Business Point – a video profile of successful, world-class entities, their owners, developers and operators – produced exclusively for Language Point, Milan, by a Canadian production team, who seek out business stories of impact and influence and introduce you to the people making their mark on the global business map.

NEXT ADVANCED NEEDLING WORKSHOP IS MARCH 31-APRIL 1, 2012

EMAIL: INFO@HAMILTONBACKCLINIC.COM TO APPLY BY INCLUDING YOUR CV

 Take a step back and look around and take the help from those in the game today. Below is a video from 2008 or so. The footage was shot w a home video so it not professional but its a great example of treating a body builder by needling the brachial plexus etc.
  
 Enjoy. And think about what I’ve said, for you.
  
 Best,
  
 Anthony.

Create a system that simplifies your practice.

By Anthony J. Lombardi, DC

To make things run smoothly in any practice you need to create a process or a system that works. You can’t do everything yourself. If you did, you would be burnt out, stressed out, and of no use to your patients.

What does this mean in actual practice? You have to create a system such that, if you are not there, some- one else can step in, review your procedures, and execute them.

Remember that systems are designed to make things easier and more efficient for the business first and for you, the doctor, second.

The first step in creating an efficient system is to keep in mind your target audience. This will always be the patient. Your systems should ultimately make patient visits turn into experiences. When things happen easily and run smoothly, it creates a positive experience for the patient and indirectly helps your business.

Start with the basics

A business has three core elements: booking, billing, and collecting. You need these three areas to run like clockwork in order to have a viable business.

Step one: booking your patients

Making things easy for your patients is essential. Everyone likes options, so give these to them. There are three ways a patient can book an appointment: Online, by email, or the conventional way by telephone. When you give the patient these various options, it takes the pressure off your front-end staff.

Rebooking patients. It is vital that there is smooth communication between you and your front desk staff. In order to keep the flow moving smoothly, you shouldn’t need to disrupt the process of going from one patient to the next by having to stop at the front desk.

Routing slips or electronic messages make this exchange run quick and easy.

A routing slip is a piece of paper inserted into the file at the end of each visit informing the front desk what treatment was done, the amount the patient owes, and when the doctor needs to see the patient again.

If you use a paperless filing system, sending an electronic message works in place of a routing slip. An iPad or similar electronic device makes things even easier.

Step two: billing

This area includes billing insurance companies for services rendered and also paying your bills and covering payroll. Bills are going out and bills are coming in. Managing this system is crucial.

Billing insurance companies. Create a billing cycle that bills insurance companies daily. Ideally, two people need to be trained on this process. A backup person is key. The sooner you bill, the sooner you get paid.

Paying your bills and payroll. Maximize what your bank and your bookkeeper have to offer you. Arrange with your bank to pay all of your bills online automatically every month. This includes credit card balances, utilities, and your salary. Your bookkeeper can arrange through your bank to pay your employees through direct deposit.

Step three:

collecting

Successful businesses should model themselves around grocery stores. You have to pay for your groceries before you leave the store. Providing services without payment is like taking milk from the shelf and walking out without paying. It wouldn’t be tolerated in a supermarket, and shouldn’t be allowed in your practice.

Managing time to maximize profits

You’ve heard the expression, “time is money.” If you can find ways to save time, you’ll boost your income as well.

Social media. Have your patients promote for you. Social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook allow patients to become part of your culture. Patients discussing your care will promote your practice to others while increasing the amount of online material relating to your practice — which raises your search engine optimization and makes it easier for prospective patients to find you online.

Promotion in your clinic. Everyone waits in a waiting room. Use this time to make your patients more aware of what you and your clinic have to offer. Your reception and treatment rooms offer walls of space where you can post signage and screen educational videos.

Employing these strategies should see you increase your clinic’s sales of goods and services.

Patient referrals. Use every visit as an opportunity to grow and expand your brand. You are building a relationship with the patient, so make it a habit to thank your patient in advance for their kind referrals, even if they haven’t yet referred anyone.

Work fewer hours for more profits. Believe it or not, working less gives you more time to focus on you and your practice. Working four days instead of five allows you to keep your mind and technique fresh.

It can allow you to see patient problems more clearly and treat them better than if you are overworked and demotivated.

Money is not your primary reason for being successful. That will come in time. The patient is always the first reason for you becoming a success. If you get patients better, they will come back, refer more, and your reputation will precede you.

Secondly, when you work less your time is in greater demand. Therefore you have the ability to charge more for your services.

Remember, you are the expert in chiropractic. This means you should not expect to also be an accountant, a bookkeeper, a magician, and a fabulous writer. Know what you are good at, where your limits are, and when you need to step away.

Surround yourself with people who are experts in their own areas. This will naturally make you and your practice look good, while allowing you to work less and make more.

Anthony J. Lombardi, DC, has created a multi-million dollar corporation by integrating systems into his multidisciplinary practice, which focuses on the management of musculoskeletal dysfunction. He is a consultant and treatment provider to professional athletes in the NFL, NHL, and CFL. He can be contacted through www.hamiltonbackclinic.com.

1. You may call 905.692.4222 or 905.388.2022

2. You may text your name and the service you wish to book (chiro, physio, massage) to the # 905.906.6611

3. You may email the same info to info@hamiltonbackclinic.com along with a contact number.

4. You may scan the barcode below into your blackberry and bbm us to request your appointment.

By Anthony Lombardi, DC (@hamback)

Offer services that complement those of other assessment and treatment professionals, keep patients’ health care teams informed and take the time to highlight the complementary skills and services you can offer patients in order to make your practice more appealing to the medical community.

1. Make yourself distinct from others

Offer services that complement those of other assessment and treatment professionals in order to make your practice more appealing to the medical community. Physicians vary in their familiarity with alternative and complementary medicine, but increasingly patients are looking for these types of treatments and family physicians are referring their patients to them.

For example, our chiropractic clinic also offers a range of related services, including medical acupuncture, laser therapy, physiotherapy, therapeutic massage and naturopathic medicine – all adding up to a multidisciplinary practice.The key factor that will distinguish you from your peers is your success rate. No matter which approach you use, if you can achieve better-than-average clinical results, then you will certainly increase the number of referrals you receive.

2. Foster open communication with others

It is important to keep patients’ health care teams informed, not only to help their health records remain up to date, but also to strengthen the relationship between you and the other health professionals involved in their care.

After the initial visit with a patient, I send a short note to the family doctor and any other medical or health care practitioners they may have seen about their chief complaint, such as a physiatrist, surgeon, naturopath, physiotherapist or massage therapist. This note briefly explains my diagnosis and the methods I am using to correct the problem. If this is the first time I have corresponded with them, I include a short biography so they can familiarize themselves with my skill set. I then follow with a short progress report at the two-week mark and again at the time of discharge. After I had been following this practice for a period of time, referrals from family physicians and medical specialists began to increase in number. Today I receive an average of two patient referrals per week from the medical community. Additional referrals to our clinic have come from physiotherapists, naturopathic doctors, registered massage therapists, reflexologists and other chiropractors. One of the best places to meet other progressive health professionals is at courses and seminars, where you not only improve your skills and techniques but also have lots of networking opportunities. These events have accounted for many of the referrals I have received from other rehabilitation practitioners. Knowing your peers can build relationships that are the source of new patients.

3. Make sure your curriculum vitae is current

When you strive to be the best in your field, you will get noticed. You must make a lifelong commitment to improving your skills and also practise the discipline necessary to make sure your curriculum vitae reflect those skills. I often send my CV to doctors who have extensive educational and clinical backgrounds, such as surgeons or pain specialists. This helps to highlight the fact that I am not only a chiropractor, but I am also certified in muscle release techniques and completed two years of acupuncture study at McMaster University, where I am now an instructor.Some of these additional specialties have greatly benefited the amateur and professional athletes who have come to our clinic. Once these players received the treatment and the results they were looking for, they started to refer other members of their team, and that component of our client base began to expand.

If you take the time to highlight the complementary skills and services you can offer their patients and can demonstrate success, physicians will see that you have skills that set you apart and they will be more likely to refer future patients.

I want you to know that because I have been recruited to teach assessment and treatment in Europe there will not be anymore EXSTORE assessment courses until 2012. I will also be taking a break from the clinical blogs to focus on my future projects.

In the future I will only be accepting selected students, doctors, and therapists into the workshops. I am only interested in those individuals who aspire to be the very best at what they do within their community. So, if you are an average therapist who just wants to be average you will not be accepted into the workshop.

Students: Because my time is valuable I will only entertain those students who take their profession seriously and who want to learn from highly trained individuals. Students who think they know it all are not only useless to me, they are useless to their patients. If you are one of these people I am not interested in you.

Dr. Lombardi