175 Patient Communication for Better Retention

Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse Podcast.  

This week’s topic:  Patient Communication for Better Retention

The KC CHIROpulse Podcast is designed for Chiropractic professionals ready to elevate their practice to new heights and is hosted by Kats Consultants coaches Dr. Michael Perusich and Dr. Alex Kallio, both seasoned experts in Chiropractic care and business development.  This podcast provides invaluable insights and actionable strategies to help you create a flourishing and sustainable Chiropractic business.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The reasons why poor patient communication leads to dropouts
• How to create proper patient communication for today’s patients to find value in your care recommendations
• Why your entire team needs to be involved in retention communication
• What patients really need to know to accept your care plans
• …and so much more…

In each episode of KC CHIROpulse, we delve into crucial aspects of building a successful Chiropractic practice, covering topics such as establishing a strong foundation, adopting a patient-centric approach, mastering marketing techniques, achieving financial fitness, fostering effective team building and leadership, integrating technology and innovation, and navigating common challenges in the field.

Whether you're a seasoned chiropractor or just starting your practice, the KC CHIROpulse Podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and practical advice to help you navigate the intricate world of Chiropractic business. Join us on this journey as we explore proven strategies, share success stories, and connect with industry experts to empower you in your pursuit of building a thriving Chiropractic practice.

Don't miss out on the latest insights and expert guidance. Subscribe now and unlock the secrets to taking your Chiropractic practice to the next level. Your success is our priority at Kats Chiropractic Business Advisors.

 

DISCLAIMER:  The information presented in this broadcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to offer legal, investment, accounting, or medical advice.  Seek the consultation of a professional for advice in those areas. And remember…your results using this information may be different than described.

 

Dr. Michael Perusich: [00:00:00] Chiropractors. How is your patient retention? Hi everybody. Welcome to the KC chiropulse podcast brought to you by Kats consultants and Chiro health USA. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Perusich. And I'm joined by my guest host today. Dr. Alex Kallio, Dr. Kallio. It's good to see you. We talk about this thing called patient retention all the time, and I thought this would be a great topic for you and I to just banner around today. 

Um, effective patient retention is a lot different than effective new patient acquisition, and I think a lot of times we get, we get so focused on new patients that we forget about trying to keep them in the practice, and that's really more important than anything.  

Dr. Alex Kallio: I was just going to say that is not only many times more important, but sometimes harder to do getting people in the door one time. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, it can be, and you think about that, if the patient only comes in one time, are they profitable? Not a bit. No, and if you've done any kind of [00:01:00] promotion or anything to bring that new patient in the door, it might be third visit, fourth visit, fifth visit before they actually start turning a profit. 

If that's the case, even a patient that you bring in, not on a promotion, it's going to take a few visits to be profitable. If you really think about it, because how long does it take you to process that new patient? It's a lot longer than just a daily visit for chiropractic care, right? 

So because of that, if you spend 45 minutes, how much do you make per hour when you're just adjusting people? We always say you should be around four to 500 an hour, give or take. And so are you charging four or 500 for an exam? Probably not.  

Dr. Alex Kallio: Even if you are, what's your allowed fee, insurance, you're probably not getting paid with that exam is a word. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: No, not at all. So patient retention becomes this incredibly important thing. And so how do we affect that? It's all about really not patient education, but patient communication. And we talked, [00:02:00] we've talked a lot over the years in our profession about patient education, which is great, but it's not the education component that retains patients in practice. 

At least today's patients. Patients are much more needs based than they are information based today. And so because of that. We've really got to look at different and more effective ways to communicate with the patient so they understand the need for care, they understand the value of care, and they understand why continued care, even beyond symptom symptoms going away, why continued care still is still appropriate. 

Yeah, a lot of  

Dr. Alex Kallio: that's got to start on day one, but not making the patient feel like they're drinking through the fire hose, we want to be able to communicate, effectively, but in short bits that the patient's going to actually listen to and absorb, within that visit, a lot of times those people are in pain when they're coming in and you try to send them through a 12 minute video like we used to do, or, some of those kind of, they're [00:03:00] just tuned them out. 

They're not taking a lot of that in. So we've got to really be mindful of how we're giving that information. To our patients.  

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, I think that's a great point. And it's not just us as the doctor, it's our entire team needs to be communicating in the same manner. And even down to even having some of the same words and things when we communicate to the patient. 

So if we don't do that the after effect is that patients begin to question. Why they're there. They begin to question what we're telling them. So everybody's got it in the office has to be on track with this. And you brought up one thing, simplicity, it needs to be simple. It needs to be patient understandable. 

Patients don't understand the difference between a spondylolisthesis and spondylolisis. I don't think I did either until about try four in school. We can't expect them to understand the big words. We've got to speak to them on their level. And as much as It is verbal communication. 

It's also the nonverbal stuff. Absolutely.  

Dr. Alex Kallio: Yeah. You want, [00:04:00] make sure you're facing the patient, make sure you're making eye contact. Just some of those simple things that again, in, any sort of communication with whether it's a patient or, gosh, even a family member, it actually look like you're listening to them becomes very important. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, it's very important because they're really there to see if they could build a relationship with you. Today's patients want to have a trusted relationship with their doctor, and if you're looking away, you're not really paying attention to him. You're not listening to him. Maybe your nonverbals are very standoffish, then you're probably not starting off on the right foot to build that relationship. 

Dr. Alex Kallio: Agreed. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And, especially within that, it's the time we have a tendency to want to just, okay, it's day one. We have 20 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever. We're going to teach them the entire litany of subluxation and chiropractic history on this day. They're not really wanting to hear most of that on day one, we can break it down into much shorter [00:05:00] segments. 

And, ideally if you're doing it right, you're going to have, you'll have a lot of visits to be able to. Progress that education side and keep it more about the patient needs on that 1st day.  

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, so true. So true. So I want to break for a message from our sponsor here real quick. But I want to come back and I want to talk about some of the strategies behind communication and how to make. 

How to bring in the right principles of effective communication into the process as well, and even talk a little bit about where does that patient education components still fall into play? Cause it's still important, but maybe not so much as you said on that first day. So we'll we'll be right back. 

We're going to hear a quick word from our sponsors. 

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And if you break it down further, 26 percent have actually delayed the health care that they need, including going to see you, the chiropractor. So here's what we need to know about the breakdown in demographics. You would think that That someone who's making 120, 000 or more would be continuing their care right now. 

But the actual number is 18%, 18 percent of that group is actually putting off healthcare. And that's a group of people making six figures. When you take that same information all the way down to a group making 40, 000, that number is much higher. It's closer to 40%. So it's never been more important than now to make sure you've made it easy for your patients to come see you. 

That you have choices for them, and you understand what they're going through at home. We want to make sure your practice thrives during this time, and we encourage you to learn about what ChiroHealth USA [00:07:00] can do for you, and your practice, and making it easy for patients to see you and continue care. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: All right, everybody. Welcome back to the KC Chiropulse podcast brought to you by Chiro health USA and Kats consultants. We're here with dr Alex Kallio and we're talking about the importance of patient retention and using better communication skills to create that retention and Alex, as we were talking about it all starts on day one, probably even before that. 

It really starts When that patient decides to call your office for the appointment, so your staff has to be plugged into this effective communication strategy as well. But when we talk about some of the principles behind effective communication strategies you brought this up a minute ago, active listening. 

We have to really be listening empathetically to the patient, right?  

Dr. Alex Kallio: Yeah, absolutely. It's one of those if we're not engaged and making the patient feel like we're listening and [00:08:00] then, there's a little technique of repeating what the patient says to you to let them know that you've heard it, you've understand it and, obviously, yes, making it feel like you actually care about what they're saying and how that  

Dr. Michael Perusich: impacts their health. 

Yeah, and I think it's important to that. We speak in simple and clear language. So patients really understand us on day one and day one is about them. It's not about us. It's not about it's not an opportunity for us to show how smart we are, how educated we are, talk about how many letters we have behind our name. 

It really needs to be about patient and making sure that we're empathetically plugging into what's going on with them and that we're giving them that confidence that we're We can help fulfill that need that they came to the office to get help with.  

Dr. Alex Kallio: Absolutely. And that's, partially tying, their complaints or what they have, why they're there that day to how is it affecting their life? 

Digging that out a little bit, if the patient's not real forthcoming with that, understanding how it's [00:09:00] impacting their ability to play with their grandkids or golf or, any of those types of things and then been able to translate, them getting better and back to those activities and how your care is going to help with that. 

And that really becomes that important aspect of day  

Dr. Michael Perusich: 1. Yeah, I think you hit on something really important. And that's digging deeper than just symptoms and helping the patient connect the symptoms, which some of them get so caught up on. My, my low back pain seven out of 10. Doc, when does it hurt? 

It's seven out of 10. Why does it hurt? It's seven out of 10. And they're not dropping down to, Oh, it's affecting my ability to play golf. And Oh, yeah, I really like to play golf. How much golf do you play? I try to play 36 holes a weekend. How much golf can you play now? I can only play nine holes. 

Now we're getting down to the nitty gritty of why the patient is there. And it's really important to question that patient down as much as you can. And plugging into that helps also build that [00:10:00] rapport with the patient and build that good trust and patient relationship.  

Dr. Alex Kallio: Absolutely. And it becomes a bit of a factor, too, as you're progressing along with care of using that as part of that re exam or show for whether it's a show for need of more care is, hey, you're only playing nine holes before, but now you're able to play 18, but you want to play 36. 

We still got some work to do. We're getting better. We're seeing this progress, but we're not out of the woods yet. It becomes a little bit of that functional improvement discussion, which is what the most of. Insurances are looking for now. It's not so much pain based, but we're looking for function based. 

And that's works well within patient retention side. That's the biggest part. We're gonna be able to keep people in the office beyond just the pain  

Dr. Michael Perusich: stage. Yeah, that's so true. And so many patients come in just thinking I just have pain and they may have heard it. A buddy or something, especially if they're new to chiropractic, they've probably asked other people, what's been your experience with chiropractic care. 

And a lot of the people they ask are people who are the once a month or [00:11:00] who love chiropractic care. And yeah, I go every month. And so when they walk in the door, their perspective is, I'm going to go to the chiropractor and they're going to get me out of pain with one adjustment and then I just may have to come back monthly. 

And so we have to think about what the patient's perspective is, where they've come from, how they were referred to our office or how they found our office and what their expectation of care is. Because if we go barreling into a care plan that is way outside of their perspective and we haven't reset that perspective, that's a patient who's very liable to drop out of care. 

Dr. Alex Kallio: Absolutely. Yeah. And a lot of that, kind of knowledge comes from asking questions and then listening intently, on that first day.  

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. Yeah. Those kinds of things are huge. So we talked a little bit about having staff involved in this process. So where does staff come into play? 

There's day one because they're typically the ones taking the new patient phone call. So they have to be plugged into it. So their [00:12:00] conversation with that patient needs to be starting to set the stage of, Hey, we're really going to dig into this and figure out not only what's going on with you, but what you can't do right now that you want to, or need to do. 

And so having them well trained, not just in asking some questions over the phone, but really starting to build that rapport with the patient is incredibly important.  

Dr. Alex Kallio: Yep, absolutely. Couldn't agree more.  

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah one of the things that I think is good from an effective perspective, Patient communication strategy is not so much just communicating with the patients, but having your staff will listen to how you communicate with patients and you listening to your staff on how they communicate with patients. 

And then during staff meetings and things, unwind that a little bit, talk about it. How can we improve on that? How can we say things in a same manner? And here's a great example. If I tell a patient at the end of a report of findings that You know, when you go home tonight after your first adjustment, you may be a little stiff and sore. 

Here's what I want you to do at home. [00:13:00] And they go to the front counter. And if that's not reiterated between leaving me and going to the front counter patient does what they a lot of times forget what I said, because it only takes 10 steps before they forget somehow you wouldn't think it would, but it does. 

But what if they say if tonight the doctor said something about if I'm in pain that I should do something, do you know what he said? Oh, I have no idea. If your staff member says I have no idea. That's not good communication strategy. Your staff should know exactly what you say to those kind of patients or if you  

Dr. Alex Kallio: typically tell patients to put ice on them, they tell them to put heat, they're exactly able to have that, and some of that is it's internal communication, with your staff and making sure that everybody knows predominantly this is what want patients to do in these situations and have that all that should all be trained and set out well ahead of time. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, exactly. So make sure that you've got good strategies in place for training your staff. And [00:14:00] there's a difference between teaching and training, teaching, teaching them as telling them 1 time. Hey, this is what I want you to say to patients. Make your training and evolving thing. Do it on a regular basis. 

And this is a great thing to do just real quickly before. You start the day, Hey, we've got someone, so coming in for a report of findings, they've got a hot low back. Let's make sure that we talk to them about taking home some bio freeze or using ice at home when they, after their treatments, let's remember to all communicate that to the patient. 

Dr. Alex Kallio: Absolutely. Yeah. And that, you get into sometimes there, like you said, patients forget or not. So if we can reiterate it multiple times throughout a visit from multiple staff, People, they're going to be way more likely to remember what's the, that they've been told and way more likely to do it at home as well. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. And Dr. Staff needs to be plugged into on what your treatment recommendations are and what the treatment plan is. Again, if a patient goes up to the front counter and [00:15:00] they're not scheduled out they may say I guess I don't have any more appointments left. And if the staff doesn't know That care is not over and that you want to see him back or that they should be on twice a week still for the next three weeks. 

If they don't know that, then they very likely are going to tell the patient, okay, we'll just call us when you need us, which is nails on a chalkboard to me. Make sure your staff is plugged into what your treatment recommendations are and what kind of a treatment plan those patients should be on. 

Dr. Alex Kallio: And I think, research has shown over the years, that people, we need to see and hear things. I believe it's seven times before we actually, learn something or retain it. Even if it's, when do you want me back? That should come from, the doctor when the patient's getting off the table. 

Okay, Mary, we're going to see you back on Wednesday. We're going to see you again this week. And then they get to the front and, or the therapy and there's therapy person. Great. We're going to, I think we see you again on Thursday and then they get to the desk and let, the desk. 

They should hear these things for multiple people. Everybody in the office should be on that same page  

Dr. Michael Perusich: with it too. Yeah. [00:16:00] And you can even have a stopgap procedure in place. I'm going to give her by a little jewel here. So in our office, anytime I would not communicate to the patient when I wanted to see them back, or if I didn't communicate it to the front desk, we had an automatic procedure. 

And that procedure was the front desk didn't say, we don't know when you're supposed to come back. They would say, you've been on once a week. We're going to keep you on that. If the doctor makes any changes to that, then we'll call you and reschedule, but just plan on being back here in a week. And so they just go by the same cadence of treatment schedule that they've been on. 

So we've got to set up the same way. Yeah, that way, patients don't think that, Oh, I'm out of visits, so I don't need to come back or you get up to the front desk and the staff says we don't know when you need to come back with the doctor. Tell you, that would never works out the way you want it to. 

Have those good procedures in place. That's good. Just good patient communication. Absolutely. Awesome. Alex, anything else to add? It's good talk.  

Dr. Alex Kallio: I [00:17:00] think the biggest thing is just, make sure, again, listen intently, use good body language, really pay attention, reiterate what patients are telling you, and then be sure to, repeat it just because you said it once, the patient probably doesn't have it in their head so don't be afraid to repeat things. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Well said. Said. That's a great place to close. All right, everybody. Thanks for tuning into the KC ChiroPulse podcast brought to you by Chiro health USA and Kats consultants. If you haven't done so yet, go to katsconsultants. com. Check out what we're doing for doctors, helping them build profitable practices. 

All right, everybody from all of us here at Kats Consultants we'll see you next time. Everybody.