24 New MD Patients Per Month

First lets erase the notion in your brain that if you are seeing patients at a particular location, that they have to be treated there.  There is an examination called a “Consultation” where the chiropractor can interview and examine the patient then recommend a care plan.  We need to think outside the normal box because without you interacting with the MD on their turf, you will not be effective at showing them what you do. The second notion is to understand that a cooperative care oriented MD will NOT turn down an ethical business proposition.  Many MDs are struggling financially and additional income into their practices would be a welcome buffer to the uncertainty of insurance reimbursement.   So how do we do this legally and ethically?  We do it by combining the above into a rental agreement for office space to do consultations with the MD on his/her patients.  When DCs have a problem with getting referrals it is generally about the MD not understanding what a chiropractic patient looks like and when to refer.  

Let’s take a look at a few numbers to see how it works out.  A busy primary care office for a single primary care physician will book 4 patients per hour and will usually see about 30 patients per day.  Remember too that these are unique patient visits as they do not see patients for multiple visits.  Let’s say that the MD will see patients 3 ½ days per week which gives us a total of 105 patient visits per week.  Most primary care doctors deal with patients that fit into 3 different categories which are cardiovascular disease, diabetes and musculoskeletal complaints.   For sake of argument, let’s say conservatively 25% of the MDs patients are either lower back pain, head ache, neck pain or other musculoskeletal complaints. That means there are (25% x 105 patients) 26 patients per week that fit in to the musculoskeletal referral model. That is A LOT of patients per week that not being properly managed.  Remember, it should NOT be up to the MD to figure out whether they are a chiropractic patient or not, the MD is NOT a chiropractor, you are.   So it is simple, you start out with a small rental agreement to occupy space at a primary care office to do evidence based musculoskeletal consultations, have regularly scheduled office consultation hours during the week or month and then if the patient actually needs care they can be referred to you clinic for more frequent treatment.  This can be done with multiple office easily, I am writing another consultation on how to do this with the medical specialist.  You can schedule morning consultations 2 mornings per week and visit the MD office every other week.  That would give you 8 MD offices that you can be rotating through on a monthly basis.  Piece of cake, ethical, legal and in the best interest of the community.