I have been hearing from several practitioners who are thinking of raising their rates. This is something that is necessary especially now given inflation. Before you decide to raise your rates, consider the following:
1) Why are you raising your rates? One thing to focus on more than raising rates is getting more patients AND patient visits. Are you doing a good job with scheduling supportive care visits long-term? How many new patients are you getting every week? Are you at your target weekly visits? If you are underperforming in those areas, then raising rates is NOT a good way to make up for it. And maybe it isn't time to raise your rates. Don't raise your rates if your clinic is underperforming. Fix that problem first.
2) Having more patients on the books can = lower increase in rates. If you have 400 patients a month and raise your rates by $5.00, that is not much of a shock to the patient, yet it means $2000 more revenue per month, and $24,000 more per year. When you have more patients, you can have a modest increase in rates and still make up a lot for inflation and increased costs.
3) Similar to #2, is your practice flow working? Are you working out of 1 room? Or are you running multiple rooms and multiple patients an hour? Having an ideal practice flow may mean the ability for a more modest rate increase while getting more bang for your buck.
4) Are your patients able to afford your services now? If patients are balking at coming in more than once per week, is it financial? If you are charging $150 a visit, is it realistic for someone to coming in 2-3 times per week for 3-4 weeks? And even if they start, are they going to finish? Or are they going to drop out of care and not finish their treatment plans? Again, have an efficient practice and you can see more patients, charge a rate they can handle, see them more often and get the revenue you need. It's a win-win. (keep in mind a lot of patients claim they are broke and they aren't, but there is a tipping point and most people are paying out of pocket).
5) Cutting expenses first: Anthony mentioned this in his post above. We get lost with our subscriptions and not shopping around for better rates on things like insurance. It is easy to save $30, $50, or $100 or more per month. Just DON'T cut your subscription to the locals community since it actually makes you money. 🙂
If you treat patients with plantar fasciitis, this video is worth your time. Anthony breaks it down with key treatment targets you might be missing.
Register for the next EXSTORE course or book a refresher if you need to brush up:
https://aseseminars.com/event/the-exstore-orthopedic-system-for-dry-needlers
@Exstoreman @JoshuaSwart My regular tennis patient said:
I tore my plantar again last Saturday. Same foot, same feeling. Haven't gone to doc or gotten mri but feel exactly the same. Unfortunately they can't see me til Tuesday 2:45 and then imaging will come after...want me to push out til I know more?
- Should I wait for her to get an MRI to confirm that her plantar fascia or achilles tendon was torn before I treat her, or should I just treat her before that imaging appointment? Thank you! Sarrah
@JoshuaSwart I always hear about people niching down but also writing articles to discuss their niche.
Treating MSK and there are many conditions that fall under that category.
Would you say there are major categories and minor categories of niching?
What articles are essential for a MSK EXSTORE practitioner? What image creation is essential?
What articles do you feel are needed for promoting SEO of a website geared towards MSK for higher ranking over time so the algorithm picks up on your niching down by article promotion?
I have been rewriting a few articles from my website builder so they sound less mysticism and more scientific.
If there is a best scripted / article for talking about a topic then could there be collaboration of what is best said rather than us paying ghost writers separately? Most of the information seems the same but in slightly different words. Why not have a standardized article for EXSTORE practitioners so we can set a standard on what practitioners should know ...
Kenny Easley, Hall of Fame defensive back in the NFL passed away yesterday at the age of 66. He had to retire retire early because team doctors were giving him an absurd amount of nonsteroidal inflammatory drugs, which caused him to go into kidney failure and retire before the age of 30. Check out this excerpt of a New York Times article based on a piece written in a journal back in 2002. It’s important for athletes at all levels to have their own physicians and healthcare professionals so that they can act independently in the best interests of the athlete.
