The New Year embodies ideas of rejuvenation, wellness, and improvement. In fact, Tangerine Bank did a survey in early 2018, which found that improving physical health was a top goal for 54% of Canadians who made New Year resolutions. With the increase need for chiropractic services, now is the ideal time for you to also make a New Year’s resolution and take the time to make the necessary adjustments to your small business or start-up.

How can you make your practice more beneficial to yourself, your staff, and your patients?

Our Atlas team has prepared some New Year’s resolutions targeted at all three parties, whether you’re just starting your business or looking for new ways to grow it.

#1: Make a Business Plan and Keep It Close at Hand

Fresh out of chiropractic school, it’s difficult to make the transition from doctor to entrepreneur, which is where a business plan comes in. It will prompt you to strategize, so your business will be profitable and continue to climb. Should you ever need working capital, your business plan will help you secure what you need from a bank or creditor. Be sure to include:

• The premise to your business
• A mission statement
• A value proposition
• Reasons for your location choice and how it will be a beneficial attribute
• Marketing strategies
• Expansion plans
• Ways your business will become financially viable

The best way to be a successful small chiropractic business is to address the five essential parts of your corporate financial plan, which are:

1. Cash flow management
2. Risk management (insurance)
3. Tax planning
4. Employee compensation and retention strategies
5. Succession planning

How else can a business plan help your business?

A chiropractic business plan ensures you stay on track with your goals especially when you perform an annual review. And if you consult it more often, well, all the better! Your business plan will help you re-evaluate your priorities, measure your success, and encourage you to make valuable changes, so you can get past any difficulties your business is facing.

#2: Save Yourself the Hassle of Hiring Extra Hands

Some chiropractors prefer to run their practice themselves and be their own boss; however, it’s important to face reality when you’re consumed by your workload or see that your business is not doing well—which is probably on account of bad management.

That’s when you hire Atlas.

From your business’ perspective, you will be so busy that crucial tasks, such as patient follow-ups, will fall through the cracks of your business’ infrastructure. Atlas’s chiropractic software is always there for you and will never need to take a sick day. There is only so much you can remember to do. Using Atlas will be like having a full-time staff that helps you to think clearly while preventing your business from crashing before it even has a chance to take off. Running your own business is hard enough, but you don’t have to do it alone!

#3: Implement a Strong Organization System

A good chiropractic office needs a good foundation. If you’re getting by with making appointments with Excel sheets—or worse—using an old-school method of recording appointments and other pertinent information in books, your business won’t last long.

You need software that is designed for chiropractors and provides advanced features that save you time, such as:

• Automatic reminders for patient calls
• Detailed patient report generation with stats for missed, cancelled, and rescheduled appointments
• Easy appointment reminder emails and text messages
• Automatic billing and payment reminders
• Inventory sale and receiving report generation

A well-run office will impress and encourage patients to return. Additionally, they will be more inclined to trust you and recommend your business.

#4: Strengthen Security

2017 and 2018 saw a major increase in cyberattacks, from ransomware to phishing to fileless malware. If you own a small chiropractic business, you’re probably thinking that no one would target a small business like yours.

That is not the case. Big or small, your business has data and hackers want it.

Email continues to be one of the biggest vulnerabilities. Businesses receive emails that look harmless and legitimate, but with one click on a link, a staff member has opened the door to a phishing hacker and infected their system with malware. 

Chiropractors need to look into blockchain technology and penetration testing, among other cybersecurity techniques to protect their business and clients. Chiropractors also need to train their staff, so they can recognize potential threats and refrain from being an insider threat themselves.

#5: Use the Right Billing System

Do your employees manually enter billing data into your system? Have you had issues with a patient’s insurance because it expired?

The good news is that technology has advanced so you can find software that provides automation. It will notify you of expired insurance before it becomes a problem and save you from human spelling errors. Billing doesn’t have to be a chore. With the right software, payments and claims can be made with a few clicks or taps and be submitted automatically. 

There are several ways to improve your accounts receivable process, including:

• Separating your accounts receivable by category, such as types of insurance payers, patient balances, and outstanding amounts.
• Reviewing trends for each payer, such as monthly reimbursements.

The right billing system ensures a steady cash flow and reduces headaches for you and your staff, especially during audits. You also won’t need to spend money on outsourcing.

#6: Turn Your Practice into an Unforgettable Business

What good is being a chiropractor if no one knows about you?

Increase patient awareness through smart marketing techniques. Have a website? Make sure it’s doing the best job it can for you by ranking your website at the top and using highly searched keywords. Open your availability through email, text messages, and social media, so people see that you’re putting your customers first and care about them.

If you’ve just opened your practice, let your patients know that you’re expanding your client base. Offer them some business cards to give to their families and friends. When chiropractor recommendations come from friends and family members, people feel more comfortable and secure in visiting a chiropractor.

Part of making your small chiropractic business unforgettable is the efficiency of Atlas Chiropractic Software. The Generation 1 version is designed for small chiropractic businesses and provides much of what we’ve discussed all in one package. It will save you time and money with automation and reports that are ready at your fingertips, letting you focus on doing what you do best: being a chiropractor!

Contact us today to schedule a demo!

 

 

Sources:

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ca/resources/money/blockchain-chiropractic-businesss/

https://www.chirotouch.com/2018/07/5-reasons-why-chiropractic-businesses-fail/

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/fitness-and-finance-top-canadians-new-years-resolutions-667833873.html

https://www.canadianchiropractor.ca/finance/business-planning-101-2871

https://www.prohealthcareproducts.com/chiropractic-equipment/

https://acomhealth.com/top-7-chiropractic-billing-tips-increasing-monthly-revenue/

https://acomhealth.com/chiropractic-billing-guide-2018/

https://www.canadianchiropractor.ca/management/business-talk-anatomy-of-a-start-up-clinic-2930