Tag Archives: chiropractic

A Few May Promotions for Your Chiropractic Practice

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Mother’s Day is coming up soon (Sunday, May 8th).

This brings up the whole topic of women’s health care.

There are many types of health related events concerning women that you can participate in during this month (or any month, really) that are not only good causes, but can act to spotlight your services.

These include:

  • talks outside of the office
  • workshops in house
  • movie screenings
  • special awareness, or “Appreciation Weeks” for free health screenings
  • sponsor radio programs, interviews
  • letters to the editor
  • gifts (flowers the Friday before Mother’s Day)
  • and tape video “health tips” and post to YouTube.
  • donation drives

The list can go on and on. Some offices have had talks about pregnancy and pre and post natal care, sometimes with a midwife or nurse. One office does very well simply sending out a mailer each year to all local homeowners sponsoring a Women’s Health Care Week, offering free exam, x-ray, and massages.

Special promotions can work but they work much better if they are connected to a legitimate cause. There even is a name for this, and you guessed it, it is called “Cause Marketing.” For it to be effective, however, it has to be sincerely supported by the entire practice team. Doing a special event to support women just to get new patients will appear phony to others and can have negative effects.

One movie that has been shown is the Business of Being Born, a movie about harmful health practices connected to births in America. From its web site:

Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?

Another example of a movie suitable for screening will be: One More Girl. This is a movie documentary how the pharmaceutical company, Merck, knowling continuted to advertise their drug Gardasil (a drug promoted to help HPV infections) to girls after Merck knew it was dangerous.

From the movie’s web site:

Merck’s marketing techniques earned Gardasil a “pharmaceutical brand of the year” award from Pharmaceutical Executive for its ‘savvy disease education,’ and creating ‘a market out of thin air.”

Even though most HPV infections clear on their own, invasive cervical cancer deaths affect 2.7 women per 100,000, and the American Cancer Society lists cervical cancer as the 12th ranking cancer in the United States, parents lined up to get their daughters protected and doctors were ready with needles in hand.

Consumers are not aware of the trail of deception behind over 21,133 adverse reactions and 94 deaths in previously healthy, athletic, competitive and scholastic adolescent girls.

(Thanks to Dr. Ebner for referring us to this movie!)

The movie producers are seeking donations to produce this film. Perhaps your office could help raise funds!

Another idea would be to have a special week just for mothers and daughters: free health screenings, tea, a spa day with manicure and massage for mothers and daughters, etc.

Our member’s site has a few posters and other ideas available to you as active clients.

Here is a poem by Tina Fey for her daughter. (mild profanity)

Best Wishes for a Merry Month of May!

Ed

Billy DeMoss, the Dead Chiropractic Society (DC-S), and a free Chiropractic

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Dr. Billy DeMoss has changed chiropractic.

He has done this by offering an alternative model to the standard chiropractic seminar.  In so doing, he has helped to bring chiropractic back to chiropractic.

We all know that there are various versions in how this great profession is presented and applied.  But there is a common denominator in the profession that makes it special and in which everyone can agree.

What is it?

The subluxation…? Well, sure, but even this is disputed.  Let’s go for something even more basic.

The fact that chiropractic truly helps people get healthier and avoid getting run down in the medical-pharmaceutical-sickness complex?  Yes. True enough.

What else makes it special that we can all agree to?

NO ONE OWNS IT. Chiropractic wasn’t bought out by a Chinese company, a multinational firm, or bailed out by the Federal Reserve or the World Bank.  Your skills are not trademarked by Eli Lilly (Pharmacy Company). You can use Activator or the knee-chest. For the most part, you are free to do whatever you want.

But there is also something else that makes chiropractic special and that we all can agree to. What is it?

Well, chiropractic, if you are doing it right, is fun. In fact, it is a blast.  Adjusting patients and seeing them get better and loving you and your team for it! What could be better?

So, let’s add it all up: chiropractic helps people get healthier, it helps them avoid costly medical procedures, it allows them to live a better life, it allows you and your staff to have a better life, it is free from outside financial interests, and, it is fun.

NOW this is cause for a party!! THIS, if anything, should be celebrated.

This is what Billy preaches, practices, and sets an example for us all.

There are many professions out there that are soulless, goalless, and hopeless. Many are also too burdened with their own seriousness. We also can fall into this “chiropractic-as-drudgery” daily work mindset.

But, this is NOT chiropractic. And, as B.J. Palmer said:

The average businessman has long since forgotten Rule No. 9, “Don’t take yourself too damn seriously.”

Dr. DeMoss practices Rule No. 9. and helps us all celebrate the work we do.

The next Cal Jam, which he calls “ kiro-Woodstock”  is scheduled for March 12th  & 13th, 2012.  You can visit his website at www.californiajam.org where you can sign up to receive his newsletter and be a part of his worldwide referral network.

AND, you can listen to him live this Tuesday, April 26, at 12:30 Central Time. (For non active clients, we are charging $25 which will be donated to Oaklahaven.)

Register Here

For the full article on Rule #9 by B.J.Palmer, and a downloadable PDF file: Rule #9


Wisconsin Chiropractic Board of Examiners Can’t Decide On What to Test Doctors On

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Dateline: March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and another Wisconsin Chiropractic Board of Examiner’s meeting in Madison.

The WCEB is moving forward on their plans for a live patient, six-hour state practical exam to “improve the quality of chiropractors in the State” (or to limit the number of chiropractors in the State, depending on whom you talk to).

The Department of Regulation and Licensing (DRL) is still concerned that the exam will lack validity and that the financial aspects of administering such an exam have not been adequately confronted.  Since the exam must be “budget-neutral”, the State exam should run in the thousands of dollars for each applicant.

The public in attendance seemed frustrated, especially one DC who broke down as she has moved to Wisconsin but can’t take the board. There is still no exam scheduled for this year, but a promise that there will be one …

Just no promise on what it will be or when it will happen.

My Life And Times With B.J. Palmer – An Interview with Dr. Perrault

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In a special teleclass sponsored by Petty, Michel and Associates, Dr. Thomas Perrault will be interviewed by Dr. Tom Potisk, both graduates of the Palmer Chiropractic College.  Dr. Perrault personally knew Dr. B.J. Palmer, considered the Developer of Chiropractic, and spent time with him in the early part of Dr. Perrault’s career. (More about Dr. Palmer.)

Dr. Perrault will discuss some of his experiences with Dr. Palmer and what he learned from him.

It is safe to say that no other individual has been more responsible for the growth and continued success of the chiropractic profession than B.J. Palmer. He was a man of extra-ordinary energy and dedication to helping others with chiropractic. (More about B.J. Palmer.)

Dr. Tom Perrault, Sr., Founder of Perrault Chiropractic Offices, received a Bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University and a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1962.

He returned to his hometown of Methuen, MA to begin practice and was instrumental in the licensure of chiropractic by the Massachusetts legislature in 1966. He served twelve years on the Methuen School Committee, and continues to be active in community and civic affairs. His dedication to his profession and the community have earned him numerous awards and recognitions. He is a Fellow of the International Chiropractic Association and the Palmer Academy of Chiropractic.

Thomas Perrault Sr., D.C.

Thomas Perrault Sr., D.C.

A long-time leader of the Massachusetts Chiropractic Society, Dr. Perrault currently serves as its Executive Vice President and has been named Massachusetts Chiropractor of the Year an unprecedented four times. His activities with his professional society have kept him on the leading edge of chiropractic research and innovations in chiropractic. His primary interest remains the location and correction of the vertebral subluxation complex, which is the fundamental principal on which chiropractic practice is based. In 2004 Dr. Perrault was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by his profession.

It is definitely worth a listen. The class last about 50 minutes.

March 29nd- Tuesday, 12:30 CT – Teleclass (50 Minutes)

If you are an active client, you can find the phone number and access number for this live interview on your PMAmembers.com site.

If you are not an active client and want to register, please go here.

The 6th Fear

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Chiropractors:  I think it might be time for a pep talk…

Have you been keeping up with the news lately? It’s hard not to.

Egypt, Tunisia, and now Libya recently had swift moving revolutions that resulted in regime change – all in the last few months. And other Middle East countries are also rumbling with protests.

Meanwhile, back in the States, our federal government doesn’t seem to have enough money and our representatives are threatening with a government “shutdown.” And next door here, in the Middle West, Wisconsin, there are thousands of people protesting around our state capital.

That’s a LOT of commotion!

So, how’re your patients doing with all of this? Are they worried? Is their pay getting cut? Are they loosing their jobs? Do they have jobs?

And how about you? Are you staying up watching the news, reading about it, discussing it? Are you worried? How is your income?

We need to be accurately informed about current events, of course.  Unfortunately, we sometimes become so distracted that we can loose sight of what we are doing and let our businesses suffer.

A few years ago when the stock market plummeted, I received phone calls from doctors who were worried. One, who had been doing very well, was thinking about selling her office entirely. Another doctor who also had been doing well, let his practice numbers nose dive as he become mesmerized by the “news”, and was worried about racial riots and internment camps.

There is no doubt that economic conditions have been changing. But it has been our experience that if you constantly work on improving your services and in developing your business, and yourself, you will do just fine. (Good coaching helps too!)

BEST EVER
Last year, many of the offices we had the privilege work with had their best year ever. Most of them, in fact, had been in business for 15 to 25 years. I can think of 3 just off hand that have hit the “waiting list” category. They have reached near capacity with so many patients that they have to schedule new patients 1 week out. Horrible, I know, but very cool too.

DOING RIGHT
Success in this environment can be had. You can have it. You may have to change your past mode of operation, but you too can achieve it. It can be obtained by doing the right things, and doing those things right through a process of constant improvement. We call this the Practice Development Process.

BEING RIGHT
But to get what you want, you have to not only improve what you do, but improve who you are. You have to improve your outlook, your skills, and your personal habits. Success has much to do with how we view the world and what we put our attention on. As one old time doctor mentioned to me years ago, “success is an inside job.” By “inside”, he was referring to one’s thoughts and attitudes. He could talk: he and his doctors were seeing over 2,000 visits per week for years.

WORDS OF SUCCESS DURING TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES
We have been going through what has been called the Great Recession.  Many patients are worried about their jobs and their money.

Napoleon Hill wrote “Think and Grow Rich” in 1937 during the Great Depression as a result of studying and working with successful leaders, including President Roosevelt.  It continues to be a best seller, perhaps the most popular motivational book of all time. In it he says:

“It is true that all thought has a tendency to clothe itself in its physical equivalent. … “The people of America began to think of poverty following the Wall Street crash of 1929. Slowly but surely that mass thought was crystallized into its physical equivalent which was known as a depression.”

THE 6TH FEAR
The thought that creates this depression, according to Hill, is fear. Hill talked about 6 types of fears, the worst of which is the fear of poverty. The other 5 were criticism, ill health, loss of love of someone, old age, and death.

“The Fear of Poverty is without doubt the most destructive of the 6 basic Fears.“

Hill states that one of the symptoms of fear of poverty is procrastination.

DO IT NOW
So, this is a pep talk to encourage you that there has never been a better time to grow your practice and expand your business.

Your patients need your leadership to help them with their own fears so that they can become more productive. By improving their health and educating them on the chiropractic lifestyle, their chances of succeeding in their lives increases. You and your team help them, their families and the community. You make a difference.

So, do it now. Increase your promotion. Stream line your procedures. Work on team training and improve your service. Plan your expansion for this year.  Schedule a technique class. Read more. Work out more.  Get enlivened with your purpose as a chiropractor.

New office? New doctor? Why not? People need chiropractic care now more than ever. And chiropractic has never been more popular. Even the quarterback for the winning football team of the Super Bowl gets regular chiropractic adjustments. (Naturally, since his dad is a D.C.)

Work with a practice building coach and get in the game – to win!

As Napoleon Hill says:

“Do it now! can affect every phase of your life. It can help you do the things you should do but don’t feel like doing. It can keep you from procrastinating when an unpleasant duty faces you. But it can also help you do those things that you want to do. It helps you seize those precious moments that, if lost, may never be retrieved.”

Fight the fear and the procrastination by just doing it. And soon, you too will be achieving your best ever again.

#  #  #

P.S. Napoleon Hill was a chiropractic patient.  One report has it that B.J. Palmer was his chiropractor. Both men thrived during tough economic times. Here is an interesting story about Hill and chiropractic. LINK

Old movie of Nap Hill. 7 minutes. LINK

Leadership in Chiropractic – the Golden Circle

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How do you motivate others to start and continue chiropractic care?

Simon Sinek recently wrote a book about leadership and marketing, and if I didn’t know better, he took it straight from the principles of chiropractic.

Below is a link to a lecture he gave where he describes a fundamental ingredient to effective leadership and marketing. Essentially, he is describing what you in the chiropractic world already know but in a different light.

The talk is 18 minutes, but well worth it.

I am interested to hear how you see it as an effective application of chiropractic principles and how you might to apply it.

Every Morning

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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

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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…

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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

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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!

Register today! Visit www.parkerseminars.com or call 888.727.5338.

“Parker Seminars, “One voice for Chiropractic”

Health Never Takes A Holiday!

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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

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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

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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.

Videos

More info on Jamie Phillips internet marketing. Link

Medicare, Chiropractic, and Computer Generated Notes

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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

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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?

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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
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
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
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.