Have you heard about how "beacons" are transforming the way businesses interact with their customers? Beacons are low-energy Bluetooth devices that have the ability to send information to a smartphone app. Beacons reach consumers in specific locations through their smartphones.1
Beacons already are being used by a number of retailers (e.g., Target, Macy's, Walmart, GameStop), as well as supermarkets and hundreds of shopping malls. Soon, they also will be in many museums, airports, stadiums and restaurants.2 Suffice it to say beacons are poised to play a large role in our lives.
The Power of the Beacon
According to one report, "half of American adults already utilize their mobile devices in stores. Consumers could also use them to inexpensively automate their homes. For example, beacons could turn on lights in a room as soon as someone with a [smartphone] has entered them, or open doors or window shades."3
Here are the early reports on consumer use of retailer beacon apps:4
The Beacon as a Practice Tool
From a chiropractic perspective, beacons allow you the ability to communicate with your patients directly through their smartphones using an app that specifically includes your practice. As these beacon networks grow, they will include other health providers, beauty salons, restaurants and most small businesses.
While the statistics above relate to the retail use of beacons, there are at least seven reasons you will want to have a beacon app for your chiropractic practice:
These are just the initial features a beacon app will provide your practice. Beacons will enhance your relationship with your patients on a new level as they continue to develop.
Beacons are simple communications tools that can be easily automated to reach your patients on their smartphones with timely information regarding their care and appointments. They will soon become as normal as having a cellphone. This is a great opportunity for doctors of chiropractic to be early adopters and take advantage of the practice benefits beacons offer.
References
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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.
