What if there was a way to improve your marketability and attract more personal injury (PI) patients to your office without ever having to leave your office or meet with a PI attorney? Marketability is very different than marketing, and without it, your marketing processes may not be as effective.

If you’re like most providers, you don’t turn away any PI patients from your practice (including existing patients), but you also don’t actively market for PI patients either.

You enjoy the reimbursement and financial rewards that personal injury can offer, yet you’re not exactly sure about all the nuances of PI including the evaluation software, value drivers, documentation, and case management.

You wouldn’t mind treating more trauma-based patients, but you’re not sure how to handle reduction requests, depositions, interpleaders, attorneys, or the med-legal arena.

If any of those ring true, here are a few suggestions to begin improving your marketability, understand PI nuance, and expand. I know it sounds too good to be true, but it happens every day.

First, as a physician you’re already great at getting patients better, that’s a critical component of any PI case. However, what many providers don’t realize, by itself, it’s just not enough to improve your marketability.

Second, over the years as both a practicing physician and consultant, I have identified 3 common PI marketability “killers” that prevent providers from actively or passively receiving more PI patients at their practice.

Let’s take a look.

1. You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Very few if any of us received personal injury education or training in professional school, and even if you did, it’s outdated. Personal injury is a part of a practice that constantly changes and if you’re not keeping up with it, you will start to fall behind. Being behind the curve has a direct effect on your marketability.

Another consideration is that PI is just a piece of most providers’ overall practice, a sub-specialty, along with other types of patients and financial classes. This many providers may only see a small number of cases a month or even less frequently than that. In this scenario “less is not more.” The less you manage PI cases, it does not make you more proficient, it only exposes you to more potential ramifications.

In addition, PI cases are often littered with both small and large “land mines” which, if you’re unaware of them, can have a direct impact on you.

These can include, liability limits, UIM, MIST cases, pre-injury records, post-injury treatment and bills, pre-existing conditions, onset delays, and gaps in care, for starters.

In addition, there are a number of “characters” in PI that don’t necessarily impact your group health insurance and wellness patients. These include but are not limited to, automobile insurance carriers, that have a different way of analyzing your patient’s symptoms, your bills and records, and your care and treatment. 

Next would-be personal injury attorneys, that have an obligation to their clients, even if you may have referred the patient to them for representation.

In my view, a good understanding of those components is the basics and building blocks of PI marketability. You don’t need to be an accident reconstructionist, expert in physics, or epidemiology. 

In order to get yourself in the game, you must actively seek out PI information. Currently, there are plenty of courses available online or through established chiropractic university programs.

No matter if you are well established in practice or just starting out, begin with a basic set of courses. I would also suggest going through any PI course(s) multiple times since there will always be new concepts and considerations that can get missed the first time around.

2. It’s Not About the Treatment

Wait, what? Of course, your treatment is a vital aspect of PI cases and your patient’s recovery, but its importance related to marketability is less significant than many think.

What could be more important than getting patients better and back to pre-injury?

Personal injury marketability is about understanding and performing the other constantly moving pieces such as case management, co-management, and clinical documentation.

As mentioned earlier, your cases are evaluated by a different set of insurance carriers. These carriers scrutinize your documentation and management up, down, and sideways. 

So, unless you’re up-to-date on documentation and management, not only will it prevent patient treatment and limit case management options, it will decrease your marketability.

To have any prospect of improved marketability, it is critically important to understand the many implications and components of PI-specific documentation. Here is just one non-treatment-related documentation consideration.

One of the biggest marketability “killers” I observe in nearly every provider’s patient record is failing to document all the post-injury symptoms. Often there is a disconnect from what the patient initially reports, (the symptoms on the intake forms) to what a provider puts into their initial history and treatment note.

Every one of your patient’s injuries, conditions, and symptoms have an associated value in personal injury cases. This also includes those conditions that may be outside your scope of practice or those you may be unsure of how to treat and manage.

Therefore, missing, over-looking, or avoiding their documentation directly impacts several aspects of the overall case. But specifically, how does it relate to your PI marketability?

First, when symptoms are not documented your patient may not receive appropriate or necessary care and treatment. This can lead to chronic pain or even permanent injuries. 

Second, without appropriate documentation, a representing attorney or even the insurance carrier will not have a full understanding of the patient’s post-injury condition. This may create a reduction in the outcome potential.

A corrective step includes taking the time at the beginning of your cases to thoroughly evaluate and document your patients’ injuries. Patients are relying on you to not only get them better but to understand the variables of personal injury so they can be made whole and compensated for their injuries. A majority of the ability to do so comes from a provider’s clinical documentation.

Considering that without the right provider documentation, your patient won’t be too happy about their possible denial of care and treatment for their injuries. Also, consider their attorney won’t be pleased about the lack of compensation for any overlooked injuries. This will result in a declination of any marketability and patient or client referrals.

3. Consistency

The third marketability “killer”, consistency is often a forgotten part of the entire process.

Consistency is a result of continual application, practice, and dedication. In your personal injury cases, it is often the last piece of the process for providers to master.

The process of improving your marketability includes consistency of clinical effort and being consistent in your documentation. But it also comes from you systemizing critical aspects of the PI process, which improves reliability and predictability.

One way to do this is to take a step back and review all your procedures before moving forward. Begin with the initial patient contact, all the first day activities, re-examination visits, everything, all the way through their release from care. 

Identify the critical steps that should and must be completed in every one of your cases and begin to create a safety net document.

Including your team members in this process is an excellent opportunity to bring in other ideas and help identify hidden areas of inconsistency. This document is something you can continually use and update to ensure all steps are reviewed, completed, and have accountability with team members.

By taking proactive steps to enhance your PI marketability you can significantly improve your practice’s revenue, profitability, and add tremendous future value. Or there’s always Medicare…

Learn More About ChiroMatrix and APIP

Would you like to learn more about how AIPIP and ChiroMatrix are working together to help chiropractors achieve their goals? Get a free website audit to learn how to improve your website and generate more personal injury patients. Identify your #1 PI practice growth obstacle, go to aipip.com right now and take our short quiz. We’ll send your results right away.

The post What’s Preventing Your Personal Injury Marketability? appeared first on iMatrix.

In my previous blog, I identified four principles to help you connect with your personal injury (PI) patients. These were empathy, listening, time, communication, and understanding.

In addition, I described how these will continually intertwine throughout your PI cases.

In this segment, those same four principles will be applied to one of the most important aspects of PI cases, the initial knee-to-knee patient history. 

The initial story becomes the first opportunity for you as the treating provider to connect with your patient. If you recall from the first segment, the majority of the patient connection foundation was created by the office team members. This happened through the initial patient procedures including the phone call, office forms, and other pre-first visit office procedures.

1. Information Breakdown For Your Patient’s

Before entering the room to introduce yourself, take a few moments and review the patient’s completed initial forms. This will help to gain a clearer understanding of the patient’s trauma, injuries, and post-injury treatment. Here’s what to look for, the accident description, mechanism of trauma, type and amount of current, and other post-injury symptoms. 

Another area to take a look at is the patient’s compliance with completing the intake documents. Many times, the manner in which documents are completed can give insight into the patient’s injuries, especially traumatic brain injury or concussions.

This includes handwriting, the transposing of dates or information. Take note of spelling and any areas of documents that are missing, skipped, or not completed correctly. Both of these actions represent step one in your new patient connection process.

In addition, the entire process may seem routine to someone like yourself, (accustomed to PI cases). However, the experience most likely is very upsetting and disturbing for your patient.

For your patients, their case can be filled with many new and unfamiliar factors and variables. Especially if this is their first accident or injury or if it was particularly violent, injurious, or life-changing. Having empathy for your patients is key towards helping your patients on their road to recovery.

2. Listening Is Key

After initial introductions are over, now you want to spend an appropriate amount of time with your patient actively listening to their story of the events. Adequate time is not only necessary to connect, but for a complete clinical picture. Many providers approach the new patient history as an obligation, and even some with an “I’ve seen these injuries or cases before attitude.” Avoiding the “I know how this is going to go” mindset is crucial for a strong patient connection. 

There have been studies that show in many cases providers diagnosed their patients within 10 minutes. This mentality is not beneficial at any time, but especially in trauma cases. Even minor traumas, impacts, or injuries can have potentially devastating, long-term, or even permanent consequences. One of the biggest complaints patients have with providers in today’s busy environment is they don’t take the time to listen to them.

The act of listening is a significant aspect of the initial patient history. Listen intently to the words the patient uses, how they describe their symptoms and pain. If you incorporate pain scales in the documentation, listen to the numbers a patient chooses to communicate their pain levels. It can give you an understanding of the patient and their current symptoms. 

3. Pros And Cons Of Pain Scales

The use of pain scales can be both beneficial and problematic in personal injury cases. The reporting of high pain scales during the initial history can be interpreted in several different ways.

One way is it’s only indicative of the patient’s attempt to communicate they are “really hurt” and not an accurate depiction. This type of potentially inaccurate pain reporting can occur when the scale is missing an underlying component. Without objectifying, any number(s) a patient chooses will at best just be random, basically, a number picked out of “thin air.” 

High patient pain scales can also carry consequences. High numbers imply the patient should either be medically evaluated in an emergency setting such as an Urgent Care or hospital emergency department.

Review any pain scale prior to implementation into your cases. Be sure there is a way to objectify the number(s) of any scale chosen. There are options available, including using a 10-centimeter line with minimal patient encouragement. Even a visual analog scale such as the Wong-Baker or other similar scales.

There are studies indicating providers need to appreciate the potential for error when using pain scales. In sum, the interpretation of the patient responses may not be as straightforward as it appears.

4. Improve Your Body Language

Listening during the patient’s history also involves the use of body language. The simple act of leaning forward, towards the patient is a non-verbal way of demonstrating your engagement.

Another is nodding your head as the patient relates their crash experience and injuries. These subtle body language cues can often be overlooked during the course of a busy day with other office visits.

In addition, try to avoid interrupting the patient as they report their history. Unless there is a specific follow-up question or a certain point that requires clarification. 

Try to allow the patient to fully complete their history, then go back for specific questions and clarification. This can help to keep the patient-focused and result in a more accurate recall of events.

5. How Else Can You Help?

Once everything has been recorded and documented make sure to repeat the entire patient’s history back to them. Nothing says “I was listening and understanding” more so than repeating an entire patient history. This truly can solidify your connection to your patients.

Take a couple of steps further by asking the patient “is there anything that you (the provider) missed?” A good question to also ask your personal injury patients is, “Is there anything else they feel is important they would like to add that you did not ask?”

There are personal injury-specific reasons for adding these last two questions. First, it ensures the patient has an opportunity to take a moment and think about everything that has happened to them since the injury. This is critical for the reporting of a patient history that is complete, thorough, and consistent. Patient inconsistencies, even unintentional ones can become a problem later on in cases.

Next, there may be patient issues or concerns outside their history. This step provides an easy opportunity to begin a dialogue into potential patient concerns beyond the history.  

Unfortunately, excellent bedside manner, in general, has become a rare commodity in healthcare. On a personal level, you may have experienced providers with poor bedside manners. Your experience with those providers most likely did not lead to a good provider-patient connection. 

Finally, excellent clinical documentation which includes the initial personal injury patient history. This is a necessary part of all your patients’ cases. Patient history issues such as missing critical information (specific value drivers), skipping important injuries (SLAP or TBI. Including detrimental information (MPH) can be a PI practice growth obstacle. 

These growth obstacles can show up in many different ways. Such as attorney reduction requests and loss of new PI patient referrals. Other examples of issues that emerge can include insurance carrier reimbursement denials or “cut-offs.”

In addition, besides the history, it is important to consider the other areas of your PI cases. All PI cases compose of several elements that continually intertwine and these can become growth obstacles as well. 

Thankfully there are some practical and achievable steps you can take to get past any PI practice growth obstacle(s). 

Learn More About ChiroMatrix

Would you like to learn more about how AIPIP and ChiroMatrix are working together to help chiropractors achieve their goals? Get a free website audit to learn how to improve your website and generate more personal injury patients. Identify your #1 PI practice growth obstacle, go to aipip.com right now and take our short quiz. We’ll send your results right away.

The post 5 Tips to Better Communicate With Your Personal Injury Patients appeared first on iMatrix.

The process of connecting with your personal injury (PI) patients is similar and yet different from other chiropractic patients. PI patients are usually the only patients that come to the office after experiencing such a potentially life-changing event. In a matter of a few seconds, your PI patients can have their life upended. They are pushed into a world of pain, doctors’ visits, vehicle repair, insurance carriers, permanency, chronicity, and the entire med-legal arena with all its possible variables. 

In most practices, patients usually fall into the chronic, not acute category. Even acute sports-related injuries do not have the same life-altering ramifications that can come with Personal Injury. In my view, PI patients require a higher level of five (5) general connection principles. These principles continually intertwine throughout PI cases; empathy, listening, time, communication, and understanding.

In this series, I will share some tips and suggestions about how you and your team can connect specifically to those acutely injured patients in your practice. In addition, there are distinct areas of PI cases where these principles can be applied. This includes team training (initial office contact), patient history (provider first contact), the report of findings, and patient education.

By its very nature, traumatic injury cases should take more time and therefore opportunities to connect with your patients. Connecting with patients can make them feel understood. There have been studies that have shown how patients who feel connected can have better outcomes and adhere to treatment plans. Both of these are important in PI cases.

When a PI patient presents themselves to your office it can be easy to focus solely on their health and forget about everything else that they may be going through. So, what makes connecting with personal injury patients different? In addition to the trauma, and all that was mentioned above, patients may also experience missed work time, loss of income, and an inability to perform regular pre-injury life activities i.e., taking care of their family and/or household… just to name a few. All of these can be exacerbated by their specific injuries, conditions, and pain.

1. Empathize With Your PI Patients

For healthcare providers, a good place to start is with empathy. Defined, empathy is the ability to recognize and be moved by the experience of another without experiencing that state yourself. Empathize with your patient, who up until a few days ago had a life that was essentially pain and symptom-free, but now all of that has changed. Coming to your office multiple times per week is certainly one of those life changes. 

After an injury or crash, having fixed office procedures, helping your patients through the process of healing, and providing specific resources is an excellent way to connect. This can also create a positive patient experience not just short-term, but in the long run too.      

Fixed office procedures are one of the best places to start team training with your entire office. We will bring in the 5 principles and begin their training with the initial patient contact. 

2. Train Your Team in Proper Communication

Long before you meet the new PI patient, your team has multiple touch-points that can help create a foundation for a strong patient connection. Therefore, good team training is a crucial component of the connection process. 

Now is an excellent time to begin training everyone about the nuances of the personal injury patient. This can help with their empathy, communication, and understanding. You may discuss topics such as what it’s like to be involved in a car crash (or other types of personal injury cases). Some may even have first-hand experience to draw upon. Identify areas where your office can begin creating a PI process taking those experiences into account. No detail or task is too small at this point. 

How does all this translate to connecting with PI patients? Here are some suggestions. There is no better place to start than with answering an incoming phone call from a PI patient. Since this initial contact is handled by a team member, it’s important they are trained, understand, and are well versed in your PI process.      

Proper phone etiquette and taking the time necessary during the initial call to gather the right information and answer any questions will create a strong foundation. 

For example, be sure whoever answers the phone uses their name to identify themselves to the patient. This simple step is not as common as you think. This immediately creates a bond (someone familiar in an unfamiliar place) and eliminates ambiguity when the patient finally arrives. 

If possible, have the same team member that spoke with the patient on the phone be the first to greet the patient when they arrive at the office. Saying something as simple as, “Hi, you must be Jerry. I’m Jennifer. I spoke with you on the phone.” can create an immediate connection to a specific team member and place the injured patient at ease.  

3. Make Filling Out Patient Forms Easier

Another opportunity to connect is when your patient has to fill out the “mountain” of PI forms and documents upon their arrival. Before we discuss this step, let’s take a moment to step back and empathize and understand our PI patient. 

One of the most common PI injuries and one that has many different entanglements in cases is a traumatic brain injury. Patients can experience headaches, dizziness, confusion, difficulty concentrating, visual disturbance, fatigue, and memory issues. Now, how does all that relate to the team training and the initial contact?

By understanding this potential patient condition, when the team is preparing the initial patient forms and documents, extra in-office time can be built into the appointment. Better yet, if possible, consider sending the patient the new PI paperwork in advance of their appointment. 

Filling out paperwork in advance is preferred because it accomplishes several positive things. It allows the patient to complete the majority of paperwork in the comfort of their own home, and, if they are experiencing difficulty concentrating or memory difficulties, they can take any necessary breaks. 

Doing this at home relieves a sense of pressure of trying to complete the forms in-office and within a specific amount of time. In addition, you or your team won’t begin wondering why the patient is taking so long to complete forms that seem “so easy.” 

We all have been there before when a new patient is taking longer than usual to finish their initial paperwork. This raises the blood pressure of all involved and can begin to put the office behind schedule. In order to catch up, providers may then rush through their procedures such as the history and examination, etc., which is a recipe for disaster in PI cases.

Completing the paperwork with less stress allows the patient to be more thorough and accurate, which can help you with treatment and management. It also allows for access to important information they may otherwise not bring to the office. For example, insurance carrier(s) information, claim numbers, post-injury providers, and any other pertinent case documents. 

Develop a process that allows the patient to feel comfortable, and relaxed while also providing you necessary information or documentation. This level of empathy and understanding can create a positive patient connection at the outset and set your patient and the case on a successful path.  

4. Consider Patients With Traumatic Brain Injuries

If we continue along those lines…where else can we be understanding, communicate and empathize with our PI patient? How about anticipating the patient missing regularly scheduled appointments? What could be misconstrued as non-compliance could just be the product of traumatic brain injury symptoms. In personal injury, it is critical for patients to comply with the recommended treatment plan. Missed appointments can be an issue later, after the patient is released from care. 

If your patient exhibits memory loss or other TBI symptoms, create a process of reminders throughout the day of their appointment. While this may seem burdensome for your team, communication via automated reminder calls and text messages at appropriate times can help eliminate these missed appointments and keep the patient on track with their care and healing.

Of course, ongoing memory issues and TBI symptoms should go beyond just making sure the patient makes their appointments and should be appropriately managed clinically.

These examples provide just a few areas whereby your team can begin connecting with your next PI patient. At this point, consider this an opportunity to go beyond these suggestions and review your offices’ entire initial visit process. You may find additional areas to apply these principles of patient connection.

Applying the above principles sets the stage for the next area when you introduce yourself to the patient for the first time and the PI patient history. This is where you can continue to build upon the foundation initiated by your team. 

Want to learn more about how AIPIP and ChiroMatrix are working together to help chiropractors achieve their practice goals? Get a free website audit to see what you can improve and start connecting with even more personal injury patients.

The post 4 Tips to Help You Connect With Your Personal Injury Patients appeared first on iMatrix.