For the past 15 years I've said over and over again that the best thing that could happen to our profession would be if insurance stopped covering Chiropractic.Well, that time is closer than you think.Insurance reimbursement for Chiropractic is an absolute joke and an insult. Most doctors are fed up with playing the "insurance game." See, we even call it a game, because that's what it is. And the problem with the insurance game is that they are always changing the rules without telling you. It's a game we can never win, yet thousands of Chiropractors attempt to learn how to play the insurance game better by attending seminars, hiring coaches or asking colleagues. The problem is that insurance companies are attending seminars, hiring coaches and talking with their colleagues to learn how to screw you out of the money you deserve. No one is talking about this and it seems like thousands of Chiropractors are sticking their heads in the sand like Ostriches, hoping things will get better. They won't.
Answer these questions.
Has insurance reimbursement gone up or down the past 10 years? Is insurance reimbursement going to go up or down in the future? Are you working harder each year to get reimbursed less from insurance companies? Every week I talk to another Chiropractor who is on the brink of closing his office and leaving the profession because "insurance just isn't reimbursing like it used to." They call me hoping I have the magic quick fix that can save their practice.
All of these doctors are sick of dealing with insurance, but because they have developed a bunch of bad habits, they don't know what to do. They've gotten fat and lazy living off insurance and have never learned the skills necessary to explain why a patient needs Chiropractic. They were happy collecting a $10 co-payment and whatever the insurance company decided to pay. Now that insurance is paying less and less, thousands of doctors have finally reached the breaking point where co-payments and insurance just aren't enough to survive on. What about you? Have you reached the breaking point yet or are you still getting reimbursed enough from insurance companies in your state to hang on a little longer?I've asked thousands of Chiropractors over the years the same two questions and 100% of them have answered the same way. Here they are:
1. If you could make as much money or more in a 100% cash practice as you currently do in your insurance/cash hybrid practice, would you want a 100% cash practice?Everyone answers yes to question #1. I then ask them question #2.
2. Why don't you have a 100% cash practice?
Everyone answers question #2 by saying they are afraid if they convert to a 100% cash practice that they will lose all their insurance patients and that they don't know how to run a 100% cash practice. So in essence, everyone would rather have a 100% cash practice and never have to deal with an insurance company ever again, but they don't know how to do it. Is that what you think too?If so, then your life is about to change. What if I could show you how to run a 100% cash practice where you keep at least 70% of your insurance patients, collect all cash and make more money the first month you convert? Would that get your attention?
Imagine firing your pain in the butt patients that whine all the time and give you excuses about why they can't pay their $10 co-payment. Imagine having happy patients that value your care, pay you cash upfront and refer other cash paying patients to you? Imagine treating your patients the way you want to treat them without worrying about whether or not an insurance company will pay for your care? Imagine getting paid in advance for your care instead of having to wait 30-120 days to get paid a small percentage of what you billed? Imagine having a practice like Dr. X, who used to have a full insurance practice, collecting about $45,000 per month, with a 70% overhead, but now has a 100% cash practice collecting over $90,000 per month all cash, during the worst economy of our lives?
The only difference between Dr. X and you is that he made a decision. He said enough is enough... he decided he wasn't going to practice one more day having to deal with insurance companies. Now he has a practice most Chiropractors only dream of. Now, why do I think it would be great for our profession if insurance stopped covering Chiropractic? Simple... all the Chiropractors who got into our profession so they could make a lot of money off insurance reimbursement, who don't love Chiropractic and don't know how to educate patients on the benefits of Chiropractic, would leave the profession and do something else. The result of this would be a profession of Chiropractors who love what they do, educate patients and their families on the benefits of Chiropractic and charge 100% cash. This would be the best thing that could ever happen to Chiropractic.
And I hope it happens sooner than later. It's only a matter of time. With the Democrats in the White House and control of the House and Senate, nationalized health care isn't too far off. When that happens, the most Chiropractors can hope for is reimbursement equivalent to what Medicare currently pays. Can you survive on that? Our profession needs to cleanse itself of the doctors who only want to play the insurance game.
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