A Day in the Life of a Chiropractic Assistant

An integral part of a smooth-running chiropractic practice, the chiropractic assistant handles a variety of tasks to help the principal chiropractor run their operation. No two days are alike, as they combine healthcare and office roles to ensure patients have the best experience possible.

A chiropractic assistant’s job will vary with the size or type of practice. However, if you are considering joining this growing career opportunity as a chiropractic assistant, you will spend your day doing any or all of the following tasks.

Reception and Scheduling

A chiropractic assistant is often the first point of contact the patient has with the chiropractic practice. As a chiropractic assistant, you may answer the phone and help schedule patients for appointments.

There are different ways a chiropractic practice can offer appointment scheduling. One of the easiest and most convenient is integrating the scheduling calendar with a quality electronic health record (EHR) system. ChiroTouch integrated chiropractic EHR does this beautifully, allowing for seamless navigation between appointments and patient charts for documentation.

As a chiropractic assistant, you can update patient appointments, help them reschedule, or document cancellations in the same software that you use for other tasks. It saves time and prevents errors when having to navigate between multiple systems.

Payment and Claims Processing

Once the chiropractor has finished treating a patient, you may have the opportunity to interact with them again before they leave the practice. Chiropractic assistants are often responsible for collecting payments and issuing receipts for chiropractic services.

ChiroTouch allows you to save cards to your patients’ accounts and set up recurring payments. Payments will then post automatically to the patient ledger, eliminating extra steps and decreasing the risk of human error.

In an insurance practice, policies and co-pays must be verified and billed.

CAs often need to appropriately code chiropractic treatments within the EHR system.

The powerful integrated features of ChiroTouch  simplify the payment process. With payment processing and seamless insurance management combined in the same system, ChiroTouch makes it easy for you to manage your claims cycle directly from the software with a single sign-in.

You won’t have to deal with multiple vendors and apps. You will also quickly be alerted to any issues so you can start working to resolve them.

Patient Education and Engagement

It’s important for chiropractic patients to follow the doctor’s advice following treatment. The CA can play a vital role in making sure patients understand the next steps to maximize the benefit they receive from their chiropractic visits.

The chiropractic EHR system can help alert chiropractic assistants to patients who may need education after their treatment session.

Case Management

The chiropractic assistant is the main customer service provider in a chiropractic practice. As such, you’ll be responsible for making sure patients have a good experience from the moment they schedule their first appointment.

You’ll be in close contact with the chiropractor, discussing treatment plans for the patient and helping the practice stay on schedule.

Practices with multiple providers require a detail-oriented CA to make sure no patients are overlooked. When juggling multiple patients and multiple providers, a system that syncs instantly is a huge benefit to the chiropractic assistant.

You’ll be able to immediately see where patients are in their visits and securely communicate with staff in real time. ChiroTouch helps you give patients the quality experience they expect from a high-level chiropractic practice.

X-ray Processing

Specially trained chiropractic assistants can help with more than office tasks. You may help streamline the clinic workflow by positioning patients for X-rays or taking the X-rays yourself if you’ve completed the right training.

‍X-rays help the chiropractor evaluate the patient and create a tailored treatment plan. With ChiroTouch, digital X-rays can be easily uploaded into the patient’s electronic medical record, providing the doctor with thorough and complete documentation.

ChiroTouch’s all-in-one system then makes patient imaging quickly and easily accessible to all members of the practice, directly from the at-a-glance dashboard.

History-taking

An accurate medical history is an important part of the patient assessment process in any chiropractic office. As the CA, you’ll interview patients to determine their past and current medical conditions. You’ll discuss their current health and fitness activities as well as lifestyle issues that may be contributing to pain and mobility concerns.

This detailed information helps the chiropractor determine treatment plans and offer appropriate therapies.

In addition to basic medical history, the chiropractic assistant may take vital signs that need to be entered into the patient’s chart. With ChiroTouch, this data is instantly available to every team member providing care for that patient.

This avoids multiple office personnel performing the same task due to communication gaps. ChiroTouch integrates this and all other aspects of the practice workflow seamlessly, eliminating redundancies.

With a single ChiroTouch license, you will experience seamless patient workflow​ from check-in to check-out, billing to claims, and scheduling to follow-up.

Assisting the Chiropractor

Chiropractic assistants may also work directly with the doctor to assist during spinal adjustments, acupuncture, and passive modalities. This extra set of hands provides critical support to the patient during various treatment protocols.

This role requires chiropractic assistants to stay up to date with chiropractic care standards. This makes being a chiropractic assistant uniquely rewarding. You’ll have the opportunity to continue to learn and grow in your role as you gain experience.

Key Qualities of a Chiropractic Assistant

Chiropractic assistants are essential team members to a thriving chiropractic practice. They streamline patient flow, organize critical information, and complete vital tasks. When a chiropractic assistant can perform at maximal efficiency, they can be a practice’s most valuable asset.

To be successful as a chiropractic assistant, you should have some key qualities. You can learn most job functions with education and experience, but having these qualities will make the transition to full-time work as a chiropractic assistant easy.

Organizational Skills

Chiropractic assistants help with every part of a practice’s workflow. In this role, you’ll need to switch between tasks quickly and effectively. You’ll be managing a schedule, answering phone calls, and resolving billing issues.

Great organizational skills prevent you from missing important steps.

Your chiropractic EHR software can help you develop the organizational skills you need to succeed. With ChiroTouch’s integrated patient scheduling, you’ll be able to easily see all appointments for the day.

People Skills

Because they are often the first point of contact for patients, chiropractic assistants need outstanding people skills. Chiropractic patients are seeking treatment for pain and mobility issues and need to be treated with care and empathy.

When balancing multiple tasks and trying to keep a busy practice running smoothly, it can be difficult to take the time to focus on patient care. ChiroTouch can give you back precious moments to connect with your patients.

A Desire to Help

A great chiropractic assistant has a strong desire to help others. Chiropractic assistants support the chiropractor and their patients. It’s an incredibly rewarding job that offers significant benefits to patients.

A sincere desire to help your patients makes it easier to identify tasks that need to be completed and ways to improve the practice’s workflow.

As with most jobs, some days will be hard. Patients will get upset. The schedule will get off track. When you know your work is helping people optimize their physical health to live a vibrant life, it’s easier to deal with the challenges with a smile on your face.

ChiroTouch Is The Cloud Standard for Chiropractic Assistants

ChiroTouch is completely integrated chiropractic EHR software that helps you focus on what matters most in your practice.

With powerful integration built in, ChiroTouch was developed to meet the specific needs of all members of a chiropractic practice, including chiropractic assistants. It helps CAs automate tasks, schedule with ease, eliminate redundancies, and much more.You’ll save time and be able to provide a better experience for your patients.

Find out why ChiroTouch is The Cloud Standard, built to streamline the workflow of all members of every chiropractic practice.