Why the MD Doesn’t Know

Why the MD doesn’t know

Yesterday I had a brief conversation with a family practice nurse practitioner; basically it was a single question.  “Do chiropractors treat herniated discs, or is it simply a surgical referral?”  WOW, this could actually be enough content for an entire lecture!  Understanding WHY the question was asked lays the foundation for the entire program.  The layers are built upon that by using your credentials and clinical expertise.

First, let’s look at this question MACROscopically, meaning I want you to get the BIG PICTURE.  Most people work really hard to complicate things, in fact the longer we know things the more likely we are to build complicated explanations for them.  This is certainly true in chiropractic offices across the country, we complicate our professional lives, in particular our communications with other health providers.  There are many reasons for this, maybe subconsciously we are “posturing” and want to sound learned or maybe we are bored and like to think of new and interesting ways to describe what we do and how we do it.  We try to figure out the latest way to market ourselves, consultants and gurus tell us to “work around” chiropractic to discuss a myriad of things, vibration therapy, decompression, high force, low force or Graston.  Every DC boasts that they are the “best” and that they are “highly” trained in these techniques, having traveled the globe to be taught by the techniques “founder”.  I have these discussions on a DAILY basis and the nurse practitioner’s question AGAIN confirms that what I am telling you is a truism.  The MD community knows soooo little about chiropractic, they don’t even know WHAT we treat…therefore, especially in the early stages of building a referral source in the medical community your techniques don’t matter.   This NP works for an MD who’s office I consult and treat out of in Rochester NY.  So, from the Macroscopic level, educate them using chiropractic research and show them what type of conditions RESPOND to chiropractic, worry about the “technique” later.  This will DRIVE more patients to you office than you could ever imagine.  When they refer to the spine surgeon, they don’t care what procedure the surgeon uses, they send them because they trust that doctor will make the right decision.

Secondly, let’s look at this MICROscopically, particularly how the NP’s medical training had resulted in her asking this question.  It is easy to imagine why medical providers do not understand chiropractic; it is because they do not encounter us or our research during their training.  What is difficult, however is understanding why one of the most cost and clinically effective treatment modalities can be completely overlooked for spine problems.  Spine problems abound in medical practice, in fact the outcomes of traditional approaches continue to get worse.  Chiropractic is the only profession that looks at supportive care for chronic spine conditions, which I should point focuses DIRECTLY on that segment of the population that uses the most musculoskeletal resources.  Times are changing and the climate is right for us to tap into hundreds of thousands of patients.  Contrary to the chiropractic political machine, we DO NOT have to change our philosophy to get patients referred to us in droves, I do it every day and I don’t prescribe medication.  The problem is not HOW I treat my patients, the problem is how I COMMUNICATE chiropractic to the medical profession.  The NP did not receive any TRAINING on chiropractic, it is my job to teach her.  That is a major part of what this program is all about. Going back to the first line of this paragraph, you need to understand that SHE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY TRAINING IN CHIROPRACTIC.  Once you understand that, you will know why starting simple is the answer.  She has nothing to build on.

Now that I have you thinking, and hopefully excited…let’s look at how to leverage this to generate hundreds of new patient appointments per year. You have to only follow the MD Referral Program, create relationships with MDs in your community, position yourself as an expert, report properly and most important of all, HELP the MD generate more income ethically and legally by offering you to Consult in their practice.  EASY, SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE.  How many DCs in your area are doing that? How many DCs are complaining that their practices are failing slowly.   Think about who is thriving and who is not…