Increase your WC cases by reaching out to businesses in your community.

While exploring various areas within a community where chiropractic plays a role in the health and wellness of its citizens, I find that there is no greater role than assisting with the chronic biomechanical insults of the average worker. Depending on your state worker’s compensation (WC) board, this segment of practice can be a beneficial area to explore. WC boards are usually state regulated and therefore may determine access to specific health care providers for injured employees. I recommend asking your colleagues or state associations for specific state regulations. Being a partner with corporate employers for the benefit of their employees opens access to family wellness and a windfall of potential patients.

To increase a WC patient base, you must first reach their employers. Key words that employers understand are productivity and profit. When employees are injured or considered the walking wounded (those medicated or partially functional during work), the level of productivity decreases as do company profits. Actual monetary loss is not the medical expenses incurred, but lost employee productive time and the need to hire a temporary employee ill-trained to provide the best and efficient service.

A DC’s Work Is Never Done
Increase ergonomic awareness. Ergonomics is defined as fitting the employee to their workstation. You can find a wealth of information concerning ergonomics and various related subjects, such as carpal tunnel and repetitive strain injuries on many websites. Use a search engine, such as www.google.com, or visit my webpage: www.chirosmart.net, and click on “weblinks,” then “ergonomic and RSI sites,” for sites offering educational material concerning workstation safety. You can also check the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) website: www.osha.gov. Every workstation presents postural challenges, and considering the repetitive nature of most workstations, wear and tear is prevalent. Our role as biomechanical experts is integral to ergonomics.

Meeting the safety needs of your corporate neighbors. The costly challenge for every corporation is increasing employee productivity, while eliminating or controlling risks. Proactive companies have implemented various programs for their employees, including wellness centers complete with exercise equipment, aerobic sessions, nutritional advice, massage therapists, and in-house health care providers. Tap into this stream of wellness consciousness, while introducing preventive safety concepts with employee enhancement programs, by offering educational workshops; creating safety committees, postural screenings, and workstation walk-throughs; and participating in annual health fairs.

The matrix of a corporate community has either clerical or labor-intensive workstations. The key to corporate productivity is employees who are both functional and accessible to produce even more. The challenge is offering managerial skills to overcome the daily wear-and-tear and implementing conservative solutions to those who need attention. The typical employer is ill-equipped or ill-educated to provide specific advice and therefore will often seek assistance. Our role is to fill their needs with continuous proactive programs.

Create a demographic map of your community. Marketing to your corporate neighbor is no different than other public relations projects. Steps include having a demographic review of your community and listing the facilities and those responsible for employee wellness and safety, which include human resources, safety committees, and/or employee benefits. If you live within a metropolitan area, there may be a Haynes Directory—a reference source of urban and suburban streets, including names and phone numbers of those either living or working there—usually found at your local library. I recommend driving around your neighborhood within a 5 to 10 mile radius and reviewing the locations of businesses that may need ergonomic expertise. Jot down the street names and look it up in the Haynes Directory or a similar reference source. Often, the librarian can assist with alternative reference sources. There is also a national business leads company (www.ebizleads.com or 877-593-4157).

Another useful resource is the Book of Lists, which is available on compact disc. In most major cities, the local business newspaper creates this book (in Atlanta, it is called the Atlanta Business Chronicle). This resource has an extensive listing of all major businesses within your community. Enter those companies in your database and call to determine who is responsible for making decisions concerning employee programs.

This is an example of the initial call: This is Mary from Dr Margolies’s office. We provide proactive ergonomic programs as an outreach to our community. I would like to send some material to the responsible person concerning employee programs. Is there a person within your company to whom I can send this?

Be sure to write the correct spelling and title. It may be useful to get fax numbers and email addresses. Add this information to your database. Be sure to log when you send material, so you can follow-up with a letter.

Send letters to prospects. A follow-up letter can read like this: I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our office. As a community service, we provide various wellness and safety programs. The most popular are stress management, safety at the workplace, and biomechanics. We are in the process of scheduling our Fall and Winter programs and would like to include your company. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Implement your WC outreach program. Cut and paste ideas and quotes (see sidebar) for your ergonomic newsletters to share with your corporate neighbors. The goal is to maintain a continuous pipeline of useful ideas. Once you determine the best contact person, send material twice a month by regular mail (always include an office card), fax, or email.

These phrases are useful when writing or speaking with employers. Often a company may need your services, but may not be aware that their employees are suffering. If you have an opportunity to discuss these terms, be prepared to have answers, such as specific dates for workshops and screenings. Also, print out some of the OSHA quotes found on the website.

Chiropractic solutions. Introduce these concepts to your corporate neighbors and meet with the human resources or safety team. Prepare a menu of services, such as safety and stress management workshops and ergonomic walk-throughs with an emphasis on obvious improper biomechanics—such as employees lifting incorrectly, misuse of lumbar belts, excessive bodily movements, and improper positioning of keyboards and monitors.

During an ergonomic and safety walk-through, report visual and obvious areas of deficiencies to the safety committee. If you have access to a digital camera or camcorder, recording can be a useful training tool. Be sure to receive approval from management and employees prior to using this tool. Pre-employment evaluations are helpful to fit the employee to the proper job, while providing employees with conservative advice. Be aware that any advice not to hire an employee may be a liability for you, so be sure that your advice is helpful rather than a mandate.

If you are placed on the company WC panel and have access to the employee base on a regular basis, your practice will increase overnight.

Joel E. Margolies, DC, has been in practice for 25 years in Atlanta and is the author of four books: Smart Start, Workshop Workbook, Chiropractic Marketing and Public Relations, and Personal Injury Workbook. He sends a free weekly chiropractic email newsletter concerning practice management, public relations, and philosophy to more than 9,600 DCs in 31 countries. Margolies can be reached via email: joel3639@aol.com,  or website: www.chirosmart.net.