During undergrad, I interned in a very busy practice. I started to think, “Why a one-year care plan?” If people benefit their entire life from care, why stop at one-year commitment? Why not make it three, five, or just straight up lifetime care?
Because it doesn’t work.
Unless you’re OK with: Needing a ton of NPs every month, processing countless NPs who don’t begin care, being in “practice building” mode your entire career… Which unfortunately is how many DCs are.
But if you’re reading this, you’re likely looking for a more elegant and profitable model to practice, and you’re probably wanting to see the amount of patients you want without all the stress and strain so many DCs experience.
So what does work to lead your patients toward long-term care?
If you learned this one strategy, it would make a difference for the rest of your career because the majority of patients have legitimate concerns about fees or being able to make it in. And what is our instinct to overcome their issue? We show them how to solve it.
Even though your solution probably makes sense, it rarely works to keep them on for your care because the excuse they give (money, time, spouse, etc) is NEVER their real reason. So when you “solve” their excuse, you’re actually going down the wrong rabbit hole. You fall into their trap, and the game is over.
You lost them. Worse, you’ve lost all their future referrals. You’ve lost years of them re-activating as a patient too.
How many of your new patients have you seen this happen with? Hundreds…Thousands? It doesn’t have to continue like this. It’s your practice. It’s your life. Make it the best it can be.
Dr. Josh Wagner