August 28, 2006 – 12:08 pm
The new yellow pages came out in our area last week, so as usual, I took a spin through to check out the competition. To my surprise, some of the newer practitioners in the area had chosen not to advertise. Our area is pretty thick with chiropractors, and the number of naturopaths and TCM practitioners is on the rise, too, so I was curious why a new practice would overlook this choice. A yellow page ad is relatively inexpensive here.
I’ve always been a fan of the yellow pages. You can find a list of good reasons here, as well as a list of negative aspects here.
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August 12, 2006 – 8:03 am
SoundPractice.Net’s latest podcast is on the importance of creating and using systems to manage return visits, and ensuring that test reports, etc. are properly followed up on.
SoundPractice.Net - Podcasts for Medical Practice Management and Health Care Administration
August 10, 2006 – 3:58 pm
When you start your holistic practice, it seems like any patient is a great patient - money’s tight and every face that comes through the door is another chance to pay the rent.
Over time, though, it becomes critical to cherry-pick the best of the best. Here are a few characteristics of great patients for any alternative health practice:
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PracticeBuilders.com has a series of newsletters that have some great practice growth content. While most of their clients have been MD’s, there are a lot of DC’s on the roster.
As your CAM practice grows, you’ll find your schedule filling in further and further out in the calendar. While this is generally good news, keep any eye out for the following side effects of long-term scheduling in alternative health practices:
No-Shows
Start scheduling past 3 months, and you’ll almost certainly see patients forget their appointments. The best way to deal with this is phone call reminders. Review the following week’s schedule, and make reminder calls to all scheduled patients.
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Entrepreneur.com has a good introductory article on newspaper advertising:
Newspaper Ads
They touch on demographics briefly, but for alternative health practices, I’d suggest you pay close attention to your target market when deciding whether to run an ad. Sure, everyone needs health care, but not everyone wants or can afford your health care. Ask yourself, “Who’s reading this publication?” when choosing, and supplement that with demographic info supplied by the publisher.
About.com has an pretty compelling list of 10 reasons to buy a business instead of starting your own, and they all apply to holistic/CAM practices. Given the high failure rate for small business, it’s worth considering.
Buying a Business: The Safer Alternative: Read More »
