The recession is hitting many practices across the country quite hard.  For those in major cities that have been especially impacted, the effects are even greater:  chiropractors are finding that many “maintenance” or regularly returning patients have been laid off.  And, due to the climate of financial uncertainty, cash-paying patients are cutting back on chiropractic services as well. 

And to top things off, I’m noticing that employers are making changes to their group health plans:  higher deductibles; no chiropractic coverage for out-of-network providers; and contracting with chiropractic managed care companies that pay below-market rates (in my area, well below the average CASH rate) for chiropractic services.  These managed care companies also require frequent report writing in order to authorize visits past the first five.  It’s like being cornered, with no place to go.

This dreadful combination is hurting the big overhead practices really hard.  A slowdown in chiropractic demand (falling monthly patient visits) plus reduced insurance reimbursement is simply a countdown to business closure.

My ebook, Guerilla Chiropractic:  How to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Hostile Environment shows clever business strategies to survive during times like these.  What I suggest in this ebook is to:

• Lower your overhead by replacing employees with “systems”
• Streamline your procedures:  trash anything time-consuming that doesn’t affect the “sale”
• Use technology; particulary web technology, to market your practice and lower advertising costs
• Leverage your time using sytems
• Diversify your services (offer non-related services) to hedge against downturns in one revenue stream

These are the key strategies you need to implement, especially during these troublesome times.  Remember, think “lean and mean!”  That’s what the survivors do.