While the tone of this month's article may seem a bit harsh, it is extremely sincere. Forces have arisen that are repositioning chiropractic in the health care arena and providing opportunities for doctors of chiropractic to serve a wider percentage of patients. Here's what I mean:
The Door Is Open, But...
The above gives all U.S. doctors of chiropractic an unprecedented opportunity to have discussions with their local medical doctors, urgent-care centers and hospitals. There is absolutely no argument that chiropractic is superior to medical care when it comes to back pain. Why not let us do we what do best, relieve the enormous stress on medical providers and provide opioid-free care? (This does not in any way discount the fact that chiropractic accomplishes so much more than back pain relief.)
The door is open ... but we have to be willing to make the first move. Like a shy person standing against the wall at a party, our patients and our profession will never realize the full value of this opportunity unless we step out and shake some hands. It's that simple.
You wouldn't refer people you care about to a restaurant unless you know it has good food, right? Likewise, your local medical doctors, charge nurses, urgent-care centers, etc., won't refer their patients to you unless they know you and appreciate the incredibly effective, low-cost and much safer care you offer. That includes always providing a follow-up report of your findings and treatment plan to the referring provider.
(It wouldn't hurt to pay a visit to the providers who already refer to you if you haven't connected with them recently. Maybe they know of other medical providers who would like to get to know you; it doesn't hurt to ask.)
The Good and Bad News
The good news for the chiropractic profession is that over the past two years alone, I have talked to many DCs who did just what I am suggesting; and enjoyed new patients they never would have seen and some of their best revenue months ever. The bad news is that most doctors of chiropractic still haven't even thought of reaching out to their overworked, highly stressed, ready-to-quit medical colleagues.
Please take a look at your calendar and pick out a day or even an afternoon, this week or at the latest, next week, to make this happen in your community. If you feel a little nervous, ask another DC to join you. (Yes, your local colleagues are not your enemies, even if you compete with them for patients / revenue!) Your new patients will thank you, your practice will thank you, and the medical providers you help relieve will thank you.
References
Read more findings on my blog: http://blog.toyourhealth.com/ wrblog. You can also visit me on Facebook and Twitter (donpetersenjr, @donaldpetersen).
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
