Only Dead Fish Swim with the Current
by Patrick Gentempo, D.C.
For 31 years, I have watched the economy as well as the insurance companies dramatically impact our practices. I remember doctors being terrified when PPO’s and HMO’s came into existence. Doctors are just as concerned about the economy as anyone else would be. We, as chiropractors, need to change our way of thinking if we are going to succeed as a profession. We have to become and lead the health movement in this country. We must realize that WE hold the key to “the health of this nation.” If we don’t seize this opportunity, some other profession will, and the health and the economy of this country will be compromised.
One of the ways to spear-head this movement and make sure that your practice is “recession proof” is with a Signature Nutritional Program. Incorporating a one of a kind nutritional program into your practice may be exactly what the doctor ordered, not only for your practice, but for your own health as well. The best method that I have found is using blood testing procedures that all doctors agree with. This biochemical analysis diagnoses and treats any biochemical malfunction caused by an endocrine imbalance by utilizing nutrition and supplementation. This is a testing procedure that is not only subjective, but also objective, using chemical indicators to assess the chemical function of the body.
Below, I have outlined seven ways that this signature nutritional program can help strengthen your health as well as your practice:
The Signature Nutritional Program:
1. Adds additional service and revenue to your existing practice. If you have an existing practice, you can generate more income from existing patients by adding this nutritional service and not having to raise your overhead expenses. You can enhance your patients’ health as you improve your services rendered. This can run from a few hundred to a thousand dollars extra that you would receive per patient.
2. Increases the amount of new patients you have coming into your office. When adding this Signature Nutritional Program, you will have patients come in who are looking for nutritional advice and not necessarily chiropractic care. Once under your nutritional care, you can educate them about chiropractic. This held my practice strong when all the HMO’s and PPO’s were rearing their ugly heads. I held nutritional seminars and patients came in specifically for nutrition. Once I gained their trust, it was easy for them to make the right decision about chiropractic care.
3. Adds great referral sources to your business. People who are concerned about nutrition have friends who are also interested in this nutritional approach, because it makes so much sense. Medical doctors, osteopaths, dentists, etc., are more apt to refer patients for nutritional support than for chiropractic care, especially when you are using blood testing procedures that they use. This also helps in starting to build bridges between the professions.
4. Makes your patients excellent patients. People who are interested in nutrition make better patients because they are already proactive and are willing to do what it takes to be healthy.
5. Provides residual income. The supplement industry is becoming a trillion dollar industry. We, as chiropractors, earn the right to share in this revenue. Supplements are consumable goods which patients must buy each month. By maintaining a patient log and setting up a drop ship program with your patients, you can generate from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a month.
6. Helps you stay in communication with your patients. Some patients will be stopping by your office to pick up supplements on a monthly basis. The rest of them will receive their supplements from a drop ship program in which you will also be sending them messages/flyers about your latest lectures or other events going on in your office. You will also be scheduling follow up nutritional consultations that will stimulate additional patient visits or, at least, have the patient thinking about you.
7. Will lead your family to excellent health. The best part of this program is that you and your family will become healthier. You will be able to help your family in so many ways that they will rarely, if ever, have to go and see any other doctor. I have noticed this in my own family…. I can’t remember the last time someone in my immediate family had to go and see another doctor. Do you want to double your practice? First, you have to improve your health and your energy to handle the additional workload…. And second, you have to be healthier than your healthiest patient.
The only thing that might stop you from using nutrition in your practice is that you may not know a lot about nutrition and you may not have the time to learn it either.
If this is the case, I have also developed this Signature Nutritional Program to be “turn-key.” So, if you do not have the time to learn about an in-depth nutritional program, then we have made it easy to implement into your practice. It’s so easy, a caveman can do it!
With Signature Nutritional Program, you can either choose to evaluate the blood test totally on your own or you can literally have someone else do all the work. You can choose to outsource everything from ordering and evaluating the test, creating reports/educational material, training yourself and your staff, shipping your order to your patients, and giving the consultations via e-mail and phone.