Every Morning

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Edward Petty

Before you start each day in your chiropractic office, you have a chance to make a decision about how you are going to take the day on.

The day won’t wait for you. It comes at you pretty fast. You either embrace it and impose your will and game plan upon it, or hide somewhere and pretend to be a spectator. But even still, the day will move to night and you will have had your chance to make a difference for yourself, your patients, your practice, and your family. You won’t be able to have that particular chance again. It is gone. You will get a new day, however, and new morning and a new chance to make decision about how you are going to take this new day on.

This is why the old adage, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise” is so true. Also, there is: “The early bird catches the worm.”

But one of my favorites follows the traditions and natural laws of nature:

Africa

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Are you running yet?

(For a desk tent poster of this quote that you can download and print: Link )

Oklahaven

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Edward Petty

With all the paid advertising hyping chiropractic management companies, there is one chiropractic organization that often gets overlooked.

Yet, more than any other chiropractic enterprise, it perhaps best typifies what you and your team are all about.

It’s name is Oklahaven.

Oklahaven is a non profit organization. It began in 1962 and was and is supported through donations. In 1979, Bobby Doscher, D.C., became its Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Doscher personally provides care as well as overlooks daily operations.

Their success stories about helping chronically ill children are moving and can serve as an inspiration to all of us in the chiropractic profession. Here is a doctor and organization that is completely motivated by a higher purpose and dedicated to helping kids and their parents through chiropractic care.

This month, our teleseminar will be a live interview with Dr. Doscher hosted by Phyllis Frase. The interview will last about 50 minutes. And will be held on Tuesday, January 25th at 12:30 Central Time.

Because we feel so strongly about Oklahaven, we will be waving our usual fee for this seminar. Just email us at services@pmaworks.com and say that you want to register for this teleclass and we will send you the special phone number and access number.

In addition, we encourage you to consider participating in their “Have-a-Heart” campaign, February 7-14th. This is a donation program to help support Oklahaven and you can incorporate it into any special promotion you already have planned for February.

For more information about Oklahaven, you can find them here at their web site: www.chiropractic4kids.com.

Check out their in line newsletters for some great testimonials. Here is one: http://www.chiropractic4kids.com/inline/inline2009-Fall.pdf

..we’re sneaking away to do some planning…

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Edward Petty

Like elves going to our workshop, we are off to our New Year’s planning meeting…somewhere up in the Far North (Wisconsin)…looking at what new “presents” we have in store for all of our great fans and wonderful clients for 2011…reviewing what’s working and what is new that will deliver the most benefit to the chiropractic teams we serve…and what trends we see for the new year.

Be the first to hear about what we have planned at our teleseminar on Tuesday, December 28, 12:30 C.T. Contact us for the phone number if you want to attend.

Parker Seminar in Jan with Ms. Phyllis Frase

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Linda

We wanted to let you know that Ms. Phyllis Frase will be speaking at Parker Seminars 60th Anniversary event in Las Vegas, NV.

January 13-15, 2011

Parker Seminars is the largest and most long lasting seminar program for the chiropractic profession. The early registration discount is a month away and Phyllis wanted to be sure we reminded everyone. It is a great program and we encourage everyone to attend if you can make it. Great for the staff too.

(From Parker)

Join thousands of members from the chiropractic community for an unforgettable three days of education, networking, and an exposition featuring the best in chiropractic technology.

Spread the word that Parker Seminars’ 60th anniversary series lets you:

Learn critical practice-building techniques.
Strengthen your chiropractic foundation.
Create a more effective, efficient office.
Earn valuable continuing education credits.
Learn from world-renowned speakers and leading experts.
Maximize your potential and start living your best life!
Be one of the first to preview and order The Well Adjusted Soul,one of this year’s most exciting practice expansion tools. (Featuring an article, “Can You Hear Me Now?” by our very own, Dr. Tom Potisk.)

Come share the excitement and let us welcome you to our neighborhood!

Advanced registration available through December 13!

“Parker Seminars, “One voice for Chiropractic”

Health Never Takes A Holiday!

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Edward Petty

Holidays

Holidays are a time when chiropractic patients can find many reasons not to keep to their schedules. To help you and them stick to their health program, you can pre-schedule them for the entire month of December.

We have made a couple of posters centered around:

Health Never Takes a Holiday

You can find links to these below.

When talking to your patients about their schedules, be understanding and empathetic. Hear their story. Then, be bold about your interest and concern that they maintain their care schedule through the holidays – and get them scheduled until next year.

And it is OK to use bribes.. Spicy warm apple cider gives off a very cozy smell and tastes great.. and is healthy, and free screenings/exams for patient’s holiday guests.

Links to posters:

Poster for Nov/Dec
Poster for any holiday

Edmund Fitzgerald

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Edward Petty

November 11, 2010
Whitefish Bay, WI

35 years ago, this morning, the news was coming over the radio that the night before the ship called the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, taking all 29 crewmen with her.

It had departed from Superior, Wisconsin and got caught in a violent storm. She sank in Lake Superior, just 17 miles from the safety of Whitefish Bay, Michigan.

A few months later Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song in commemorating the sinking.

“…When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it’s too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it’s been good to know ya.

“The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” (Gordon Lightfoot)

It is a fine song that gives tribute to the death of 29 men: sons, husbands and fathers. Kind of a sad song, really, and a little ghostly.

But living here in the Midwest around these Great Lakes, I think there is a positive meaning we can take from this anniversary.

Sailors are tough people. The saying once was: “Men of iron, ships of wood.” They are courageous and self reliant. They risk the security of the land and take their lives in their own hands on a floating platform that moves over an unpredictable surface which can kill them at any time. They only have themselves to count on whether they arrive at their destination or even stay alive. They confront the elements face to face and there is no tolerance for excuses or mistakes. The result of negligence is not an angry boss but the cold rocky grave of the water below.

While many stay sheltered in their shops along a harbor, sailors seek opportunities and set sail. They have goals and rely on their skill and initiative to arrive at their destinations.

Sometimes they may configure the ship incorrectly, plot a bad course, or out of nowhere, get hit by rogue waves. And they may die. But at least they died seeking their goals.

This is a lesson of the Edmund Fitzgerald, at least for me. Those 29 men knew the risks they were taking but were braving the storms and the security of the harbor to arrive at distant ports.

This week I visited a veteran doctor at his office whose numbers over the last few years have been crashing. He had recently gone through a bankruptcy and was now moping around his office feeling depressed and complaining about insurance cut backs, joblessness, and other woes.

We all have been in comparable situations of one type or another before. Maybe we made a wrong turn somewhere and tripped and fell and then held ourselves back out of fear. But the solution is not to restrain ourselves but to get back out and risk it all again.

As entrepreneurs and those of us in the chiropractic profession, I suggest we honor those sailors who have perished on this anniversary, and do so by getting out of whatever harbor we may find ourselves in and set sail.

A New Year is coming. Where are YOU going to sail in this New Year? We suggest that you set some high and distant goals and start plotting your course now.

Consider this quote from Mark Twain:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. (Mark Twain)

Safe travels and best regards.

Nice video with the song by Gordon Lightfoot: “Edmund Fitzgerald”LINK

Internet Marketing for Chiropractic Offices

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Edward Petty

What a great teleseminar we just completed about Internet Marketing.

I wanted to provide a short summary and a few follow ups for those who joined us as well as for those who weren’t able to.

Face To Face Networking – now more valued than ever. As we live increasingly in a virtual world of “friends” and emails and ordering products and services from our computers, meeting and connecting in person with real live people is rarer and therefore more valued. Get out of the box and meet people!

Virtual Networking – We discussed Facebook and creating a fan page. Here is a link provided by Dr. Jamie Phillips on how to do this. (link) There are many ways to add content, or information, to your Facebook page including automatic feeds. Dr. Phillips gives one example, using Google Alerts, listed below. But automated content or ads about upcoming events do not take the place of “newsy” and interesting articles about you and your office. A fast note about a patient success, something new about the office, a favorite recipe of one of your patients, a notice from Sister Hilda (a patient) who is inviting one and all to the fish fry at Saint Paul’s this Friday – these are topics your patients are interested in. Keep it local.

The Internet Is About Search. It replaces the phone book, the dictionary, and the encyclopedia. There are many people who are in pain and sick of drugs and corporate medicine and surgery. They are looking for you. Dr. Phillips went over how to best get these people to find you with local search.

Web Site. We also discussed some simple ideas for your web site and what to do if you already have one.

Other Topics Included: The importance of Social Proof, Reputation Management, use of the new bar code on you printed materials and signs, and the coming necessity of mobile web sites were other subjects we spent some time on.

Chiropractic Internet Marketing Assistant. You need one of these! Delegate a team member to put 2 hours in per week, or more, dedicated to working on your internet presence.

We did record this teleseminar and it will be available at no charge for our active clients on our Members site in about a week. Non members who listened to the talk will receive a CD within the next several weeks. The CD can be purchased for $65 – all proceeds will be donated to Oklahaven Children’s Chiropractic Center.

Internet Marketing CD Order Form

Links.
The links below are to PDF documents. For customizable WORD docs, active clients can find these on our Members Site (www.pmamembers.com) under Advertising.

Chiropractic Internet Marketing Assistant – Chiropractic Internet Marketing Assistant Checklist
Using your Fan Page – Facebook Marketing Checklist
Generating Patient Reviews on the Internet. A sample promotion helpful in motivating patients to put reviews of your business on the internet. Care to Share-Reviews

Videos

How to Create a Fan Page (video)
How to Set up Google Alerts for your fan page or blog. (Vide0)

More info on Jamie Phillips internet marketing. Link

Medicare, Chiropractic, and Computer Generated Notes

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Dave

Is Your Office Looking Into Computer-Generated SOAP Notes? Read This FIRST before you invest your cash!

Thinking that your documentation could use an upgrade? You are probably right, but before you invest in a software generated note system, know that Medicare frowns on most such programs and they could actually hurt you in an audit.

As we have been saying for years, there is no good shortcut out there for doing documentation. You have to follow Medicare’s guidelines and just because your software generates a half page typed SOAP, you may still be missing the mark.

According to ChiroCode Institutes recent alert:

Medicare carrier Noridian Administrative Services recently updated and reprinted a notice on Chiropractic Software-Generated Documentation. Apparently, the piece was generated because Noridian has seen an increase in the use of software-generated documentation for chiropractic services. Here are a few key areas where software can begin to go wrong (according to Noridian):

– In general, most computerized documentation fails to provide individualized information necessary for reimbursement.

– Software-generated documentation is commonly identical to the letter, comma and space for different patients, with only minor word changes; therefore, it does not reflect medical necessity. Services supported by repetitive entries lacking encounter specific information will be denied.

– Software-generated documentation often repeats the same phrases and sentences by simply rearranging the words to make it appear as if new information is being disseminated, but when compared to prior days notes, reflects the same or similar concepts.

You can read the whole article here: https://www.noridianmedicare.com/provider/updates/docs/chiropractic_software.pdf%3f. The article contains some humorous (at least to me) examples of how the software, while randomizing text, generates almost identical SOAPs for different patients on different days.

Getting a Medicare CERT audit? Don’t send in your records without calling us first. See our website for more information on our exclusive Medicare Pre-Audit Documentation Review. LINK

Fall Marketing Ideas

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Edward Petty

Fall is in the air….. and it’s time to get that fall marketing calendar filled with activities. To get the ball rolling, we have put together a few topics and suggestions to make your events fun and effective.

For our PMA members, we have more information about each topic, including ready made posters, handouts, and descriptions. For more information, please go to our PM&A Members site here , log in, and go the section called New Stuff on the top navigation bar. You will find the article called Fall Marketing Ideas.

September:

National Backpack Awareness Day – Sept 19
Woman’s Health Week – Last week of September
Neuropathy (or Headache,etc. ) Awareness Week (Pick a week to promote a free screeing exam for a specific condition.)
Crazee Dayz (For example, Thirsty Thursdays — offer a different type of drink each Thursday. Have patients make suggestions: organ apple juice in Sept, Egg nog in December, etc.)

October:

National Spinal Health Month (now called National Chiropractic Month). Make a banner and use this as a motivation to have patients bring in their family for a free spinal fitness screening.
National Chiropractic Month. Use this as a reason to sponsor: Chiropractic Opportunity Week: The doctor is having a “COW”
Hair Dresser/Beauty Salons/Spas – provide massages, screenings, and lectures.
Local Health Fairs at businesses.
Kid’s Halloween Party

November:

Thanksgiving Turkey Drawing Poster
Donation Drives
Deer Widows Week
Girl’s Night Out

December:

Holiday Coupons – Gift Certificates
Poinsettia Give Away
Saturday with Santa
Appreciation to External Referral Sources

Chiropractors – If You Get a Medicare Audit, Do You Know What to Do Next?

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Dave

Are You Prepared?

If You Get a Medicare Audit,
Do You Know What to Do Next?

If you haven’t already heard, CMS Medicare has launched a massive audit project aimed at chiropractic offices around the country. Executive Order #13520 “Reducing Improper Payments and Eliminating Waste in Federal Programs” has unleashed a random attack of chiropractors aimed at recovering an estimated $174,100,000 in over payments.

Medicare has hired two companies to start auditing chiropractors. There is no way to know if you will get a request for an audit, but I can tell you this from being on the road: very, very few clinics will pass a Medicare audit based on the documentation that I have seen.

That’s not to say you aren’t providing proper, necessary care. Far from that. The Medicare documentation requirements for the physician’s signature alone are three pages long.

So What Should You Do?

PM&A is prepared to help you. We have had 25 years of experience with Medicare audits and appeals. If you get a request for an audit, DON’T freak out. Do this instead:

Do not ignore it! You have 30 days to respond.
Do not let your staff photocopy and send the records out blindly!
Call our office immediately and request our special MPDR Program: MEDICARE PRE-AUDIT DOCUMENTATION REVIEW

We will come to your office & go through any requested records with a fine-tooth comb to assist you in ensuring that you have complete documentation for all services rendered, that each date of service is properly documented, that all PART forms are complete, and that active care modifiers have been properly used.

We will go over each entry in the chart with the treating doctor to ensure that every requirement of Medicare documentation is met for the service you rendered. If addendums need to be made, we’ll ensure that the addendums meet or exceed Medicare requirements.

We will also draft a follow up and Medicare Compliance Plan for your office for any areas that need to be corrected so that you can avoid potentially devastating pre-payment future audits or fraud charges.

We have successful fought AND WON on numerous Medicare audits. No other chiropractic management company can say that. A bad Medicare audit can cost well over $100,000 and thousands of staff hours – and more importantly, hurts your patients and their right to chiropractic coverage.

====================

Medicare Audit Emergency Response Number: 920.459.8500

The MPDR is available to chiropractors in WI, MN, IL, IN, & ND only. This is an emergency response program and slots will be limited to PM&A clients first, then first come. Do NOT send records without calling us first.

The MPDR program covers up to two full days (20 hours) in your office, plus limited follow up. The cost is $4,800 prepaid. PM&A management clients can receive a 20% discount if they are active and current members.

Call for terms and conditions for this service. 920.459.8500

Internet Marketing That Works

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Edward Petty

A web site is nice, but can it really generate new patients for you?

The answer is yes! And over the years, depending on the doctor’s internet marketing efforts, we have seen more new patients calling the office because of something they read on the Internet.

You probably have a web site. It could be a templated one you subscribe to or your own customized site.

But having a site is the easy part – it’s what you do with it that counts. It is not like a phone book ad that you redesign every 12 months and then get conned into buying a larger ad by the phone book rep.

We have been studying internet marketing for many years now. It is a science and an art unto itself, with new approaches and technologies evolving monthly. But there is also an awful lot of hype. Every company has a different pitch about how their web site is better. There are new gurus being born every week. Then, at a family barbeque, your 14 year old geeky nephew says he can throw up a web site for you over his lunch as part of a school project. So, what do you do?

Because of all these things, your web site may just sit there. Maybe it catches something now and then like a fishing lure, but more likely, it is mostly ignored and has floated to the river’s edge doing nothing.

We have a solution to this.

We will be sending more info about this soon. But the short version is that someone in your office should be able to work on your Internet marketing every week. Like any marketing, it only works if it is done.

We will be introducing the Chiropractic Internet Marketing Assistant Checklist and Support Program soon. Believe me – the Basic Level will be so easy even a Caveman, or Cavewoman, can do it. (No offense intended!)

The internet is becoming more of a marketing medium for your office – and can be effectively used for generating new patients and keeping the ones you have.

The bottom line? 1-3 new patients for a few hours spent each month working on Internet marketing. Not a bad return.

Make sure you listen to our guest on this Tuesdays’ live teleclass this Tuesday, June 29th, at 12:30 Central time.

Dr. Jamie Phillips, having just given a presentation to the California Chiropractic Association, will be talking about practical steps you and your staff can immediately implement to get more new patients from the Internet.

We have known Dr. Jamie for many years and are impressed with her knowledge, savvy, service, and results. She loves marketing and chiropractic, and is effectively applying these passions to the internet.
More info on Dr. Jamie. LINK
As usual, there is no charge to our clients. The access number and phone number will be posted on your Members site and we will also send you a special reminder email. If you are not an active client, you can register here: LINK.

Looking forward to many more new patients .. and returning active patients.

5 New Marketing Projects

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Edward Petty

We have been working on some new marketing projects and are now ready to tell you about them.

They are hot, effective, and don’t cost an arm and a leg. You can do them and if you do, you will see more new patients.

They are not totally a secret, so I am going to tell you what they are. But first, I want you to know why we are doing so.

We’ve often been asked why we do what we do: Why do we consult and coach chiropractors. Why not dentists or MDs, or why consult at all? Why this line of work? Particularly since we are not chiropractors.

Well, first of all, we have consulted dentists, MDs, podiatrists, even attorneys and are not averse to doing so. We have done well with them, in fact.

Not being chiropractors gives us a distinct advantage. We are not biased to a particular technique, or so in love with our own procedures and with what worked with our patients that we can’t help another doctor work out what is uniquely best for her or him.

But the thing is, we really share the philosophy and mission of chiropractic – and the Attitude as well.

Chiropractors help people get well without the use of drugs. They promote a healthy lifestyle. Now, it should be no news to you reading this that this has always gone against Big Money. The Big Money is in disease care.

We truly feel that chiropractors are the Health Rangers and Health Champions in a world dominated by gold digging corporations that manipulate public opinion to eat badly – and buy more and more drugs.

Chiropractic, by its very nature, opposes this and has for over a 100 years.

But reviling disease care peddlers can only provide you with a short term self righteous ego boost. The real solution is not to loudly ridicule drug companies and the MD monopolies, or their bed partner, the health insurer. (But it may make you feel better, so go ahead! In fact, give ’em hell.)

The real solution is to tell your story.

Communicate loudly and continuously the benefits of chiropractic as the FIRST solution people should seek for their HEALTH.

We have seen and know the benefits of chiropractic and the chiropractic lifestyle and have seen the alternatives: sick, brainwashed people fed drugs and receiving “procedures” at great expense to our economy.

So that’s why we do this. It is a personal thing.

Now, to help you tell your story this summer, we have a number of super cool – and effective – programs which we will be presenting over the next few weeks.

1. Internet Marketing. Having a web site is no longer enough. It is what you DO with it that counts. We have put together action steps that a chiropractic assistant can follow to help get you more new patients from the Internet. (Special teleclass program with Dr. Jamie Phillips on Tuesday, June 29th. More info soon.)

2. Community Services. Since the 1980’s, screenings have always been around. We have organized our successful experiences with screenings, and other external events, to show you how to greatly increase your new patients from these events. This is a fun program.

3. Energizing Your Marketing and Your Practice. Without giving away the whole program, we have new slant on an old approach to practice marketing that has proven to generate more new patients just with your current programs. The best part: it doesn’t cost a dime!

4. Innate Marketing Secrets: How To Generate More New Patients Invisibly. This is based on study we have been doing for a while now. It is almost spooky in how it works. But it does. Stay tuned.

5. Practice Management. We will show you a powerful management tool – that the whole staff can use – that increases production and improves performance. And it is nothing new. You have it already, but for the most part, most offices just don’t use it.

It’s summer time and we want to help you get more people healthier.

Watch for more information on these programs soon.

Last Seminar/Next Seminar

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Linda

We just finished our 10 classes in 1 day seminar in Minneapolis – our “10 in 1.” From what I heard and saw, everyone had a great time. I know we did. And for my money, I think we had some of the best professionals in the country giving presentations – as well as attending!

: Dave Michel at 3Goals Seminar in Minneapolis

In addition to great presentations by Phyllis Frase on chiropractic philosophy and procedures for staff, Dave Michel on insurance, and myself on marketing and practice building, we had two guest doctors.

: Dr Tom Potisk at 3-goals Seminar in Minneapolis

One was Dr. Tom Potisk who went over how he maintained a joyful practice for 25 years in a multi-doctor setting with 2 associate doctors.

: Dr. Shane Walker at 3-goals Seminar in Minneapolis

Then, as a special guest, we were pleased to have Dr. Shane Walker who is the president of the Federation of Straight Chiropractors. He lit the room up with passion, statistics, and purpose and reminded everyone about the power of chiropractic, as well as it’s importance in society today.

So, just a reminder:

Our Milwaukee seminar is coming up soon.

Dave, Phyllis, and myself all have new material covering C.A. training, insurance and reimbursement procedures, and marketing and practice building. Our presentations are all based upon the work we do each week in offices across the country – and what we see working, and not working.

For our Milwaukee seminar, we are especially pleased to have two exceptional doctors giving presentations on Thursday, May 20th. Both are highly qualified and successful doctors that set great examples for excellence in their practice, business, and life.

We will be sending info out on them soon, but you can find out more here.

Hope to see you all in Milwaukee.

Chiropractic and Earth Day

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Edward Petty

It was 40 years ago when Senator Nelson, from Wisconsin, helped start Earth Day. (It started in March, 1970 with teach-ins at the University of Calif. Davis and San Francisco. I was there!) Since then, there has been a battle between natural health, and chemicals and toxins.

Chemicals in Our Environment

1972: DDT, an organochlorine pesticide, was banned
1976: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)

62,000 chemicals were grandfathered in as being safe. Two chemicals have been banned since 1976.

1978 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)
1989 Asbestos

There has been no attempt to ban a toxic chemical since 1989.
The amount of chemicals produced or imported by the United States in one day would fill up 623,000 tanker trucks with a capacity of 8,000 gallons each. (Taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes: The Body Toxic How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being. By Nena Baker 2008)

Not counting the chemicals Americans take in from hormones, pesticides, herbicides, and other poisons in our fast food, super-sized nation, we pound prescription drugs in to our bodies.

American Prescription Drug Use

The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 1993 was seven.
The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 2000 was eleven.
[The average number of prescriptions drugs per person], annually, in 2004 was twelve.

The total number of annual prescriptions [drugs] in the United States now stands at about 3 billion. The cost per year is about $180 billion, headed to and estimated $414 billion by 2011. (taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes:How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser 2005)

This is actually old data and the average number by 2010 is probably much higher. I have seen patients walk in with pages of 20 “’scripts”, and heard of even as many as 50. I am sure you have too.

In Our Drinking Water
A vast array of pharmaceutical including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. in the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas _ from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky. (USAToday)

Our Babies Swim Now In A Soup Of Chemicals.
287 human-made chemicals – most of them hazardous – in the blood of infants

According to a study released by the Environmental Working Group, a policy research and activist organization, tests measuring the so-called “body burden” of industrial chemicals, conducted on ten random samples of umbilical cord blood, detected 287 chemicals.

The samples, supplied by the American Red Cross, registered 180 chemicals known to cause cancer in adults, 217 that are linked to brain and nervous system damage, and 208 that have been shown to affect fetal or child development in animal tests. For 209 of the contaminants, this was the first time researchers had identified the chemicals in newborn blood. (Environmental Working Group)

What Should Be Done?
What do the so called health care leaders say about the poisons we feed to our planet, our people, and eventually our unborned children? Where are the medical doctors or health insurers or pharmaceutical CEO’s speaking out against this. Or, our elected officials?

No one is talking, or if so, their voices are not heard.

And you know why? Simple: because for the most part, they are not HEALTH Leaders.

And who are the health leaders?

You are! The chiropractor and the chiropractic professional. A healthy populace needs more than just “providers.” Your community needs leadership. The members of your town are bombarded with ads for drugs, for fast food, for industrial corporate food, for the easy “no effort way” to what they want. Add in natural human laziness, and you will find that your patients are getting sicker.

Health is a word which has been hijacked by the drug and insurance companies. But the chiropractor is the true health leader.

Earth Day gives you an easy avenue to extend your reach as a health leader into your community as well. Well educated patients and community will seek to have a healthy town and a healthy body without the use of chemicals.

Sample posters. Link

Come celebrate with us on Earth Day by attending our seminar in Minneapolis.

Printable version of this article to give to patients. Chiropractic and Earth Day-for patients

Chiropractic and Earth Day

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Edward Petty

A healthy earth has a lot to do with a healthy body. But over the years, we keep pouring chemicals into the atmosphere and earth as well into our bodies.

Chemicals in Our Environment

1972: DDT, an organochlorine pesticide, was banned
1976: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)
62,000 chemicals were grandfathered in as being safe Two chemicals have been banned.

1978 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)
1989 Asbestos

“There has been no attempt to ban a toxic chemical since 1989.
“The amount of chemicals produced or imported by the United States in one day would fill up 623,000 tanker trucks with a capacity of 8,000 gallons each.” (taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes: The Body Toxic How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being. By Nena Baker 2008) Not counting the chemicals Americans take in from hormones, pesticides, herbicides, and other poisons in our Fast Food, Super Sized nation, we pound prescription drugs in to our bodies.

American Prescription Drug Use

“The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 1993 was seven.
The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 2000 was eleven.
[The average number of prescriptions drugs per person], annually, in 2004 was twelve.

The total number of annual prescriptions [drugs] in the United States now stands at about 3 billion. The cost per year is about $180 billion, headed to and estimated $414 billion by 2011.” (taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes:How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser 2005)

This is actually old data and the average number by 2010 is probably much higher. I have seen patients walk in with pages of 20 “’scripts”, and heard of even as many as 50.

In Our Drinking Water
A vast array of pharmaceutical including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. in the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm

Our Babies Swim Now In A Soup Of Chemicals.
287 human-made chemicals – most of them hazardous – in the blood of infants .

Earth Day is Health Day
Learn more. Read books. Talk to your chiropractor. Eat natural and organic food. Get regular spinal adjusts to support your spine and nervous system. Educate others. You can help your family and friends find relief and better health without the use of toxins by encouraging them to come in for an initial consultation with the doctor to see if chiropractic can help. Chiropractic is 100% organic and always has been. No drugs or toxins. The chiropractic lifestyle supports a healthy spine, nervous system and body.

Chiropractors: Never Work Another Day in Your Life!

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Edward Petty

Did you know that 73% of chiropractors can make all the money they want without ever working?

This is proven by 83% of studies.

Yes, that’s write. You two can make all the money you want, and even more, without even working.

Honest. No more talks, letters, or yellow pages or even internets. You don’t even have to sea patients.

With this SECRET system I was able to make lots ‘o bucks. (Doctre Phulo Vit)

Am I talking to you? Yes, we are.

I have just discovered 6.3 steps on how to make all the money you want with out hardly working ever and getting all the love you need. Honest.

Yea. Baby.

So, call us now at 800 APR-FOOL

=================================================

Don’t be fooled. Get the real stuff. Come to our seminar in Minneapolis and Milwaukee this spring.

See you there.

Happy Easter to you all.

Love,

The PM&A Team

Chiropractor to Chiropractor: Reclaim the Joy of Practice

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Edward Petty

Being a chiropractor can be a lonely job.

Who knows what it is like to adjust patients late in the afternoon while one patient is going on and on and the next one is dirty from work and smells? And yet another just called in who has been under care for two weeks and is in pain and wants to be seen right away – who knows what that is like?

Someone who has been there and done that – another doctor.

You aren’t looking for advice, that can wait. You don’t need a lecture. It would just be good to talk with someone who has been there before and survived, or better, thrived.

Let me introduce Dr. Tom Potisk. He is not the overbearing charming salesman type of a doctor that you often see in consulting programs. Actually, not too many doctors are really like that. In fact, most doctors are very similar to Dr. Tom.

Dr. Tom and Dave, Phyllis and myself have been discussing an additional ingredient to practice success that that we feel doctors need. Simply, another doctor to talk to. They have us, of course. But we are managers and marketers and practice builders. That is our specialty. And we too have been there and done that, since the 1980’s. But as managers – not as doctors.

We feel doctors need both for practice success: a professional manager to help build a profitable and self sustaining business AND the support and perspective of a professional, experienced chiropractor.

So we are very happy to partner with Dr. Tom Potisk in providing services to our wonderful wonderful clients.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Tom will be giving a number of presentations at our upcoming seminars this year. One of the classes will be on Doctor to Doctor: Reclaiming the Joy of Practice. This is his basic theme: how, as a doctor, you can truly enjoy each day doing what you do as a doctor. His approach is simply – doctor to doctor. Not as a coach, but as a fellow doctor who has been through what you are going through and made it to the other side – very successfully.

Listen to this his first teleclass you – you will find it very motivating and reassuring.

Hope to “see” you there,

Here is what others have said who have listed to his full presentation:

“Dr. Tom’s program was fantastic! I laughed, I cried, and I went back to my practice with a new, deeper sense of dedication and confidence. All DCs need to hear his message!” – Dr. Donna Stackpool, Lake Geneva WI

“Reclaim the Joy of Practice was an amazing presentation! Dr. Potisk made the evening fun and enlightening with great tips on how to stay happy and truly enjoy Chiropractic. I loved the history references with BJ. It was a great reminder of how generations past fought for Chiropractic and how we need to honor them and the profession AND continue the passion. Thanks Dr. Potisk for lighting the fire again!” – Tara Gill DC, Delevan WI

“After nearly 40 years of practice, I thought I heard the last of the great, authentic, and sincere chiropractic programs years ago; then along comes Dr. Tom Potisk with his Reclaim the Joy of Practice presentation. He brought me right back to what I remembered as the good-ole-days with an adjustment between my ears. High pi Dr. Tom !” – Jerry Zelm DC, Oconomowoc WI

And you can read more about Dr. Tom Potisk here.

Motorcycles, Natural Hot Springs, Sushi, and Chiropractic Philosophy – Wowee! What a Weekend!!

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Dr. Tom

In the natural hot springs.

I just returned from a few days in Costa Mesa CA. I attended CalJam, a chiropractic philosophy/music convention, with Ed Petty from PM&A. It was refreshingly different because of the focus on chiropractic’s unique philosophy combined with music.

The man behind it all is Dr. Billy DeMoss and his fun-loving personality really shows in the event. Check out my video of BJ Palmer resurrected. [Longer Version]

Of course, I had to give Ed a lesson about why I’m called the “down-to-earth” doctor (www.thedowntoearthdoctor.com), a big part of it is going on adventures, so I took him on a high desert search for a natural hot spring called Deep Creek Spring. Yes, those are my feet in the picture. Ed reciprocated by guiding me on a motorcycle tour one of the days – I drove my first Harley and now I’m hooked! Thanks Ed.

My Harley in Laguna Beach, CA

As I listened to many of the greats like Dr Dan Murphy, Dr. Fabrizio Mancini, etc. I became even more grateful for the 25 years of tremendous success I’ve had in chiropractic. “Best profession in the world!” is what I told a 2nd semester student I bumped into there. He was wondering if he made the right decision, given all the negative news circulating about the business of practicing lately.

The speakers were talented and the content inspiring, but it also became apparent to me, that the seminars of PM&A are better in the sense that they lack sales. What I mean is that all or most of the speakers at CalJam, as inspiring and fun as they are to listen to, have a hidden agenda – they want to sell me something. That’s one of several reasons why I stayed with PM&A as my practice management guide, and why I’m excited to now be a part of their team.

I teach a class around the country called Reclaim the Joy of Practice, based on my book of the same name (www.reclaimthejoy.com) for content, I’m always on the lookout for exceptional DCs. I bumped in to Dr. Gerald Clum, president of Life West Chiropractic College.

Listen to his brief message in response to my question “What can chiropractors do to be more successful?” LINK.

Doctor, how can you apply that message today?

How to Make Your Chiropractic Marketing More Effective: Give a Reason

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Edward Petty

A fundamental component to marketing your chiropractic services is communicating a reason, rationale, or a purpose for why you are marketing.

For example, if a store has a SALE each month with a discount on some of their items, you might think: “So what? Just another sale.”

So the department store thinks up some reason for the sale. It could be “Back-to-School” sale, a “Food Drive” sale, or a St. Patty’s Day party.

All of your marketing should have a topical theme. In our marketing materials, we have many, from Organic Health Care Week (in conjunction with Earth Day), Mother’s Day coupon with flowers, Fibromyalgia Awareness Week, etc.

But behind all of these themes should be a more dominate reason for your marketing. And here is a powerful truth: The better your staff, your patients, and your community understand this reason, the more responsive they will be in to your marketing efforts.

For example, we recommend that you write a letter to your patients explaining to them your real reasons for marketing your services. It could called: “Why We Promote – A Letter to Our Patients.” To help you get started, we have a questionnaire here and a sample letter.

(For our clients, we have written a sample letter that has become popular which you may access on your Member’s web site under “New Stuff.” (need password.))

Why Do You Market Your Chiropractic Services?

Answer these questions thoughtfully.

Then, compose a few paragraphs for a letter, or for your web site. You can also use this as a close on your patient lectures.

What do you experience when you see the family and friends of your patients get results from your care?
Do you ever see patients that have had unnecessary or failed back surgeries?
Do you ever see patients that take, or have taken, toxic drugs to alleviate their symptoms that you were able to alleviate naturally?
How would have the lives of these people been changed had you been able to adjust and treat them years earlier?
Since you are not supported by pharmaceutical companies or hospitals for your community education, how can you get the word out to your community?
This is why you have to rely on your staff and patients, and on occasional promotions and special events.

Observations

observations from our travels in the world of chiropractic

Tag Archives: chiropractic

Every Morning

Oklahaven

..we’re sneaking away to do some planning…

Parker Seminar in Jan with Ms. Phyllis Frase

January 13-15, 2011

Health Never Takes A Holiday!

Edmund Fitzgerald

Internet Marketing for Chiropractic Offices

Medicare, Chiropractic, and Computer Generated Notes

Fall Marketing Ideas

Chiropractors – If You Get a Medicare Audit, Do You Know What to Do Next?

Medicare Audit Emergency Response Number: 920.459.8500

Internet Marketing That Works

5 New Marketing Projects

Last Seminar/Next Seminar

Chiropractic and Earth Day

Chiropractic and Earth Day

Chiropractors: Never Work Another Day in Your Life!

Chiropractor to Chiropractor: Reclaim the Joy of Practice

More Videos and Photos from PM&A’s Adventure to the Chiropractic California Jam 2010

Motorcycles, Natural Hot Springs, Sushi, and Chiropractic Philosophy – Wowee! What a Weekend!!

How to Make Your Chiropractic Marketing More Effective: Give a Reason