“Cash practice”
What the heck is a cash practice?
To most D.C.s, it’s a practice that only accepts cash. No insurance. No billing.
Sounds wonderful.
It’s what many Chiropractors want to hear and there are “consultants” out there making big bucks telling these D.C.s exactly that. It’s an easy way to extract money from gullible practitioners.
But there’s a lesson here…
Making a sale is a lot easier when you tell a customer or prospect what they want to hear, wouldn’t you agree?
Question…
Do you really think that patients want to hear that you don’t take insurance? That you don’t bill for them?
So why would that be a smart thing to do?
It wouldn’t be.
Patients are patients. They are not an “insurance” patient or a “cash” patient.
Either way, they have to pay something out of pocket.
Can a doctor and/or his staff get good at “closing” patients, make a lot of money, and buy a nice car? Some can and I’m sure I will hear from them…but that’s not really the point.
The point is: What is the real cost of doing so?
The real cost is this…
- A higher % of patients don’t start care and leave with a bad experience. Many of them will never see another Chiropractor again.
- Those who do start care will be less likely to come back in the future and they will be less likely to refer their friends, family, and co-workers.
- Fewer referrals and returning patients forces a practice to conduct “spinal screenings”, “dinner lectures”, discounted offers, promotions, and other Trojan Horse strategies.
- This also means more time and/or money is necessary to procure patients. (Less quality ones, I might add. Not because they are different but because their perception of the doctor is less than optimal.)
The key to a profitable practice isn’t a “cash practice”, a high “PVA”, “pre-pays”, or knowing “how to close”.
The key is to not lose patients.
A patient who stays for 5-10 visits initially and then comes back year in and year out on their terms is also a patient who refers others.
You want your practice to be as referral-based as possible.
…and to do that, you need to offer solutions and convenience.
You exist to make their lives better and easier, NOT the other way around.
Now on one hand I could say, “Thank God for ‘cash practice’ practices…they help my efforts to make ChiroTrust members stand out.”
But that’s not true.
Cash practices hurt the profession.
…and when the profession loses, everybody loses.
…Especially patients.
We gotta think beyond ourselves.
