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Welcome to the Chiropractic Deep dive. Glad to be here today. We are laser focused. We’re tackling, uh, probably the single biggest hurdle we see stopping chiropractors from really succeeding. That’s patient care plan confusion. It sounds simple, but man, it causes problems. It really does. Poor retention, patients dropping out less than ideal outcomes.
It often traces back to this. Right. So we’re your guides today, we’re speaking to you as part of the five star management team. Yep. The chiropractic consulting company, helping docs like you get growth. Freedom and well success. And we’ve been digging into this really insightful Zoom event, uh, led by Dr.
Noel Lloyd. He gathered some really sharp practitioners. Yeah. And they went deep on care plans. What works, what fails? And the biggest takeaway, the core issue, the doctor often just doesn’t outline and explain. It’s a leadership failure, plain and simple. If you’re not leading the patient clearly through the process, they get lost.
It’s like that saying, right. If it’s cloudy in the pulpit, it’s gonna be foggy in the pew. If you’re unclear, your patient is definitely gonna be unclear. So the core principle we’re hitting today is fundamental. Plan your work and work your plan. Our goal is to help you build that great care plan, guide patients through it, and crucially, make sure every patient gets that clear path presented to them.
Let’s dive in. Okay, so let’s unpack the problems first. We learn a lot from what not to do. Absolutely. In the session, they flagged several, uh, pretty common mistakes that really sabotage care plans. Let’s tick ’em off. Mistake number one. Overly complicated explanations. Oh, yeah, big one. Patients, especially new ones, they’re already maybe anxious or in pain.
They just can’t absorb tons of technical jargon. So the advice was pretty clear. Keep it simple. Use bullet points. Don’t drown them in minutia. You confuse them, you lose trust. Simple as that. Okay. Mistake two feels more operational. Failing the signature. It sounds small, doesn’t it? But it’s about locking in that clarity and commitment, right?
If they don’t sign the care plan before they walk out the door, then the team isn’t 100% sure the patient actually understood and agreed to what’s needed. It leaves the door open for doubt later. Okay, now, mistake three. This one gets a bit more psychological, doesn’t it? Leading by projected fears. This was a powerful one.
It’s when the doctor, or maybe even the staff lets their own hangups like, oh, this is too expensive, or That’s too many visits. Exactly. They let those fears dictate the recommendation instead of recommending what the patient genuinely needs based on the clinical findings. Wow. There was a story shared, right?
An experienced chiropractor like 20 years in. Yeah. She admitted she still had to consciously fight those limiting beliefs about frequency or cost. She realized she was sometimes shortchanging the patient’s care because she was projecting her own financial anxiety. That’s huge. The duty is to recommend optimally, period, and that ties directly into mistake four.
Low confidence. Ah, the hesitation factor, totally. If you sound unsure, especially when talking about the money side, the patient picks up on that instantly and their confidence in the plan just evaporates, right? Makes them way less likely to commit. The whole team needs to believe in the value and the necessity of what’s being recommended.
Alright. Mistake five is about timing. Allowing too much time. Yeah. A participant put it really well. Set that hook. There’s this like brief window right after the report of findings. Exactly. The patient’s engaged, they’re motivated. If you say, okay, take this home and think about it, that fire cools off fast and follow through plummets.
You often lose them. The commitment needs to happen then and there while they’re focused. Makes sense. Okay. Last one. Mistake six. Not listening, but like the full picture. Crucial. It’s not just hearing my low back hurts. Did they also mention their knees, their headaches? Are you addressing the whole person or even their life situation?
Absolutely. Listening includes hearing the financial realities. If someone subtly hints or even says outright, you know, things are really tight, my lights may get turned off. You can’t just barrel ahead with the most expensive plan without options. You have to acknowledge that. Offer humane ways to make the necessary care affordable.
Listening builds trust. Ignoring reality breaks it. Okay, so we know the pitfalls. The big question then becomes, how do we fix this? How do we build a system? Yeah, something reproducible, something that works reliably, not just depending on how the doctor feels that day. So where do we start building that system?
Two pillars kept coming up. Documentation and confidence through reasoning documentation. Like the old saying, the shortest pencil is better than the longest memory. You gotta write it down, but it’s not just about writing it down, is it? There was that concept, that fact reason why thing. Exactly. The fact, reason why.
Coupling pattern, it’s psychology 1 0 1. Basically. You don’t just tell them what to do, like you need 24 adjustments. Right. You immediately couple that fact with the reason why you need 24 adjustments because we need this specific frequency over three months to actually stabilize those damaged ligaments we saw on your x-ray.
Ah, okay. So the Y is the key to compliance. It’s huge. People are much more likely to agree when they understand the rationale. And writing it down means they can take it home, explain it to their spouse, which helps lock in that commitment. Okay, I get it. It solidifies the decision. Now, let’s circle back to confidence.
Those projected fears, that hesitation, how do we tackle that? Research. Plain and simple. Your confidence can’t just be based on, well, this usually works. It needs data. So practitioners were actually sharing studies they found? Yeah. Specifically, someone mentioned looking up decompression studies for disc issues, finding evidence, showing, you know, measurable results, bulge reductions with structured plans like how many visits up to 24 visits.
Maybe two or three times a week. Things that align with established physical therapy or physical medicine standards. So having that research in your back pocket, it gives you and your staff that bulletproof confidence. You’re not just pulling numbers out of thin air. You’re recommending based on evidence.
It kills that fear of asking for too much. Okay. Confidence boosted by data. Mm-hmm. Now how do we execute the plan presentation itself, specifics and chunking. Patients want leadership. Tell them exactly where you’re taking them and shift the focus beyond just pain relief immediately. Pain relief is often the easy part.
Relatively speaking. The real goal is building stability, long-term correction, but people have short attention spans, right? The 90 day thing came up. Yeah. The consensus seemed to be that psychologically most people struggle to commit much beyond three months upfront. It’s just how we’re kind of wired nowadays.
Asking for a year can cause panic, so does that mean we lower our standards only aim for 90 days? No. No, not at all. You don’t lower the clinical goal. You adjust the presentation. You break the care down into manageable chunks. Like phases. Exactly. Start with that initial 12 week timeframe. Maybe that’s 24 visits twice a week.
You get their commitment for that phase, making it feel achievable, right? It’s tangible. Then at the re-exam, you reassess and outline the next phase based on their progress. Chunking makes the overall journey less daunting. Okay. This is where it gets really practical. The communication techniques, the actual words and processes that make the care plan stick.
Absolutely. Managing expectations is huge, and analogy is your best friend here, right? The session mentions some great ones, like the braces analogy. Perfect for when someone balks at the time commitment. You just say, look, when an orthodontist straightens teeth, does it take three weeks? It takes years sometimes.
Exactly. It takes a couple years. We’re doing the same kind of foundational correction just for your spine. It instantly reframes their thinking beyond a quick fix. Love that. And the broken arm analogy for the patient who wants to quit once the pain’s down. Yeah. Brilliant. You asked them if you broke your arm and the cast came off just because the pain stopped, would the bone actually be healed?
Of course not. No. Getting you out of pain. That’s actually the easy part. Getting your spine stable again, so this doesn’t keep coming back. That’s the part that takes time and consistency, that phrase itself. Pain relief is the easy part. Stability takes time. That’s gold. It shifts the entire conversation from symptom management.
To true correction. Okay, let’s talk systems again. The handoff, the transfer of authority or pass the baton. Super important for a smooth process. This is how you move from the doctor’s recommendation to the ca, or financial staff executing the plans seamlessly. So how does that look in practice? It’s a three-way conversation.
The doctor explains the plan to the specific, like 24 adjustments, 12 decompressions, whatever it is, to both the patient and the ca right there together so everyone hears the same thing from the doctor precisely. The patient sees the doctor giving the ca the instructions and the authority to implement that specific plan and the benefit massive.
The ca immediately has credibility. The patient is way less likely to get to the front desk and start questioning the number of visits or trying to renegotiate because they already heard the doctor authorize this exact plan. With the ca, it stops that, well, the doctor didn’t say I needed all that conversation.
Exactly. It prevents that disconnect. And one more detail for building trust. Personalization. Yeah. Don’t just hand them a generic computer printout. The participants emphasize the power of the doctor. Actually handwriting the key recommendations onto a specific care plan form makes it feel less like.
Some canned thing. It feels tailored to them, to their spine, and apparently even pointing out services they don’t need helps, builds huge trust. If you explicitly say, based on your findings, you don’t need decompression or whatever it might be, it shows you’re not just trying to sell them everything. I’m not throwing the whole farm at them, right?
It reinforces that the plan is truly customized and clinically driven. Okay, let’s pull all these threads together. We need a structure, a system like. The approach we use within the five star management patient care schedule, right? A system designed for maximum clarity, consistency, and ultimately patient compliance.
And the key is linking everything back, right? Directly back to the doctor’s report of findings, the ROF and those clear stages of care. Everyone understands relief, correction, strengthening maintenance. No confusion. So what are the absolute must have components in that documented plan outline? Okay, here’s the checklist for a solid system, one adjustments clearly defined, and you explain how the frequency relates to the stage of care they’re in, why it might change over time.
Makes sense. What’s two, two? Therapy and education. The exercises, the stretches, the lifestyle advice, but crucially why they need to do it. Understanding drives compliance at home. Three, three re-exams and reevaluations. You have to stress these, especially that first re-exam. It’s not optional. It’s how we track progress and confirm the plan is working.
Builds accountability. Okay, four, the care summary. This is that final moment, maybe with the doctor, maybe with the ca to review everything, answer lingering questions, use that fact reason why. One more time, ensure total clarity. And finally, number five. Five, the agreement and signature. A clear statement confirming they understand the program, why appointments are vital, the need to follow instructions and the importance of ongoing communication with the doctor.
It seals the deal. Got it. That’s a solid framework. And underpinning all of this, the guiding principle, the ethical core that came through loud and clear. Treat them like family. Exactly. Evaluate the recommendation as if this patient were your mother, your father, your sibling, your child, what would you truly want for them?
Make the absolute best clinical recommendation, then figure out a humane, manageable way for them to afford it, and then confidently give them the opportunity to say yes to getting well be the expert leader, not a hesitant salesperson. Yeah. So this deep dive into Dr. Noel Lloyd’s group discussion really shows, doesn’t it, success with care plans isn’t magic, it’s leadership, clear documentation, solid systems, and uh, real confidence.
Absolutely. It’s not about x-raying the wallet, as they say. It’s about clinical conviction and clear communication. Okay, here’s a final thought for you to chew on something that came up regarding efficiency. Uh, yeah. Respecting the patient’s time, right? A participant pointed out that if patients consistently have to wait even just 10 or 15 minutes, they start factoring that wait time into their commitment, and they might just decide that correction phase with all its visits is just taking too much time out of their day overall.
So the provocative question is, how truly efficient is your patient flow? Does your system respect their time as much as you respect their spine? Something to think about. Definitely. Look, if you’re feeling like your care plan process could be stronger, if you’re tired of seeing patients drop off, we really recommend you take the next step.
Book a free consultation call with Dr. George Birnbach. He can help you pinpoint exactly where your system needs refinement. You’ll find the link for that free call right there on the show notes. Easy to find and mark your calendars. Don’t miss our big live two day event down in Orlando, Florida. It’s happening November 15th and 16th.
We’ve actually got two powerful events running side by side. First, the new Patient Edge Laser focused on getting more new patients through your door fast. And at the same time, the Win-Win Associates event, that’s all about implementing our proven win-win associate system for serious growth, more freedom, and uh, definitely more success.
Choose the track that fits your biggest need right now. The link to register for Orlando for either event is also right there in the show notes. It’s gonna be invaluable. Absolutely. We really appreciate you taking the time to dive deep with us today. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss out on more tips and deep dives like this one tailored just for you .
