By Ron Savelo

If you’re like most chiropractors, you are always looking for new sources of patient referrals. Believe it or not, there are MDs/DOs out there who are looking for the types of solutions you have to offer - but first you have to let them know what you’re all about. The best part is, it’s not as difficult to connect with these doctors as you might think.

Of course, those of you who have been in practice for a long time have inevitably built up some relationships with MDs/DOs, but if you go about it the right way, there are ways to obtain regular referrals from MDs/DOs without taking years to establish a relationship.
So what are some different ways to obtain these referrals? Some DCs send out a newsletter specifically geared to MDs/DOs in and around their communities. Others choose to build one-on-one relationships with MDs/DOs, even on a social level. Chances are, there are other approaches, too.
The method we’ll discuss here is based on sending your patients’ MDs/DOs, as a professional courtesy, reports about their patients who have also become your patients.

How to Make Contact
MDs/DOs, ever since they went to medical school, have become accustomed to reading professional reports and papers. If a general practitioner receives a clear, well-written report about one of his or her patients, the chances are very high that it will be read.
This is not the same as sending a follow-up report to an MD/DO who has already referred a patient to you. Obviously this is vital, too, but that is not necessarily a method of obtaining new referrals.

The approach we’re addressing here consists of, after procuring a new patient by your usual means, and after your
initial examination, finding out whom the patient’s general practitioner/family doctor is, and sending that doctor a report of your own origination,
unsolicited and unexpected.

The report should be well-written, its presentation flawless. It should be extremely patient-specific. It should explain, in terms that are familiar to the MD/DO, what you found in examining this patient, what types of evaluation/tests you carried out, what steps you are taking to remedy the situation, and what results you’ve seen already and expect to see as the treatment plan progresses.

You should explain to the general practitioner that you are sending the report on his or her patient as a professional courtesy and to provide an opportunity to ask you any questions about the patient or treatment or chiropractic treatment in general. There should be no hint of a solicitation of any sort.

Of course, not every MD/DO is going to respond to this type of report. There are those who are too set in their ways of prescribing drugs and relying on surgery to look at an alternative approach. But there are others, more progressive, who don’t really want to go on month after month prescribing addictive painkillers to patients when they are visibly producing no results, or who really don’t think exploratory surgery is the answer to a particular patient’s problem, and would jump at a possible alternative if they knew there was one available.

In addition, more and more informed patients are demanding these types of alternatives from their general practitioners, and the doctors may be looking for someone who can help them.

Your report will get these MDs/DOs thinking. Eventually they will come across another patient with similar symptoms, perhaps, and think, “There’s no harm in trying, I suppose. Why don’t I refer Mr. Jones to this chiropractor. Maybe he can do something for him.”
So, even if it’s a bit of a guarded referral at first, the GP sends Mr. Jones to you, and you provide treatments that greatly improve Mr. Jones’ condition. You send progress reports to the referring MD/DO. The doctor is pleased that something was done for Mr. Jones and a relationship is forged, and the MD/DO starts sending you patients regularly.

Everybody wins in this scenario. The patients get the treatment that is really needed. You get new patients who, already firmly ensconced in the medical fold, might never otherwise have seen a chiropractor. The MD/DO is relieved that a successful, non-damaging cure has been found for patients who might otherwise have continued to suffer.

The referral even makes the referring doctor look good - he or she is now seen as a progressive doctor who will recommend whatever treatment is appropriate to get the best results for the patient. And of course, the general practitioner continues to see the patient for any problems of a medical nature.

The Report
The introduction of a report to a patient’s general practitioner might read something like this:
“On Feb. 14, 2002, Mr. Smith presented for an initial examination and evaluation of symptoms arising from a motor vehicle accident that he was involved in on Dec. 20, 2001.I am sending this report to you as a professional courtesy because Mr. Smith is a patient of yours and I would like to give you the opportunity to call if you have any questions.”
The report would go on to describe the patient’s Initial Complaints, Current Signs and Symptoms, General Physical Examination, Neurological Examination, Orthopedic Examination, Palpitation Level, X-Ray Studies, Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment.

The report would end something like this:
“Many medical doctors have found that chiropractic care is a very effective option for the handling of a number of structural problems underlying various patient complaints. If you would like further information regarding Mr. Smith or chiropractic care in general, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Peter C. Jones, D.C."

Marketing Potential
Let’s assume you are currently bringing in 20 new patients per month (through other means of marketing), and you write this type of report for each of these patients after the initial visit.

Let’s say that of these 20 reports, only two MDs/DOs respond, with one patient referral each. That’s a conservative estimate. We can assume that, being a skilled chiropractor, you do a superb job with the two additional patients referred to you by the two responding general practitioners. That’s two MDs/DOs per month that you now have a burgeoning relationship with, a relationship that will potentially result in an increasing number of referrals over time as you produce more and more results for those doctors’ medical patients.

You can see that over a period of a year, if you do this type of MD/DO marketing regularly, you could considerably expand your number of new patients. Even those MDs/DOs who do not respond immediately with a a referral will likely be impressed by your report, which could help build a foundation for a connection later on. This could also help improve the perception of the chiropractic profession by the medical community over time.

Producing the Report
Assuming that your treatment is effective, the one point that the success of this method hinges on is the report. It must be accurate. It must be professional. It must explain your evaluation, your findings, and your treatment plan. The report must be professional in appearance, well-written, grammatically correct and easily digested.

The ideal report would be written by the DC with ample time to go over all notes taken and to perfect the report. If you have the time to do this, it would certainly work. Alternatively, you might find it worthwhile to recruit a CA who is experienced at helping to write these types of reports (or you could train a CA already on staff). You could also dictate detailed reports for transcription by one of your staff, and then you could simply review the reports to make any final changes before they are sent out.

Some chiropractors produce reports by pulling up on their computer a previous report done on another patient and changing it to fit the current patient. This would need to be done carefully, or you could easily omit or change important points and end up with an inaccurate report. A better idea would be for you (or your staff) to create basic “templates” in a word-processing program for the patient information, and fill in the “blanks” as needed to customize the reports for each patient.

Another option is to use a software program designed to generate high-quality reports specifically for chiropractors. With this type of software and a bit of experience, you or one of your staff can use notes from an examination and generate the quality of report needed in a reasonable amount of time.

Changing Perceptions
If enough chiropractors were to use this marketing technique, it would have the potential to help change the face of
relationships between chiropractic and medicine. Patients who might not otherwise receive the chiropractic treatment they need might find their way through your office door, referred by their own general practitioner. And the relationship can be forged fairly quickly, rather than over a period of years.
If you commit to sending a high-quality, professional report to every new patient’s general practitioner after your initial examination, chances are very good that the MD/DO referrals will soon follow.

Mr. Savelo, founder of ReportMaster, and developer of the computerized report writing system of the same name, has worked in the chiropractic field for more than 15 years. He can be reached at 727-449-0817; info@reportmaster.com, or via his company’s website at www.reportmaster.com.