed.

Should you have undergone the audit process and the carrier ruled against you, I strongly urge that you retain counsel to represent you in the negotiation with the carrier. Here is another mistake that doctors make: they hire or retain counsel that is the family lawyer or the lawyer of a friend. That can be a fatal mistake.

You should only hire a health care lawyer that has experience in negotiating and dealing with insurance companies. Too many doctors come to me after the fact and the result is always $10’s or $100,000’s in additional money that needs to be spent to undo the mistakes of the inexperienced lawyer in this field of law.

TAC: How many doctors have you worked with over the last few years that have had retrospective reviews?

Studin: Although this is termed “retrospective reviews,” under most circumstances, I believe this is “legalized extortion” and often disgusting. For the average doctor—who sacrifices a large portion of his/her life to help the sick, who puts off family and personal interests and other careers to be in professional school, incurs large debt and who is available at 4 AM for a sick patient—to have to endure this, if it is an honest error and not fraudulent, should be criminal for a carrier to go after the doctor at this level.

To answer your question directly, there have been too many and they are all over the country. The carriers that have requested the reviews for the doctors I have personally worked with recently are Medicare, Allstate, State Farm, Encompass, Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and HIP. That shows you the pattern is not limited to one financial class. Therefore, you cannot say, “Because I don’t take care of Personal Injury patients, I am immune to a retrospective review.” All carriers are using this as a method to either limit fraud or as a corporate windfall at the expense of the doctors.

 

Dr. Mark Studin is the President of CMCS Management which offers the Lawyers Marketing Program, Family/MD Marketing Program and Compliance Auditing services and can be contacted at www.TeachChiros.com.

To WOW or Not to WOW

by D Fernandez

 

Is yours just another chiropractic office?

Continue reading “To WOW or Not to WOW”

Consumers Turn to the Internet for Health Information When the Stakes Are High

by Herb Newborg, D.C.

 

The internet is changing the way Americans connect with information when making health care decisions. Two major drivers for this change are broadband (high-speed) internet connections and personal motivation, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project associate director Susannah Fox.

The Pew Internet Project estimates that between 75% and 80% of American internet users have looked online for health information. This estimate is in line with Harris Interactive’s latest data on online health seekers (81% of internet users; 66% of all adults are searching online for health information).

 

Information Gathering Now a Habit for Many

This latest Pew Internet Project survey confirms that information gathering has become a habit for many Americans, particularly in the 55% of households with broadband connections. Home broadband has now joined educational attainment, household income and age as the strongest predictors of internet activity. For example, 78% of home broadband users look online for health information as compared to 70% of home dial-up users. Home broadband users are twice as likely as home dial-up users to do health research on a typical day—12% vs. 6%. High-speed, always-on connections enable frequent and in-depth information searches, which is particularly attractive if something important is at stake.

 

Disability, Disease Tend to Increase Internet Usage

People, who feel they have a lot at stake, are more likely to engage intensely with online resources. Internet users, living with a disability or chronic disease, are more likely to be wide-ranging online health researchers and to report significant impacts from those searches. For example, 75% of internet users with a chronic condition say their last health search affected a decision about how to deal with an illness or condition as compared to 55% of other e-patients (patients seeking health information online).

 

Newly diagnosed e-patients and those who have experienced a health crisis in the past year are also particularly tuned in: 59% say the information they found online led them to ask a doctor new questions or get a second opinion, as compared to 48% of those who had not had a recent diagnosis or health crisis; 57% of recently challenged or diagnosed e-patients say they felt eager to share their new health care knowledge with others, compared to 45% of other e-patients. Experienced e-patients are posting technical advice online about managing a certain disease as well as advising people about how to communicate with health care providers. Other e-patients are gaining national attention by documenting significant problems with a drug, problems that FDA failed to catch. Some people are uploading their “Observations of Daily Living” in order to track their symptoms or reactions to various medical interventions.

 

More than Convenience

It is not just the convenience that draws internet users, but the positive experiences that most people have with online research. In health, the impact of an online information search is more likely to be helpful, not harmful. Thirty-one percent of e-patients say they or someone they know has been significantly helped by following advice or health information found on the Internet. Only 3% of health seekers say they or someone they know has been seriously harmed by following the advice or information they found online.

In conclusion, the population of e-patients has stabilized at 75% to 80% of all internet users and it is clear that broadband allows people to engage more deeply with information sources and with each other. And circumstances such as a serious diagnosis can kick that engagement into high gear. The most affluent, highly educated and in need of care segment of the population is on the internet, looking for answers to their health challenges. There is a pressing need to present chiropractic (the world’s largest, most-established, licensed drugless health care option) to this ready, eager and actively searching majority of the American population with an organized, professionally designed and executed campaign. This unprecedented window of opportunity will not stay open forever.

 

Herb Newborg is president of Chiropractic America. Chiropractic America and Ogilvy PR Worldwide firm, Feinstein Kean Healthcare (FKH) have developed a national marketing communications program centered on www.YourSpine.com, a website designed to educate patients about the importance of spinal health. You can reach him at 1-215-310-1735 or 1-877-846-8544