Chiropractic Practice: The One Question That Cements The Doctor – Patient Relationship

Hello everybody and welcome to Thrive in Five. I’m Dr. Dennis Perman and I’ll be your host for today. This Thrive in Five is about the one question that cements the doctor-patient relationship. Now, I know some of you are thinking, oh, it must be how are you feeling? Or do you have insurance? No, no, it’s nothing like that. You see, your practice will rise and fall on the quality of the relationships that you develop. And it’s critically important for you to understand the patient mentality so that you can ask the right questions at the right time. 

Now, at the report of findings, you will typically ask for questions that you have to make sure that you answer properly for the patient’s benefit. The patient wants to know, can you help What’s wrong? How long is this gonna take and what’s it gonna cost? Those four questions should form the beginning of your report of findings as you explain to the patient exactly what it is that they need to know in order to feel comfortable becoming your patient.

Now the second part of the report of findings is where you explain your program of care. This is where you help the patient to understand that chiropractic care is somewhat different from what they’re used to in a typical doctor’s office that they might otherwise go to. They go to the doctor’s office. Once they get a prescription, they go home, they stop at the pharmacy on the way home, they pick up whatever, uh, prescription they got and then they go home and self-treat. And the only time they go back to the chiropractor, they go back to their medical doctor is if it didn’t work, they get another drug. 

A chiropractor’s completely different. You start with a chiropractor and then you have to actually keep on going. The work that you do with the chiropractor is done in the chiropractic office, so it’s completely different from what they’re accustomed to and therefore needs something extra in order to be able to cement that doctor-patient relationship.

Now, as fate would have it, it turns out that the opportunity to ask that very important question comes toward the end of your report of findings and you say to the patient, Mr. Patient, now that I’ve answered your questions, now that I’ve explained the program of care, we’re approaching an important moment of truth. I can’t want your health and recovery more than you do. This is your body and it’s your life. 

So I need to know, can I count on you to follow through on the program of care that I have recommended? Are we committed to this together? Are you as committed as I am? When you get this kind of agreement from somebody, it makes it infinitely more powerful because patients are accustomed to having doctors talk at them. Rock, rock, rock, you got this disease translated into Latin and you have these symptoms that cause me to think that you have this problem, but patients never really dial into that stuff cuz they don’t really need to.

All they need to know is what drug you’re gonna give me. I’ll go home and take it and hopefully it’ll work. To get a chiropractic patient to participate in your program of care requires a commitment and you must ask for that commitment cuz otherwise you can’t assume it. Some doctors skate on the, uh, commitment to the end of the report of fund is just going so ready to get started. That’s not the same. 

So let’s go. That’s not the same. Are you ready for your first adjustment? They may be, but that does not cement the doctor-patient relationship. What cements the doctor-patient relationship is you saying, Mr. Patient, can I count on you to follow through on this program of care exactly as I’ve recommended? Are you as committed as I am? Because when you ask this question, they are indeed at that moment of truth.

They have to decide they’re in or not. Rarely you’ll have a patient say, gee, you know, I, I’m not really sure and wouldn’t you rather know now before they get started? Cause I only want patients in my office that are committed to my program of care. I’m not selling adjustments cheaper by the dozen. I want a patient who understands what they’re getting involved with when they get into chiropractic care, especially when they get into chiropractic care With me. 

I want to emphasize the fact that chiropractic is a lifetime commitment and in the absence of that, you can’t reasonably expect them to know it cuz they’ve never been exposed to anything like that before. So if you wanna create the kind of relationship with your patients that most chiropractors would hope for, the only way for you to do that is for you to ask the question, the one question that cements the doctor-patient relationship.

Now, if you wanna hear more about stuff like this, we, besides our Thrive in Fives on Mondays, we also do live seminars. We have an amazing seminar coming up May 19th and 20th in Chicago called The Six Essentials of a Legendary Practice. All you need to do is run your scanner, your phone over this QR code and it will prompt you to get all the information you need to get registered. Dr. Hoffman and I love doing live presentations and we only get to do it twice a year. So it’s really important that we bring our very best material to each of these events. And I have to assure you, in the Sixth Essentials PR uh program, we are covering amazing material that’s gonna revolutionize your practice. So what I’m hoping you’ll do is mark your calendars, May 19th and 20th in Chicago. 

Use this QR code to be able to get the information you need and get registered and you will not only find out what questions you need to ask to get your patients committed, you’ll learn what you need to know to create the practice that you always wanted. It’s our pleasure to serve you. Thank you so much for dialing into Thrive in Five. This is Dr. Dennis Perman for The Masters Circle Global signing off for now.

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