The Next Step in Growth

#1 Program and Office Infrastruture 

MD Affiliation Program

Consultation #74

 From the Desk of:

#21″The NEXT Step in GROWTH“

The next step in the growth of your MD relationships requires presenting yourself as either the EXPERT or being connected with the EXPERT. When people are in desperate need of something, the person that they can always turn to is their EXPERT.  Someone once said, “You don’t have to know EVERYTHING, you just have to know where to find it when you need it.”  That is why there are libraries!  Nothing is easier or more efficient than making a phone call to your EXPERT and just asking the question. What is a more effective process?  Looking on the Internet to see how to get a wine stain out of your shirt or just calling your mom?!  You get my point.  That is how you want to position yourself in the medical community.  If you have been implementing this program you should be WELL on your way to knowing many MD offices in your area.  That is the key and the foundation that we will build everything on.  If you don’t have many yet (not necessarily referring, but knowing who you are), we can work together to get that going.  Call me; it is easy.  For those that have reached out and made contact, this is the next step.  There are two phases and they can be done in any order you wish, but before we get to that, I need to review a few things.

First, EVERYBODY you meet that is affiliated with a medical office is a good contact.  Don’t squander the time you put in meeting them by losing their cards, forgetting their names or not writing them down.  The first step is obtaining the name and business phone number.  The second step is obtaining cell phone number and personal e-mail.  The cell and e-mail group are your most trusted contacts; those are the ones that you have built a solid relationship with.  Remember when you are talking with the MD, PA/NP or office administrator to ask him/her how he/she prefers to communicate.  Many of my contacts go with e-mail or text. The office administrators LOVE the text thing because it is so quick.  If you are not of the mind to use those things, GET OVER IT.  It is 2011 and people are busy.  To be the person on their minds, you have to be accessible.  Communication is the foundation of success.  Do it well and do it often. 

Secondly, your staff should be maintaining a spreadsheet of your contacts and continuing to fill in the fields. Many times you will get a contact that is incomplete.  Actually, let me rephrase that…You will ALWAYS get a contact that is incomplete.  That is why, as time goes on, you need to fish for the other items like cell, fax, and business numbers and then personal e-mail addresses.  That is where you are going to fax your reports to (stamps are out, they are getting too expensive) and e-mail your “events” to.  Speaking of “events,” let’s get to the important part of this consultation.

USING THE LAWS OF (insert your state here) TO COLLECT INSURANCE CLAIMS AND INTEREST

In the last consultation I sent, I outlined the basic parameters of this seminar.  This is an unbelievable opportunity to create relationships that go beyond patient care.  This positions you as a “consultant.”  This is a LIVE distance seminar that is given over lunch to the MD community by ME, for YOU.  In most cases, the MDs will send their billing people to start out. That is good because once the seminar is over, the billing people are going to realize how much they have been missing.  You will schedule an appointment to visit the MDs’ offices and bring ALL the forms (customized to their offices) to them, but YOU WANT TO SIT WITH THE MDs.  I will personally work with you to help you get that to happen; it is easy.  The problem is being organized enough to follow up with the offices that attended!  If you help them grow their practices, they will refer and refer consistently.

CREDENTIALING TO PROVIDE CME PRESENTATIONS TO THE MD COMMUNITY

This portion of the program is about positioning you as EXPERT on the conservative care of the spine.  Remember, most cases involving spine care respond favorably to conservative care.  Here, in Western New York, we have the highest rate of spine surgeries per capita in the United States.  Even with that statistic, there are more cases than anyone can handle.  You just have to work with the people that are referring them.  I will work with you one on one and we will work to get an MRI company to sponsor you, brining you into their “circle.”  Once that happens, you are the expert.  That is where the entire process of the creation of the chiropractic elective for the University of Buffalo’s Family Practice Residency Program started.  A simple CE program given to 29 residents over a lunch resulted in the FIRST ever chiropractic elective for a residency program in the country.  YOU NEVER, EVER know where things will take you and being the expert is the best place to start. 

Call me and we can talk.  There is NO better way to position your practice properly.  Healthcare is changing rapidly.  The Federal Government is looking to fundamentally change how we work and are reimbursed.  The future is about developing a solid referral network of good patients; this is the way to do it.  The Federal Government just ruled that chiropractors are qualified to become members of the developing ACO (Accountable Care Organization) and SINCE ONLY MDs and DOs can form them (chiropractors can participate), where do you think the future of patient referral will be??  You guessed it; the DCs that understand how to work with the MD community will thrive…E-mail me if you are interested in moving forward and we can set a time to talk details!{jcomments on}