![](\"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/d7f89d_a2b5d484342946abbc9ed5d5696860f3~mv2.png\/v1\/fill\/w_939,h_1127,al_c,q_90\/d7f89d_a2b5d484342946abbc9ed5d5696860f3~mv2.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
How your practice can quietly erode.<\/em><\/p>\n There’s an old story about a frog dropped into boiling water \u2014 it jumps out immediately.<\/p>\n But put that same frog in cool water and slowly raise the heat, and it stays put. It never feels the moment it should have jumped.<\/p>\n Biologically, this isn’t actually true of frogs. It\u2019s a fable.<\/p>\n But it’s true of practices.<\/p>\n No one decides one morning to lower their standards. You never wake up one day and say: \u201cPatients are going to get just a bit less of me today.\u201d Or, \u201cthe business performance will drop over the next month.\u201d<\/p>\n It happens one degree at a time \u2014 an exam abbreviated and rote because the schedule was tight or a report of findings that never quite landed.<\/p>\n In an earlier newsletter, I wrote about \u201cprocedural atrophy\u201d \u2014 how the steps that made something work are shortened until the quality quietly deteriorates. This can continue to occur until a \u201cquality threshold\u201d is reached. This is the point beyond which poor quality is obvious \u2013 in patient complaints and practice decline.<\/p>\n GRADUAL DECLINE IN PERFORMANCE IN YOUR CHIROPRACTIC AND HEALTHCARE BUSINESS<\/strong><\/p>\n Procedural atrophy erodes not just what gets done, but the intention and care behind it.<\/p>\n The difficult truth about this is that — we agree to it. Not out loud. Not on purpose. But each small degradation gets accepted because nothing bad shows up right away. That acceptance becomes the new normal. The next shortcut looks small, too, because we’re measuring it against the last one, not against where we started.<\/p>\n This is the flip side of the elephant story I wrote about before*. The elephant never tests its ceiling \u2014 it’s held down by an old belief about what’s possible. Erosion is the opposite problem: a floor that quietly drops, with nobody really deciding to lower it.<\/p>\n To prevent this from happening, from slowly slip-sliding away:<\/p>\n Look at your numbers now and what they were in the past.<\/p>\n Check your purpose from years ago and what it is now.<\/p>\n Review your policies and successful procedures \u2013 and what is being missed now.<\/p>\n Review your patient successes.<\/p>\n Do this with your team.<\/p>\n When I have done this with chiropractic offices, we always unearth rusty old goals, policies and procedures.<\/p>\n \u201cOh yea, back when our numbers were higher, we would always call the new patient after the first adjustment to see how they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n It takes work, and comparisons can be uncomfortable. But it’s the only way to catch water that’s heating up too slowly to feel.<\/p>\n You must look at your business objectively \u2013 that is why we implement a fast and simple statistical management system for all our clients.<\/p>\n This is how you stay focused on your goals and what you’re actually capable of, instead of drifting toward whatever is easiest to accept.<\/p>\n Stay Goal Driven,<\/p>\n Ed<\/p>\n * Increase Your Capacity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Goal Driven Metrics Program for Your Office<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How your practice can quietly erode. There’s an old story about a frog dropped into boiling water \u2014 it jumps out immediately. But put that same frog in cool water and slowly raise the heat, and it stays put. It … Continue reading