Tips for Adapting to a More Digital Practice

Hello, everyone. Welcome to a new episode of Catch up with ChiroTouch. I'm your host, Dr. Brian Blask.

I'm excited to welcome Josh Kohlmeier, one of our own here at ChiroTouch. Josh, thanks for joining us. Tell our listeners a bit about yourself.

Well, hello, Brian, and thanks for having me, and welcome to all our listeners. Again, my name is Josh Kohlmeier. For almost six years, I've been helping chiropractors bring their practice into the digital age with ChiroTouch's all-in-one digital system.

I love collaborating with chiropractic offices to help them go from inefficient processes like paper files to a robust, easy-to-use platform like ChiroTouch. I live from my client's feedback, Brian, hearing how I help improve their work-life balance by introducing them to a new system, a new way of doing things that has saved them sleepless nights. I was actually told recently, without ChiroTouch, one of my clients would have missed most of his daughter's swim season by doing notes.

But this season, he didn't miss a single meet. He was ecstatic. He called and shared that with me.

It's just amazing how software can help us do so much more in our time.

That's so true.

Thanks, Josh.

Appreciate you sharing that story. So today we're gonna be discussing a subject that became a real hot topic during the pandemic, going digital. Whether your office is looking to make that leap from or to digital or already has some features that are available digitally and is looking to do more, this episode is gonna give you some tips and knowledge to help you adapt to a more digital presence.

The COVID-19 pandemic really accelerated the adoption of digital technology and chiropractic care. When patients couldn't be seen in person, chiropractors really had to pivot and find alternative ways to care and connect with everyone in their practice. Even though things are trending towards normalcy, as we've seen recently here in the United States, some patients are still hesitant to return to in-person care or simply appreciate that flexibility of digital care.

Let's explore the different ways practices can go digital. Telehealth. I mean, telehealth exploded during the pandemic.

Practices should absolutely continue telehealth services or consider offering telehealth if you don't do so already. What types of services, Josh, can chiropractors provide remotely?

Well, that's a great question, Brian. I mean, telehealth is huge. There are many services DCs can provide remotely, not limited to visual examinations, guiding self-exams, posture and movement observation, orthopedic and provocative testing, ergonomic workstation assessment, which I just recently had done with my chiropractor, nutrition counseling and prescribing home exercises, which is also huge.

This is not a comprehensive list but paints a good picture that there are many services that DCs can offer virtually.

Yeah, that's a great list. You think about it as a chiropractor, you're doing most of these things anyway, all right? So then to be able to offer them digitally in a digital age where people, you know, you've had to be, you've had to focus and shift towards, you know, being flexible.

And that's a great list that allows chiropractors to focus on that you can do remotely. So what are some digital changes that seem small, but make a big difference with patients, do you think, Josh?

The two biggest that I've heard recently are online appointments and electronic payments. Online appointments is crucial since even prior to the pandemic, many people become accustomed to using the internet to do almost everything in their daily lives. We've learned that we could use emailing, texting and the internet to get more accomplished in less time than when we pick up the phone to actually talk to someone.

This is why offering online appointment booking is a small digital change that can make a big difference in your practice. It's a convenience that people have come to expect for the same reasons of getting more accomplished in less time. No recorded menus to work through, no waiting on hold and no long conversations.

In short, no wasted time, more work-life balance. Recent market research conducted by Finances Online found that online appointment scheduling reduces no shows and is a must for businesses that want to stay competitive. In addition, health and wellness is the most popular type of service for people who use online appointment booking.

If that's not enough to convince you, Brian, consider this, the same survey revealed that 58% of healthcare providers use online booking. In the end, the easier you make it for your patients to make appointments, the more likely they will be to choose you rather than another practice.

You hit the nail right on the head there. I mean, offering online appointments is so crucial. People live on their phones.

I mean, you talk to a lot of chiropractors, Josh. How many times do you hear almost, I'm pretty sure almost every time that they are requesting this, their patients are requesting this in a digital age, right?

Oh, it's huge. I mean, it's the number one sought after feature in an EHR system is to be able to book those online appointments and have their patients do it.

Yeah, just giving them a little bit more control.

There's also electronic payments. It's a small digital change that has huge impact. Savvy practices will tell you that giving patients a choice of how they like to pay, whether that is online or in person, makes it more likely that you will be compensated for services at the time of visit.

This is huge. Chiropractors like to get paid. That's one of the big things I hear all the time is, I'm just not getting paid on time.

Where's my money? How can you help? Some examples of electronic payment methods include payments taken directly from patient's bank account through a handheld credit card terminal via card swipe, chip, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and NFC transactions or ePay, where they can pay via an online link, making it easier for them to make the payment for the service rendered.

Digital payment methods also allow patients on payment or membership plans to authorize automatic payments, which takes burden off both your staff and your patients. No one has to remember, because the software does it for you. Making payment as easy as possible for patients increases your chance of getting paid on time, which reduces costs and increases revenue.

Yeah, those are great points with getting paid, because every time a patient's going into an office, pretty much they're gonna make a payment. Unless it's personal injury or workers' comp, Josh, you know as well as I do, they're going to make payment on a copay, a care plan. And in order to do this, you have to have flexible terms in how you get paid.

You're gonna get paid faster. It's gonna be cleaner. It's gonna be easier.

So offering that type of e-pay, I think really helps the practitioner, but it also helps the patient. Like these things that we're talking about, it's not only helping the practices, but it's helping the patients. Wouldn't you agree?

Absolutely, absolutely. Making the patient's life easier and making the practice life easier. That's the key.

Yeah, you're utilizing technology for everybody's benefit. I love this. So we've talked a lot about interacting with patients during appointments, but it's equally important to stay in touch with patients in between visits.

So why is this a crucial practice, and how can technology help?

Well, your practice needs a good electronic communication system to keep in touch with your patients before, after, and between visits. It's huge. If you're not communicating with your patients, they're gonna either not show up for appointments, they're gonna waste your time by booking appointments and then no showing you, or they're just gonna go down the road to the next chiropractor because they woke up 30 days later and felt pain and forgot all about you.

Reaching out is especially important for those patients who are not yet comfortable returning to in-person health care appointments. But it's always important to keep your practice top of mind with your patients between visits. Practices who stay in touch with their patients with texts or emails can see substantial improvements in patient retention and brand building that our patients will keep coming back.

In the survey mentioned before, we learned that more chiropractors than ever before are using emailing, about 52%, social media, about 52%, and texting, about 43%, to stay in touch with their patients. It's clear that a good patient communication system is more important than ever, and digital communication is the way to go.

Oh, 100% agree with this. We talked a lot about this during the pandemic because there were so many different changes going on. I mean, week to week, day to day, within the healthcare system, with what was going on with the pandemic.

When could we be open? When could we not be open? When are we turning to in-person appointments?

And the patient engagement, the communication was so important and continues to be important. People got used to that, right? I mean, we're going on a couple years since COVID and people are now getting used to, hey, my office, my chiropractor's been in touch with me with text, with social media, with email.

And so it's more and more important now to stay in front of that and make sure that you are utilizing those communication options within your software. Wouldn't you agree there?

No, absolutely, absolutely. And you speak of the pandemic and that's when this really hit home to me because a lot of the doctors I spoke with that didn't have a good communication system, I talked to those doctors after the pandemic and they either retired, sold their practice or just closed their doors. The people that had a great communication system in the time of emergency and change were able to stay in front of their patients and communicate things like offerings like telehealth and different stuff like that.

Yeah, we've established that going digital and offering patient services online is a great way to grow your practice. How can a practice management software like ChiroTouch help a practice put these tips into action?

The right chiropractic practice management software is the single most important upgrade you can make to digitally transform your practice. Chiropractic EHR software can pay for itself with cost, time, and staff efficiencies a paper-based office simply can't compete with. ChiroTouch, for example, has several features that help with the digital transformation of your practice.

ChiroTouch Core and Advanced products have online appointment scheduling and online payment processing features built into the software. Right out of the gate, you are ticking the boxes on two of the most important digital features. For those practices who want it, ChiroTouch also offers a tool for digital patient intake, including patient informs, patient communication, like appointment reminders.

So many features that ChiroTouch offers where you can bring your entire practice digitally and paperless so that you can get off the paper and transform your practice.

Yeah, I mean, all you need is a browser, right? I mean, with the ChiroTouch Core in Advance, it make it super easy for the practitioners.

Absolutely. And the digital capabilities of ChiroTouch run even deeper than the patient experience though. With ChiroTouch Core in Advance Cloud products, you can easily manage every aspect of your practice, anytime, anywhere, and from any device.

Like you said, all they need is a browser.

I love it. This has been so much fun, Josh. I really appreciate you taking the time, sharing your expertise.

I mean, being able to come here after working with so many offices, sit down, take time out of your day, to hopefully reach more people, because that's the goal here. We want to just help people. We like to do our demonstrations and show people ChiroTouch and transform their practices.

But we also want to get the word out to those that maybe don't use ChiroTouch or use ChiroTouch, but don't know of the extra services. So if listeners want to learn more about adapting their practice like this and how ChiroTouch can help, what should they do?

Well, Brian, myself or anyone on the team would be more than happy to walk you through what making the change to ChiroTouch can do for your practice. Listeners can email sales at chirotouch.com, or there should be a link to book a one-on-one demo in the show notes. Either one will work.

So that's great. Make it nice and easy for people to get in touch with the sales team, get what they need here. Okay, so that email again was sales at chirotouch.com.

So again, thanks Josh. I really appreciate you taking the time. I hope our listeners are inspired to continue or to start offering digital services to their chiropractic practices.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Catch Up with ChiroTouch. You can find more Catch Up with ChiroTouch with Spotify, with Apple Podcasts, and chirotouch.com/podcast. Again, I'm your host, Dr. Brian Blask, and I will wish everyone listening a well-adjusted day.

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