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He Fired the Office Manager

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A few months ago a chiropractic office manager called me. She said that her doctor had fired her.

Her primary role had been that of Billing and Collections Coordinator, but she was also the office manager part time.  I had worked with the office for a few months and knew the doctor and Dorothy (not necessarily her real name.) I had gone over the role of the Office Manager with her and the doctor. They both felt that they understood the situation and would let me know if they ever needed any help. I was pretty certain they didn’t know what their roles were, or how to execute them, but their minds were made up.

Months went by and then late one Monday morning I got a call from Dorothy. She told me she had been fired. I asked her why? (Knowing her and the doctor, I had a pretty good idea.)  She told me that the number of new patients had been dropping for some months and that the doctor was not happy about this.

She said that she couldn’t believe it. “He fired me for that? I am not even in charge of new patients?” She was upset and went on about how new patients weren’t her responsibility.

What do you think?  Was she right? Or, was the doctor right?

Let’s look at this: the doctor is ultimately in charge of marketing. As the Chief Executive Officer for the business, marketing is a key component of his or her job. But since he is also so busy as a doctor, he needs to delegate most of the marketing activities. But to whom?

  1. First, to all of the staff. It is each team member’s responsibility to “sell health.”
  2. Then, a staff member could help coordinate all the marketing activities as a Marketing Coordinator or Marketing Manager.
  3. You might also delegate different marketing activities to different staff: someone for external events and screenings, someone for the internet, etc.

But behind it all, is the Office Manager’s role to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Actually, no one should have been fired. Instead, they all should have been trained on marketing and especially on MARKETING MANAGEMENT.

This is one of the reasons for our monthly webinars.  We just completed a very informative webinar on the key duties of the office manager (now posted on our members site) which can help clarify the role of the office manager.

The purpose of business is to create a customer, patient, and practice member. I didn’t say that. Peter Drucker did. You should know about Peter Drucker as he is the granddaddy of all management consultants.

“Because it is the purpose to create a customer, any business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. These are the entrepreneurial functions. Marketing is the distinguishing, the unique function of the business.”  Peter Drucker

Doctor, you are busy.  Your #1 focus should be on quality patient care. But as the CEO of your business, you HAVE to drive the marketing. To do this effectively,  you can and should delegate the marketing activities to others. The office manager is responsible for making sure all office activities are being done effectively, and this of course, includes marketing.

Whatever your office mission states, it has to include the concept of marketing.  It is your job, and everyone’s job, to tell the chiropractic story – and to communicate the value of your services in such a way and often enough that thousands of people come in to get better.

Don’t get fired. Get fired up!

Meeting Family Deductibles

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This article was sent in to us by one of our clients. We felt it was a great suggestion and thought it might help your office when faced with the same situation.

“I just wanted to pass something on that may benefit your other offices.  If we have families that we treat where only two or three of them need to meet their deductibles, we choose the family members that are incurring the most charges and send those in right away.  The other family members we hold the charges until the family deductible is met.

“For instance, we have a family of about 8 people that we are treating that have to meet two deductibles to make their family deductible.  We are only sending CMS-1500 forms on two of those patients until the deductible is met, then we will submit all the bills from the other family members so that we don’t have bits and pieces being eaten out of everyone’s claims unnecessarily”

Filing in this manner, simplifies the collection of the patients out-of-pocket at the front desk, reduces the number of claims affected by the deductibles and overall increases the efficiency of the accounting for these patients.

Thanks Laura D from Family Chiropractic

carpe annum

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2010

What does that mean to you?

More money?
More time off?
Better service and care for your chiropractic patients and community?

Does it mean a new opportunity to pursue your special projects: the song you meant to write, the trip you planned to take, project with your family, the good deed you hoped to do?

It’s out there.  A New Year, another package of 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days. It is your playing field, your sand box, your canvass – it’s yours.

But it’s yours ONLY if you take it. Only if you grab it and get busy creating the life and practice and business you want. Otherwise, it will go by quickly while you aren’t looking.

It is a gift, really.  We take so much for granted, particularly us Americans. It is no wonder immigrants who start small businesses do better. They appreciate the gift of Opportunity.

If you don’t seize this year, guaranteed, the world will seize you… like it does to so many. Soon, you will be more concerned about the “economy”, “health care” “reform”, wars, and a million other distractions rather than on creating your own life. Or, you will just bury your head in work, and in a few years when you look up, you will be 55 years old, or 65, or 75, and wonder what the heck you did with your life.

So, our recommendation is to seize 2010, and each day it offers. Set goals and make plans to achieve them.

This is what we are doing. Our newsletters have been a little thin lately only because we have been putting together what we feel is the best program of chiropractic practice building services ever for 2010. All to help you achieve your goals faster.

We are grateful for this chance to help you and we appreciate your trust. We admire the service and care you provide as doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic professionals. But, to be honest, we don’t do it just for you. We do it so that you can help more people become healthy through chiropractic care. And perhaps even more, so that they can be healthy by adopting a chiropractic lifestyle and getting their family and friends to do likewise.

So, here it comes.                                                                        2010.

Go seize the year and make it your own.

Carpe Annum
Marketing through the Holidays and into the New Year
A number of doctors wanted to get the notes from our teleclass on marketing. Here is the link.

Online Verification and Claims Follow up Websites for Chiropractic Reimbursement

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Individual sites. You will need to enroll with each, they are free, and they provide accurate and up-to-date information. Each site is a little different, and some are easier to navigate than others.

Medicare (CSNAP) – CMS Secure Net Access Portal
http://www.wpsmedicare.com/part_b/selfservice/csnap.shtml or go here:

http://www.wpsmedicare.com/
and go to the C-SNAP button in the blue bar.

Medicaid – to request Portal access
https://www.forwardhealth.wi.gov/WIPortal/Account/Request%20Portal%20Access/tabid/117/Default.aspx

The following are all links that you should be able to cut and paste into your browser. These are for the login pages that Shelly at our office uses and may not be the page you need to register to login. There should be information on each site on how to register or sign-up if you are not registered.

Aetna
https://enroll.navimedix.com/enrollment/shared/office-search

BC/BS Anthem
http://www.anthem.com/home-providers.html

Cigna
http://www.cigna.com/health/provider/

Secure Health
https://secure.healthx.com/v2App/public/login.aspx

UMR – United Medicare Resources (formerly Fiserv)
https://provider-fhs.umr.com/portal

Humana
http://www.humana.com/ (click on provider button)

Insurance Administrators of America
https://www.iaatpa.com/IAATPA/ProviderServices/Secure/Providers/

MACS
http://www.macschiro.com/ (click on customer logon)

Prairie State
http://www.prairieontheweb.com/prairie/index.htm (click on login/register)

Sisco Benefit Information Systems
https://benefits.cb-sisco.com/

United Health (UHC)
https://www.unitedhealthcareonline.com/b2c/index.jsp

Principal
http://secure05.principal.com/signon/initial/

One-stop services (for verification & claims). This site charges per month, reviews from clients has not been real positive. They are a division on Web MD.

http://www.emdeon.com/

To subscribe to the Medicare email newsletter, so to this site and enter your email address. You will get up-to-the-minute information on Medicare changes. The only drawback is that it is not specific to chiropractic.

https://corp-ws.wpsic.com/apps/commercial/unauth/medicareListservUserWelcomeLoadAction.do

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented an Internet-based Medicare provider enrollment process, known as Internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS). To enroll in Medicare or make changes to your Medicare enrollment, you can now accomplish this online faster and easier. Go here for details and to start the process:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/04_InternetbasedPECOS.asp#TopOfPage

Please note: these links were all working and accessible as of June 22, 2009. Some links may have changed.

David Michel &  Shelly Hinz

Please add any updates or extra info you may have that others might find useful. Thanks – Ed

Economic Factors

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We all know or have heard that the number one reason that a patient drops out of care, based on surveys, is that they experienced an “attitude of indifference” on the part of the doctor or the staff.

Most offices nod knowingly and are assured that their office cares about the patients, that their staff show concern, that their doctors have the patient’s interest at heart.

But what is an “attitude of indifference?” How does it manifest in a clinic? What does it feel like to a patient?

A patient experiences an attitude of indifference when they feel they are the 38th visit on a 60 visit day. They experience an attitude of indifference when they feel like they are on visit 15 of a 36 visit treatment plan and that everything is the same as the last 13 visits.

They feel an attitude of indifference when the doctor says, during the ROF, that he will give them some home exercises, and then doesn’t. Or when the doctor instructs them to attend the spinal care class as an important part of the treatment plan and no one schedules them for it, or when the front desk says they will order a supplement for them and a month goes by without the order, or the doctor says she will do a re-exam and then keeps putting it off, or when the doctor is running 5-10 minutes behind each visit or worse, comes in late.

Normally, you may still get that patient to follow through. But put yourself in the patient’s shoes. They are feeling better, even feeling “healthy” now, they have a $30 copay twice a week, and they have just heard that the company their husband works for may be laying off some people.

90% of the population right now, according to USA Today, is worried about the economy. Many have been affected, and many more are concerned – they are uncertain. When will things get better? Are we heading down farther? Am I going to have any money left?

When people are uncertain, the decisions they make are either “no” or “maybe” (which isn’t a decision but a postponement). They don’t decide that now is a great time to spend more money. Not on cars, not on restaurants, not on healthcare.

Expressing an attitude of interest is an “every visit” manifestation. That patient’s visit is not the 38th of the day or the 15th in their treatment plan – it is a singular, unique moment in time that will never occur again. It is a one and only opportunity to make an impact and a difference in that patient’s life. When you talk to them about the weather (“gee, cold out today, isn’t it?”) or tell them a joke in the treatment room or bs about the Packers – and if that is ALL you do that visit, you are just more white noise in their life, just another piece of spam in their mental inbox.

You have to manage a patient’s care EVERY visit, you have to work to make a difference in that patient’s life EVERY visit. If you don’t, that is an attitude of indifference. There is no other way to put it.

There are four critical factors that go into growing during a recession. These are:

1)    Great customer service. During a recession, other businesses cut back on the front end. People want and need good customer service. They deserve it from your office.

2)    Excellent patient financial plans, well communicated. The first response in some clinics when times get tight is to tighten up your financial plans. “All patients have to pay their copay before they see the doctor. No copay, no visit.” Do this and watch your practice drop by 50% (actual case).

3)    Step up your marketing. Great customer service and flexible financial plans don’t mean anything if no one comes in. Marketing is a variable expense and one of the first areas businesses cut. There were over 650 auto makers in the US before the great depression. After, there were six. Clinics are closing, going out of business right now. You can pick up market share.

4)    Increase your patient education. Patients aren’t going to blindly come in “because you said so”. Educating patients on wellness, having a wellness report of findings, and a “can’t resist” wellness financial plan are keys to building your practice.

Following the 3-Goals principles, review the above four points. Implement them personally. Review them with your staff and see how they can implement them further. Review them again and refine them.

There has never been a better time to grow your practice.