It was a warm summer day when I was driving my Kawasaki Intruder south down Highway 101 in Oregon near the California border when the fog rolled in. Although I had gloves on, they didn’t help. Hitting a cold fog bank on a motorcycle, the wind chill hits you hard. I was cold, but when I noticed that the front wheel was shaking because I was shaking, I decided that was enough. I found a roadside motel and called it a day.

After a two-hour shower just to warm up, I settled into a chair in my room and started reading some material from a client’s office. It talked about the 3 Phases of Care for patients. I knew about these phases, though never paid much attention to them, and I don’t expect many doctors I worked with paid much attention to them either.

Then, it hit me: these Three Phases of Care are like three goals of care:

1. Relief – Goal 1
2. Correction-strengthening – Goal 2
3. Maintenance-Wellness — Goal 3

Then I had this kinda mind-blowing experience: Could these three goals for patients also apply to three goals for a practice? This was a mind-altering question, and after the room stopped swirling, the answer was obvious – YES. The three goals for a patient were similar to the three goals for a practice.

1. Profit — Goal 1. (This comes from immediate production from marketing. Not enough cash flow is painful!)
2. Service — Goal 2. (The best quality at full capacity comes from a strong practice where all major issues are corrected and in alignment.)
3. Higher Purposes. — Goal 3. Our why, our mission, our reasons for Goals 1 and 2.

From this experience, we named our seminar series in 2008 – 2010, The Three Goals. And it was from this that I later named my book, The Goal Driven Business.

3 GOALS FOR YOUR CHIROPRACTIC AND HEALTH ORIENTED PATIENTS

I think to be agreeable and to give patients what they think they want, doctors often focus on relief care, and once the patient feels better, the patient leaves. Trying to convince patients to stay longer can seem like pressuring the patient, or it just takes up too much time.

Yes, educating your patients on correction and wellness does take more work. But your patients want this. They just don’t know it. They are symptom oriented – trained and treated by a medical system rather than an actual health system.

The hardware store thinks it is selling a hammer to a man. Yes, but they are also selling something that puts a beautiful painting on a wall at his home that makes his wife happy. The hardware store is selling… a hammer, a hung artwork, and happiness.

As the doctor, are you selling just a hammer, or are you also selling happiness?

3 GOALS FOR YOUR CHIROPRACTIC AND HEALTHCARE PRACTICE

Unfortunately, the habit of only treating symptoms carries over to practice management. We don’t take the time or feel we have the time to invest in ourselves, let alone our staff. Constant training, coaching, and sometimes counseling for yourself and your team are required to become stronger and more in alignment with the goals of a healing office. In the end, this improves income, service, and practice freedom.

For happier patients and a happier office, apply all 3 Phases of Care, or Goals, to your patients and to your practice.

Ed

I can show you how this is possible. Read the Goal Driven Business and contact me!