Blog, Chirosecure Live Event August 13, 2021

Your Doctor’s Report – Nathalie Beauchamp DC

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Hello, this is Dr. Nathalie Beauchamp and welcome to the show Empowering Women in Chiropractic. Thank you to ChiroSecure for putting on such great, uh, shows, uh, for us chiropractors to stay engaged, motivated, and I guess feel like we’re not alone in our practices. So my topic today, I thought I would share with you what I use in my practice to, um, educate my patients. And it focuses a lot on, uh, the doctor’s report. So let’s go over the three main key points, uh, that I’m going to talk about. Um, I have been doing a doctor’s report in person for many, many years, and I changed a format to a virtual one about I’m going to guess eight years ago, and I want to share with you a disc strategies that I implemented and how it’s going into my office. So let’s say understand why it’s important for us to pre educate our patients.

I’m going to show you the format and how I made it seamless into my practice. And you’ll see that, uh, you know, I have like plan a plan B plan C to make sure that people do watch the video and how to preset this stage also, uh, for your recommendations. So it’s all about, I guess, positioning, uh, what you’re going to talk about, but also that the patients really understand. So let’s start with the first point here. So why is it that we need to pre educate our patients first? I strongly believe that it is our job as doctors, many, uh, other practitioners don’t necessarily take the time to educate either. It’s not something that there are, they are taught. And I think as chiropractors, we are, uh, great educators. And also, I always say to patients when they don’t watch it, a video that I take your health very seriously, and I don’t want you not to understand certain things.

I don’t want you to be scared about anything. So it’s very important for me that you see that video. And I always say, I also respect my profession way too much to have you not understand it because it’s such a wonderful profession and the results are amazing. So I want to make sure that, you know, what is happening. It also really helps for a conversion to care because if people don’t understand something, how candy, uh, convert themselves or, or, you know, understand what is right for them at this specific time, also better care outcome, because if they understand what you’re trying to achieve, you know, they’re going to be more compliant. That’s, you know, keeping their appointments and doing the exercise. Uh, if you do a rehabilitation type of exercise in your practice, better retention as well. And I think again, if people don’t understand what your goal is, because their goal oftentimes is getting out of pain.

So once you’ve achieved that, if you don’t have anything else to kind of hold them, uh, and have, uh, something to measure, if you’re saying that, you know, symptoms are just the tip of the iceberg kind of thing, um, if you do your education properly at the beginning, it really does pay dividends down the road because your retention is going to be that much higher. And it has a bigger impact in your community as well. I think most of us have become chiropractors to make an impact in our communities and the better our patients are educated. They also are better at explaining the results and the changes in their health that they’re are getting in their own lives, uh, to their friends. So let’s talk a bit more logistic about the format and the system that I’ve integrated throughout the years. So what should the PowerPoint or the presentation look like most of you probably already have your doctor’s report.

So when I say doctor’s reports, I know some people do one-on-one with the patient explaining the results. I’ve been using a doctor’s report for my God 25 years, as long as I’ve been in practice. And it is, I mean, I always say a picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s one thing for me to be talking, but if patients can see, you know, what it should, what they should look like or what normal should like, and if they have visual and, you know, I give tons of analogies in my presentation. I can’t do a great job one-on-one each time. So the way I do it is I have them watch this, uh, recorded doctor’s report. And I’ll tell you where I’m hosting all of this. And then I go over there, one on one, um, results. And very, very often I have people thank me for putting this presentation together because they say, oh my God, I had no idea.

So before used to do it in person, and again, now doing it virtually is, uh, even more accepted now because a lot of time, um, you know, big events are not happening as much as they used to be. So just, uh, going over what I have in my presentation. And you have to ask yourself this question in your practice with your style of practice, what do you want your patients to know? What have you been repeating for 25 years? I kind of did it too, because after so many years you were like, you know what? I don’t mind kind of repeating myself when, if it has something particular to the person, but why not leverage my time and be more efficient. So I always start with, uh, talking about signs and symptoms, how they are our alarm system. Then I really focus on the brain, body communication.

And I have this photo of MRI with the brain and the spinal cord, because I really want people to see that the rest of their spine is connected to their brain and how it has an impact. Then I talk about D chiropractic approach to health. You know, I go over to four key basic principles. I don’t go over to the 33 of them. That just be way too much. Uh, but I go about our approach to care. And then I use in my office, uh, the inside subluxation station. So I talk about the core score, what the results mean. So I go over a thermal scan, I go over, um, uh SEMD and I go over HRV explaining what they should be looking at when I will give them their own results. And then I go over x-ray, uh, degeneration phases, phase one, phase two, phase three, cause that’s something I found that patients were asking, what, where do I fit in compared to other people?

So this way, I’m really answering that question. And, and even saying that it’s got almost nothing to do with age it’s how much or how long your spine has been out of alignment that will oftentimes guides, uh, the degeneration to be, uh, more, more complex, uh, for extended, for people that I talk about, the techniques that I use. So whatever technique your office uses, I use a combination of three. I explained to three this way, if I use the drop of the table, they don’t go, oh my goodness, what is this woman doing to me? If I use the activator, they know the, I even make a joke, um, in the, in my doctor’s report, um, that with patient, I called it, uh, Mr. Tuck tuck. So I know did watch it a video when, you know, I take the activator and they know, oh, it’s Mr.

Tuck doc. So I don’t strictly use the activator, but I have it as a tool in my office. I use mostly diversified. And I do explain that as well. And then a question we always get, how often should I be adjusted? And I particularly do my doctor’s reports or my recommendation on this second time that I adjust them. And I talk about that. So, you know, I always say I get a little bit more information after I see how you held your first adjustment, and I’d like to do my recommendation at the next visit. So I say that in the video. So oftentimes, you know, now I don’t get that, um, that question, how often is, I’ll go over that with you at your next visit. If you’re doing it in the same visit, that’s fine. Uh, you can answer it that there as well.

And that leads into the three types of care. Uh, I talked about symptomatic. I talk about corrective care and wellness care and I position what they are. I say, maybe you’re in our office just to get rid of pain. And then I’ll go on to, if you’ve lost your cervical lordosis and you have major issues and your core score is low, you might need a corrective corrective care. And then I pre-frame what it is. And then wellness care, uh, just showing and telling people how people can get, uh, checked and adjusted regularly can have, you know, such a benefit. Then I also offer, uh, all our new patient, a family evaluation. Again, you have to check with your province or states are wet, is, uh, is okay for you to offer. But for me, I’m thinking when the patient looks at or listens to this video, they should be wanting to get their spouse and family checked.

So I do offer it. And I say, you know, in the next two weeks, I’m offering for your, um, your family to, to be evaluated. And then what, um, difference they should be expecting. You know, I go over, some people don’t see any difference at all. Some people might be a little bit sore and I compare it to, uh, uh, if you go to the gym and you haven’t done a workout in a bath, you’re going to feel your muscles. And some people, you know, feel a huge difference right away. And so I, I tell them that those can be the three, um, ways that they can feel. And then I welcomed them to chiropractic and that I’m looking forward to go over their reports with them. That is more specific. So now I’ve talked about chiropractic, I’ve talked about the nervous system. I’ve talked about the scans, I’ve talked about the x-ray detector that I use, that I will do my recommendation on the next visit, but I will adjust them when they come in.

So when they come in, they’re ready, they’re excited. And, um, some people will even open the folder before I go into a room because they’re excited and are curious because now they know what they’re looking at. At first, I was, you know, a little bit rattled when people would do that. But now I just smile because it shows me that the person is interested in, in discovering, uh, what’s going on with them. So that’s what I put in my presentation. So ask yourself, what can you put in your presentation if you already have a doctor’s report and maybe you have a health class, um, maybe you want to consider cutting the parts to be more specific to stuff that I just talked about and then do your health bar, your health class as a second part of it. Now, my first, uh, doctor’s reports recording was probably 40 minutes and it was way too long now down to, I think, 25 minutes, I even would like to have it down less than that, because let’s face it people’s span of attention are pretty short these days.

So the Mo the most concise you can have it, and the more visual you can have it, uh, I gave you have great success. So the way I go about this is a three-step process because I, when patients haven’t watched a video, I’m like, oh God, they’re going to be missing. Um, so many aspects and I just don’t feel good about it. So I’ve gone on to create a three-step process to make sure that we’re telling them three times. So the first one I created, I think it was through Vista print and Canva, literally a thank you for choosing our office. And I have a URL that goes strict, strictly to doctor’s report. And I literally that’s when I leave the room, I take discard and I have a core, core score card. And I say, Joe, now that we’re all done, you’re new to chiropractic.

So I recorded this video that I’d really like you to watch. He’s going to explain to course kept the score. What are the tests that we did? It explains the nervous system and I’ll point out my chart. And it also explained when we look at x-rays as chiropractor, what I’m looking for, and I’m looking at make sure that you watch it, because if you don’t kind of make a joke, if you don’t, you know, you’re going to be a little bit lost. And that’s the last thing that I want is for you to not understand. Uh, so I’m literally giving doc to them in their hands with it. And the compliance of doing it is very good. I used to delegate to my staff and not that he didn’t do it, I’m sure they did, but somehow when it comes to you to doctor, it makes a huge difference.

So that’s step one. Step two is once the patient is done, I’ve created, I use Infusionsoft as a, as a platform, but whatever platform you use for your staff to send them an email, thank you for choosing our office. Here’s the link of the video again. And I believe that I have also, um, you know, uh, a little video of me, uh, thanking them for choosing a D office. So my staff literally has to click that link that says, doctor’s report video, enter the name of the patient and their email and Wala is gone. We don’t have to think about it. And that’s my back staff person that does that. And the third step just to play it safe is for, uh, I actually, this is a screenshot of what my doctor’s report video looks like. I’m hosting it on Vimeo. I’ve decided to not have it re flat out on my site for people to see.

I decided to have it strictly to a redirected link. And the reason is that, you know, I think there’s a time and a place for people to watch the video. And I really believe that the time and the place is right after they leave my office. And the cool thing too, with having this is oftentimes, they’ll say, honey, come, come and watch this. And then, you know, next thing you know, this house is in the office cause they watch your video and it made sense to them and they want to come in as patients. So we were really has, uh, a two-fold aspect. And the third component, just, I, like I said, to play it safe, uh, is for my staff to confirm their appointment on day two. Uh, we don’t call to confirm, you know, daily adjustments and all that. That’s automated through our, our, um, chiropractic software and SMS.

But that one I asked at my morning staff, uh, confirms for the next eight. And if she is talking to the person, she’ll remind them to watch a doctor’s report. And if she’s leaving a message, uh, she’s saying, please make sure you are as a doctor’s report. If you haven’t found a link or you’ve lost the card or whatever, just call us back. So since I’ve implemented those three steps, it’s very, very rare that, uh, patients will not have watched the video. And if they haven’t a little tip for you guys, um, if they haven’t, I I’ve my staff, I had of me going into the room, asking why. And the reason is that I want to see if their answer is going to tell me a lot. Uh, I, I’m going to see if they’re serious about, uh, you know, their care and you know, what I’m going to provide to them.

And sometime too, there’s a legit reason for it. I remember it. I felt horrible. And, uh, you learn by your mistakes is I, you know, kind of was disappointed that this woman hadn’t watched a video and so forth. And I might’ve been a bit short and I did ask her, uh, and her husband was in the hospital with cancer and she slept there last night. Talk about feeling horrible about, you know, being short. So I find if the staff ask and they tell me the reason, then I can make kind of a, a judgment call. Um, you know, if, uh, you know, I’m going to be a little bit more solid or from about the person to say, look, you know, you’re coming in for help. It’s something that I really need you to do and so forth. And then if they haven’t watched it and I’ll decide if I send them home to watch, I have done that in the past, especially people that are already anxious and nervous were their last resort.

Again, I respect our profession too much, uh, for them not to understand what we do. So those steps have really, really helped us, uh, have patient understand. But I think domain one is me telling them to watch that video. And I tell them it’s 20 minutes or they can plan for it. And if you keep it light and you tell them that it’s, it’s, it’s for their benefit, most people will be happy, uh, that you have done up. So now let’s talk a little bit about what could be in the doctor’s report. And again, just sharing, I know that all of us have different styles of practice. So in the folder and I, we called it literally the purple folder because it is purple. Um, I believe, uh, it is, uh, with one of the companies, um, that also works with, uh, CLA so it’s, it’s focusing more on core.

I have the x-ray that are marked, I have the subluxation chart. I have a great HRV, um, result page that shows the four quadrants. I’m a big fan of HRV. I have so many discussion with patient about HRV in term of getting a feel, uh, about distress in their lives. And it just makes such a great conversation to see what else is going on in their lives. And, um, I’m serious. They are about improving their health. I also have an x-ray degeneration, uh, chart that, you know, I’ll say based on this. And I, I really try, excuse me, to have a bit of a Socratic approach when I do this. Um, and as them, you know, you saw the video, you saw the three phases of care based on what I just show you, where do you think you fit? So I’m, you know, especially, um, when people are analytical, I like to do that because it gets down really engaged.

And then the family evaluation, I have it as a, as a handout or a certificate. And then I also use a choice of care, a one pager, and I’ll show you what I mean by two to three types of care. But that was a big, big thing also in our office when we did this, because I’m literally asking them, you’ve watched a video, you heard about symptomatic, corrective and wellness care. Why, what do you want? And I find again, that just gives me insight of where their head is, and if they check the three, then I know that they’re open to whatever my recommendations are going to be, but if they only check symptomatic, okay. And then on that sheet that I have, it also asks them how serious from a scale of one to 10, they are about, um, you know, doing something to better their health.

And if they put a six or a seven, I will have the discussion. Why did you put that in sometime it’s financial issues sometime it’s time issue sometime, uh, you know, you don’t know. So I’m just like really liking that sheet because it tells me where they’re at and it makes my communication better. I’m still gonna do the same recommendation on what’s best for them, but at least it tells me, um, more when they think, and I think also that they feel more heard that, you know, uh, I told the doctor, this is what I wanted. So it’s just, you know, it just really, really decreases, um, distress. So that’s what is in the folder. And then patients, uh, leave with that. And then I always say, you know, my, I don’t even call it a care plan. I always say our, our action plan, and we can go over that at your next visit and then the three types of care.

And, uh, she did, I was talking about, I mean, this is a shorter version, but again, like I called him to three hours, the relief, the restore and the revitalize. And it just gives me a really good idea of, you know, like I said, what re what people want. And then the second last slide here is created a video for the doctor’s report. I’ve also created a video for why this should be continuing care. This one is about, I would say eight, nine minutes. And I go, again, it goes directly to a URL where Davide always hosted, and my patients are send that at, towards the end of their care plan so that it is a symptomatic care plan, a corrective care plan, a wellness care plan. They’re seeing this video and I talk about, you know, the, the long-term benefit of chiropractic. So this one is more wellness focused.

So again, telling them that now that you’re out of pain, remember where we talked about, and here are the benefits of chiropractic care for you. So leveraging all that. And again, this is in our campaign, my staff knows where to go triggers the email and it’s done. So this way, I feel good about educating patient and then putting ownership on them to what’s best for them at this point in their life. But I know that they know what my recommendations are and it’s just, you know, doing it that way. I feel good as a doctor that they understand, um, what is going on and what chiropractic is. And I think the patient feels good as well, because many, as I said, when we first started, they don’t feel heard and they go to different practitioners and they’re, everybody’s behind their keyboard. And just, you know, and now it could be on, on the phone, it could be on zoom.

So just for a patient to actually see a real person, but also feel heard that, uh, you know, of what’s going on in, in our life and for you to be able to relate ID can make a huge impact. So hopefully this was helpful to you. If, uh, you don’t have a virtual doctor’s reports and you do one in person, you could transition that virtually, if you do kind of a doctor’s report slash health class, you may want to consider kind of separating the two. But I have to say that this, um, uh, making this as a procedure in my office and steps, uh, in my office has made a huge difference into, um, conversion retention, all of this stuff that I’ve talked about. So hopefully that got your brain going on, what it can mean to you, to your office, because I realize we’re all different, uh, but leveraging our time and make it, it making it even easier for a patient because they watch it on their own time. So, uh, you know, it gives them the flexibility. So hopefully this was helpful to you. And, uh, you can find some pearls in this to enter rate some of the steps that I talked about in your office. So this was Dr. Nathalie Beauchamp for Empowering Women in Chiropractic. Again, a big thank you to ChiroSecure for putting on those amazing shows, to keep us engaged and always learning. So thank you.

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