Patients are going to come and go. Period.
But it makes sense that a patient that has been in within the last 2 weeks is more likely to return than a patient who has not been in for 30 days. And a patient that has been in within the last 30 days is more likely to return sooner than a patient that has not been in for 60 days.
In other words, the longer it has been since a patient has been in, the less likely it is that they will come in again.
If you have followed my training for any length of time then you know…
…The Best Retention is through Teaching Prevention
If you are able to teach patients the benefits of regular chiropractic care for preventing issues and moving the body towards better function and health, your retention WILL go up.
The higher your retention the less people you’ll have drop off and the less reactivation efforts are required.
People are trained from a young age that ‘no symptoms = good health.’ In chiropractic care we know this is not true, but conveying that message to people in our community requires more than a strong Report of Findings.
The ROF is a great place to start but it must continue from there into each visit.
In our Express Chiropractic business model we use the acronym F.A.S.T.
Find it
Adjust it
Step away
Tell them how they did and what to do next
In the F.A.S.T. adjusting protocol, there is also Express Education going on while the patient is down on the table and/or when the patient stands up and we are telling them ‘how’ they did (T).
Whether it is showing them the nerves that exit out of their spine and what they plug into on a well-placed nervous system poster or just a conversation that pertains to their spine and is focused completely on them… you can slowly move the patients understanding of health through regular education.
The converse of this approach is not optimally utilizing your time with the patient and instead discussing last night’s football game or engaging in other casual conversation that is not raising the patient’s level of consciousness about the importance of regular chiropractic visits as a way to move towards optimal health.
The choice is ultimately yours.
As I said at the beginning… patient are going to come and go. It happens for a multitude of reasons. But one of the best side-effects of a disciplined drip education campaign on every visit is that even when a patient does disappear, the likelihood they will remerge sooner than later becomes exponentially higher. At my office we have all but stopped patient reactivation protocols because our retention rate is so high for lifetime care and patients are so well educated that they rarely stray for too long.
Having a great ‘Patient Recall and Reactivation Protocol’ is just an essential component of running a successful Chiropractic office. If you have a lot of patients that have dropped off the books then do yourself a favor and invest in a great Patient Reactivation System, like the one we have one at SuccessfulChiro.com.
But the bottom line is if you want to avoid having to reactivate so many patients in the future, make the most of every minute you spend with each patient today.
