Commitment and Consistency: The Heart of MD Referrals by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Commitment and consistency are two of the most important aspects of interdisciplinary outreach.  In Robert Cialdini's book, "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion", he outlines these factors as part of a 6 step system to influence.  Additionally, he touches on building Authority.  At The Evidence Based Chiropractor, we believe these factors play a crucial role in developing referral relationships.  Commitment and consistency with your monthly outreach (case notes and our Monthly MD Research Brief's) establish a continuity of outreach and drive the establishment of your local Authority on conservative spine care.   Case notes alone provide some degree of social proof, but monthly outreach with research is a key aspect to establishing authority as the local expert.  

By reaching out with commitment and consistency and positioning yourself as the local authority on conservative spine care, physicians will be much more likely to establish referral relationships with your office.  You may choose to accelerate this process by setting up some MD Meetings and building rapport through personal interaction.  Regardless of the path your choose, reaching out to other physicians in your community through research is the first step towards building long lasting referral relationships. 

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor is the leading DC/MD marketing and outreach group in the world.  Our service is dedicated to increasing chiropractic utilization by showcasing research.  Marketing to medical doctors through research is efficient, cost effective, and can dramatically improve your incoming referrals.  Join us.  Lets grow chiropractic together.

The Importance of Sending Case Notes- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

On nearly every implementation call for members of The Evidence Based Chiropractor I receive questions about case notes.  Doc's are concerned about the how, what, when, and where about sending them to other physicians.  

Download a FREE Case Notes Template!

Often, they have been reluctant to do so because they don't want to send something amateurish or incorrect.  (Top priority is always to be in compliance with HIPAA and government law regarding sharing protected health information)

Research shows us that Primary Care Physicians received case notes approximately 70% of time when referred a patient to another MD.  PCP's only receive case notes 50% of the time when a patient is referred to a chiropractor.  

By sending case notes you are able to:

1. Show off the results of your care

2. Show that you are co-managing with the Primary Care Doctor

3. Get an additional touch point of communication for branding/name recognition  

We recommend our members send case notes at 3 different times- Initial Evaluation, Re-Evaluation, and Discharge from Active Care.  Often these notes can be process and faxed directly from your EMR/EHR.

Your Case Notes should include:

• Who- who is the patient? (patient name, DOB)

• When- when did they visit your office? (date of service)

• What- what did you find? (diagnosis)

• How- how are you going to move forward?  (treatment plan)

As you can imagine, these items will usually take up less than a full page.  If a doc requests additional information, then you can by all means supply it; however, a vast majority of physicians prefer just the basics as they will look at this page in the patients record prior to entering their exam room.  

By supplying case notes you are increasing communication and "touches" with PCP's in your community, they can see the progress of your shared patients, and you are assisting your patients with keeping an accurate health record.

If you would like more information regarding case notes I recommend reading my book, "Marketing Chiropractic to Medical Doctors" which is now available worldwide on iBooks and Amazon. 

Download a FREE Case Notes Template!

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor is the leading DC/MD marketing and outreach group in the world.  Our service is dedicated to increasing chiropractic utilization by showcasing research.  Marketing to medical doctors through research is efficient, cost effective, and can dramatically improve your incoming referrals.  Join us.  Lets grow chiropractic together.

The Facts Behind MD Referrals- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

A few years ago, BioMed Central produced a wonderful paper which examined the referral habits of Medical Doctors.  Specifically, they looked at how PCP's refer amongst themselves, and also how they refer to Doctors of Chiropractic.  What they found may be some of the most important information currently available on building interdisciplinary referral relationships. 

Over 500 Primary Care Physicians took part in the study.  Surprisingly, over 80% of Primary Care Physicians reported that their patients requested information regarding Chiropractic.  Additionally, close to 75% had patients request a Chiropractic referral.  This is very good news as it shows the public has significant interest in Chiropractic care despite the fact that Chiropractic utilizations stands at a woeful 10% (on a good day).  

When referring to other Medical Doctors, the studies participants reported initiating a formal referral 99% of the time.  When referring to Chiropractors, the PCP's initiated a formal referral in only 11% of cases.  This proves that nearly all PCP's are comfortable making formal referrals, however, they are not making these formal referrals to Chiropractors.  

Finally, and most significantly, the researchers found that roughly 25% of PCP's have referred a patient to a Chiropractor.  Again, while this number is exceptionally low (considering the research on the safety and efficacy of Chiropractic care), it provides us with the information that-

1) Patients are asking their PCP's about Chiropractic care

2) 1/4 of PCP's have referred patients to Chiropractors

3) Only 10% of these referrals are "formal" referrals

In my opinion this study emphasizes the need for chiropractors to reach out to other physicians in their communities and build referral relationships. The public is inquiring about our services to their most trusted health professionals; their family doctor.  The onus is on us to build the relationships necessary for these PCP's to make the referrals to our offices'.  We have the research to substantiate our place in the health care world; now its time to reach "across the aisle" and make sure our neighbors are receiving the best conservative care possible.  

View fullsize

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor is the leading DC/MD marketing and outreach group in the world.  Our service is dedicated to increasing chiropractic utilization by showcasing research.  Marketing to medical doctors through research is efficient, cost effective, and can dramatically improve your incoming referrals.  Join us.  Lets grow chiropractic together.

The Dilemma of Spine Patients with Cardiac Conditions- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Most primary care physicians are utilizing one of three different "treatment" options for patients with spine complaints.  They are treating in-house (aka- giving medication), referring to physical therapy, or referring to an orthopedist.  The catch is that millions of Americans are currently taking medications for various cardiac conditions.  

Did you know that patients who are taking cardiac medications are unable to take NSAID's?  

While even the patients without contraindications generally should not be prescribed NSAID's (according to many guidelines) , the patients who are unable to take NSAID's most certainly should be a target of our outreach efforts.  By taking care of these patients we provide value to the primary care office (they are unable to treat these patients themselves) while also offering a option (chiropractic care) which is recommended by numerous back pain guidelines and publications.  

JOIN US BY THE END OF THE MONTH AND RECEIVE ZIP CODE EXCLUSIVITY AND A 30 MINUTE IMPLEMENTATION CALL IN ADDITION TO IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO OUR MEMBERS VAULT AND YOUR CUSTOMIZED MONTHLY MD RESEARCH BRIEFS.  MEMBERSHIPS STARTS AT $25 WITH NO CONTRACT!

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor is the leading DC/MD marketing and outreach group in the world.  Our service is dedicated to increasing chiropractic utilization by showcasing research.  Marketing to medical doctors through research is efficient, cost effective, and can dramatically improve your incoming referrals.  Join us.  Lets grow chiropractic together.

Doctors Pay Made Public- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Today is a landmark day as physician pay totals from CMS (Medicare) have been made public.  This was bitterly opposed by the American Medical Association, however, their lobbying dollars couldn't stop the 'freedom' of information.  

At nearly 1 million rows of Excel content, the list is quite challenging to sort through.  It contains the payment information for services rendered in 2012.  Additionally, it touches on the services billed, number of Medicare patents, physician name, physician address, NPI, and submitted charges.  Arguably, this is actually valuable information for the public to have.  They will now be able to identify those physicians who are running medical "mills"; where services are standardized and done in overwhelming volume.  

Some early data miners have found that over 4,000 physicians received payment of over $1 million dollars in 2012 from Medicare.  Also, a Florida Ophthalmologist received $21 million dollars for services rendered in 2012.  

In my opinion, transparency regarding payment of health care services is a good thing.  Chiropractic care is cost-effective, safe, and effective.  When new organizations start "outing" physicians who are doing invasive work for extreme prices, this will inevitably start to push the pendulum even further towards diagnosis and outcome based reimbursement models.  

If you or your patients have interest, the list is available here- https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/Physician-and-Other-Supplier.html

 

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor is the leading DC/MD marketing and outreach group in the world.  Our service is dedicated to increasing chiropractic utilization by showcasing research.  Marketing to medical doctors through research is efficient, cost effective, and can dramatically improve your incoming referrals.  Join us.  Lets grow chiropractic together.