Month: January 2019

What is an offer? What does that have to do with private practice?

So you may think, “Dr. TJ, is that like when I bought my house?” You wrote an offer and then you exchange. “Is that something that you’re talking about?” No!

In the business world, the offer is critical especially if you want to develop concierge practice. In the insurance-based model, you don’t need an offer. You just provide service, send the bill to the insurance company, and then they determine what is allowed. And then hopefully you get paid. That’s the insurance model.

But we’re talking completely different; we’re talking patient-pay model. Before we go there, the first condition is you are a doctor so don’t forget that. We are physicians. We are healers. Patients come to you to fix their problems and then you are morally and ethically obligated to provide a benefit, not harm.

Having said that, the offer is like a packaged service. It is irresistibly attractive and all the values are stacked in that package so that your presentation of the offer will be an experience for your patients.

People buy out of emotion more than logic.

To bring emotion out of patients, you need to craft your offer and your services as a package. For example, I’m a podiatrist. So let’s say a patient needs bunion surgery. You’d say you need bunion surgery and then pretty much that’s it. You may tell them some post-operative instructions like take medications but that’s it. That’s not an offer. That’s a very unattractive offer.

Now imagine if you package this bunion surgery, let’s call it Cinderella bunion procedure. (I just named it that but you can name your offer.)

You include all the benefits that can be complementing your main offer. So patients come for consultation every day. With my visit and x-ray let’s say they pay $225 to actually diagnose or evaluate their condition. If they go through bunion surgery – I’m talking about out-of-pocket patients – it costs, let’s say $3,000 for the procedure. With my offer, I give that $225 back if they decide to get the surgery done. So that represents their pre-op. All the detail of the pre-op is included in the offer. And all the post-op visits are included up to 3 months and cover:

• CAM walking boots
• splint dressing material
• premium quality shower cover
• post-operative laser treatment for healing

So you provide them a package. That is what an offer is all about

So what does this do for you? It makes you different. It makes you a niche service provider. It makes you care for patients. Patients will have different experiences; they’ll have different emotions when they hear about this offer.

Good luck crafting your offers! Comment below if you have any questions.

Dr. TJ

Today I’m going to talk about Authority.

When it comes to choosing a specialist for patients’ problems what are they based on? Let’s say there are multiple doctors, and even specialists, in your community. So when patients choose which doctor they should go to, assuming two doctors have the same skills, which doctor do you think the patients are going to choose? What will the choice be based on?

The need to build authority for private practice owners

In fact, I took a special course. I invest a lot of money every year in personal development and business skills. I’m a podiatrist in Chicago and I focus on minimally invasive surgery. However, my practice model is based on the hybrid concierge model. To have a successful hybrid concierge model, you definitely need to have some balance not only for the surgical skills or your niche. You also need to develop business skills to run your medical practice more as a business.

You are providing a service and your main goal or objective is to heal patients and fix their problems. However, without knowing business skills – marketing, sales, and communication – in detail, we are busy running against the schedule. You can have all the excuses you want; however, certain skill sets you cannot outsource.

To build authority, you cannot outsource it.

The easiest, fastest way to build your authority without spending a lot of money is to build social proof now. You can build social proof through patient testimonial videos. I’m not just talking about written ones through proper videos. Patients speak patient terms. Patients speak from emotion. Patients speak from their experience instead of you telling people out there how good you are or how qualified you are. Basically, you are naturally being selected as the choice, the authority or leader or expert in your field.

So as I was saying, I spent a lot of money developing business skills. I took one course by Joel Bauer, a great teacher, and coach. He’s known as a mentor for well-known celebrities, mentors, and coaches. I took his course entitled “Live Authority Matrix”. Joel says in his course that you have to be the only logical choice by your customers or clients. In our case, I would say:

“You have to be the only logical choice by your patients and potential patients.”

You build authority and, again, the quickest and most efficient way to build your authority shift is to develop strong patient social proof through testimonial videos. If you want to see how it’s done check out my patient testimonial videos on my YouTube channel.

TJ

Today I’m going to talk about concierge practice. This is really for private practice owners with medical or specialty practices based on insurance payments. If you are waiting for insurance reimbursement, that’s not concierge. That’s insurance based pay model practice.

On the other hand, concierge practice is like a plastic surgery practice or dental practice. If you go to get a procedure done by a plastic surgeon or dentist, 9 out of 10 times you pay cash. So concierge model, or patient pay model, as I like to call it, is where patients pay out of pocket.

Is it worth it to consider a concierge model if your current model is based on insurance?

I’d say yes, 100%.

This is a tough time for physicians and surgeons who practice on a private practice basis because as you know insurance reimbursement is going down every year. They’re squeezing out. I practice in the Chicago area, so I’m not one of those just talking theories. I’m breathing it in every day and I’m leading and coaching other doctors, so I know what I’m talking about.

I converted my practice to a hybrid concierge model. That’s a new concept. Just as you have gas cars, electric cars, or hybrids, why not have a hybrid concierge practice? This means you’re somewhere between insurance-based and completely cash-based.

You cannot jump overnight from being insurance-based to concierge-based. What I’m suggesting is you convert from the worst insurance company model and you start opting out. You know insurance companies that keep delaying payments or keep denying, or sometimes they want you to pay them back. Take those out one by one.

Don’t do everything at the same time.

That’s going to be risky because you need cash flow to run a successful business. That’s the most critical element of running a business. You’re feeding and growing your business – like raising a baby. You need cash flow so don’t jump overnight but through the years.

I’m only participating in two private insurance programs. I’m not participating in Medicare, Medicaid. I’m not participating in all the PPOs, HMOs, and ACOs, except two, because their reimbursement is fair for physicians. Now I have total control, so I call it a hybrid concierge model.

Throughout this series, I’m planning to explain to you more about what it is, and why it’s important. Hopefully, I will provide you value and open your eyes to a way to grow and thrive your private practice.

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This article was edited from a transcript of this video.