Chiropractic Rescue Plan » Time Leveraging

Highly Recommended Marketing Book for Chiropractors

Dr. Dan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:56:41 +0000

Ok, it’s January 2010 (it’s going to be a while to get used to writing “2010″ !) and your practice is in a slump.

There is so much to do in so little time. This is the time to be extremely focused. You need to turn yourself into a highly-concentrated efficiency machine. This means that the majority of your time should be spent on actions that result in a measurable, immediate result. The lesser priorities need to wait for now.

Here’s a book I highly recommend that will help you get you into this mindset (trust me on this): Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat (Agora Series) It’s been around for awhile and is lauded by experts in the marketing field. In a nutshell, the theme of the book is to take action now and not wait until everything is perfect. Because perfect may never come, and opportunities are short lived. “Speed to market” is another term that describes this philosophy. This is the information age, and with the speed that information becomes available and dispersed, the winner is usually the one who gets his stuff to the market first.

So, invest a few bucks in this “secret” book and get the edge you need. It’s available for cheap at Amazon.com:

Go for it!

Dan Perez, DC

P.S. Did you know that I can have a customized blog set up for you, and a lead capture system with automated marketing messages to bring in more website visitors in your office? For more info, send me an email at dan(at)webventuresinc.net

Office Ally Helps Chiropractors

Dr. Dan — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 07:41:29 +0000

If you haven’t heard about Office Ally, you will soon.

Office Ally is a full service clearinghouse featuring a FREE web-based electronic billing service for providers. It seamlessly integrates with most chiropractic practice software. Instead of sending your claims to your printer, you send them to a file. Then, you log onto the Office Ally website, and after four mouse clicks, all your claims are in Office Ally’s hands. You’ll get a confirmation email, and about an hour later, Office Ally will email you a notification that your file has been processed! If there are any errors, you can correct them online and send back to the insurance company.

The best part of all is that instead of having to wait 30 to 60 days for your claim to be processed, it now only takes less than two weeks! AND, you save on CMS 1500 sheets and printer toner.

Here are the main features of Office Ally, from their website:

HIPAA Compliant Transmission of CMS-1500 and UB-04 claims
Submit to over 2,300 Payers
Use your existing software
Compatible with all Practice Management Software
Free Set Up and Training
Free Online claim entry – No software to buy
Free 24/7 Customer Support
Online Eligibility checking
Detailed Summary Reports
Correct claims online
Online Claim History
Free ICD9, Place of Service and Modifier Code Look Up

Office Ally has a list of participating Payors, which I assume is growing as insurance companies find ways to become more efficient and trim costs.

Check it out!

Chiropractors: How to use the internet and cell phone to manage your voicemail

Dr. Dan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:44:03 +0000

I have been using AT&T Unified Messaging for a couple of months now, and it works like a charm! It is a voice mail system with cell phone texting and email notification built in. You can set it up so that the system sends you the message via email (you’ll need computer speakers), and text message on your cell phone. It is near real-time– you get the text message notification usually within 2-3 minutes, and the email notification around the same time (also depends on how often you check you email of course).

In fact, as I typed this I got 2 messages (my cell phone sounds a tone and my Outlook has a subtle popup in the right lower corner of my computer screen when an email comes in). The cell phone text message only shows the time stamp and phone number of the caller (it doesn’t translate the message into text). Great for when I’m away from my computer, because I have a speed dial to my work voicemail and can hear the message immediately.

But get this, ATT Unified Messaging converts the message into a .wav file. So what I do is log into www.um.att.com and click the Play arrow. The new messages are in bold, the already reviewed messages are de-bolded. It looks like a typical email inbox, but with links to the messages. The message plays through my computer’s speakers– cool! Clicking links is way easier than dialing a phone keypad and pressing the prompts.

So what this has done for me is taken out a lot of the hassle of retrieving messages. I book appointments while at home, talk to the new patient callers (FLASH: another message just came in!) to touch base with them (imagine getting and booking an auto Med Pay patient who wants to talk to a doctor asap), and tell my therapist to handle the other calls. All while I’m working on other, revenue generating tasks at home, in my shorts and t-shirt.

Of course, you also get a phone number to access your voicemail via phone anywhere in the world.

AT&T Unified Messaging– Check it out!

Time leveraging- a must for chiropractors

Dr. Dan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:33:11 +0000

One of the principles I advocate is time leveraging. You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you purely exchange your time for money, because your time is limited, literally. You don’t get to live forever; you don’t want to be in a “no work then no income” situation.

The key to success is to remove extraneous activities from your daily schedule, especially those that are low skilled and/or do not directly result in revenue generation; for example making copies, unnecessary emailing, etc. This is not a good use of your time.

Secondly, you want to set up your day so that you make money while you are away from the office. Hiring employees/ associates is only part of the equation. You’ll want to set up systems that allow you to get out of the office in the first place.

I currently work 2.5 days a week, on a Monday, Wednesday, and half Friday schedule. I have a massage therapist who fills in the rest of the week. He is trained to book appointments and work on my patients when I’m away, providing massage therapy, stretches and exercise, and applying certain physiotherapy procedures like laser and stim. This keeps patient care continuous, and saves any new patient callers who want to be seen when I’m not there. He gets them to come in and see the place, fill out the forms, and schedules them to see me the next day. The bonus of course is that I am at home working on other things that result in revenue generation.

So make sure that you master this principle, if you wish to retire sooner than later. I’ll touch on other techniques to best leverage your time.