Three experts give advice on how to create a niche practice by offering treatment and therapy products in a secondary profit center

What can you do for an edge over the competition and to create a niche practice? Including treatment or therapy products can be a profitable addition to your secondary profit center. It is not difficult to do, and it will provide many benefits for your practice and patients.

If you have been considering the ins and outs of adding a profitable extension to your practice, read on—Chiropractic Products asked our panel of experts for advice so you can get a jump start.

The panelists are: Don Dodds is operations manager at Bodyline Comfort Systems, Jacksonville, Fla. He has been with the company since 1984. Kurt Graebe is president of Sleepmatters Inc, Belleville, Ill. He founded the company 5 years ago, after spending 17 years in the medical rehabilitation market. Graebe is a member of the International Sleep Products Association. Rick Stone, president and CEO of RehabDynamics, Addison, Tex, has been a designer of exercise and rehabilitation equipment since 1981.

What adjunct services, secondary profit centers, or techniques can chiropractors offer to create a unique or niche practice?

Dodds: While there are numerous directions chiropractors can take, long-term cryotherapy is an approach that is fast gaining popularity. It is not only a cost-effective method for both doctors and patients; it is extremely effective.

Graebe: Retail sales can contribute not only an income stream for a chiropractor but, perhaps more important, a practice differentiator and a reason to make your practice a destination location. For example, you could include a line of therapeutic or cervical pillows for people with sleep disorders, thereby developing a niche practice for such patients.

Stone: Nearly all chiropractors have some form of rehabilitation equipment—usually low-tech/low-cost exercise devices (ie, dumbells, rubber bands, cable columns). But few are serious enough to make a sizable investment in specialized machines that are demonstrably more capable and effective as modalities.

How can doctors get started in offering these services and products? What steps are involved in setting this up?

Dodds: Getting started is as easy as getting a small inventory of ice bags. You can simply add ice cubes and cold water. The cold water will better regulate the consistent cooling ability. Simple rib belts can hold the ice on many parts of the body. Also available are plastic cubes with water sealed inside, which can be frozen and used over and over.

Graebe: If you wanted to begin marketing cervical pillows in your practice, I recommend first ordering and trying the pillows yourself. After you have slept on various pillows and learned of its effectiveness firsthand, you can get into the retailing of this product very inexpensively. Some companies will send you a professional display rack and marketing materials with your first order.

Stone: It is surprisingly easy to expand into rehab without expanding the occupied space of a clinic. The key is to acquire devices that provide the same capability as a multitude of conventional units. You get the same fuctionality with less floor space. An underutilized change room can be converted into a well-equipped rehab center for the back and neck, requiring only about 100 square feet of floor space.

What marketing, promotional, and educational tools and campaigns for the new products and services do you suggest?

Dodd: The best educational tool is for doctors to tell patients exactly where to put the ice packs and for how long. Also, doctors can sell the patient an information booklet that discusses in detail how to use ice.

Graebe: When you receive your initial order of pillows, the company may provide consumer marketing materials to go along with your display, which serves as a silent salesman. You can also find out whether the company offers flyers and other promotional items to distribute.

Stone: Work with area practitioners and develop referral channels. Most of these practitioners will already have clinics that they refer to, but they will be unlikely to have the same sophistication as a dedicated back-and-neck-rehab program using highly specialized equipment. This advantage can sway prospective providers. Also, use the preventive angle with larger local employers.

How has this increased profits for DC practices?

Dodds: The increased profit will be primarily from the satisfied patients—especially patients who have had difficulty adjusting to excessive swelling. For example, if the doctor has the patient wear the ice before a visit, the swelling will have gone down. The adjustment that would have been painful or impossible will now be painless and effective.

Graebe: If you go with a cervical pillow company that offers a level of product without competitors, the products can be keystone (100% mark up) and still be competitive. For example, our company’s pillows have a patented dual-valve technology that operates the inflation system independently, providing exceptional comfort and neck support.

Stone: Each state differs in the advantages and burdens with respect to reimbursement. It will be a challenge to make a profit without satisfying insurance companies with results and documentation. It is tough enough to get rehab patients while relying on third-party gatekeepers. Once under care, a patient’s progress must be documented. It is difficult to objectively measure results using low-tech modalities that do not index resistance and ROM accurately. Getting new patients is half the battle.

Please share a success story of one of your clients.

Dodds: We had a client with degenerative disc disease, 11 herniated discs, and a metal plate in his neck, and he was facing the prospect of yet another surgery. He had been mostly bedridden for 9 months. He was on several different medications, and his days consisted of sleep interrupted by pain. The first time he tried Ice Magic, he slept through the night. By the end of the first week, he was able to walk to the end of his block. By the end of the second week he completely stopped using morphine and could walk two times around his block. Is he cured? No, there is simply too much damage to his spine, but whenever he needs almost instant pain relief without side effects, on goes Ice Magic. It has allowed him to return to life in a way he did not think possible.

Any last words of advice?

Dodds: Ice therapy can be effective only if real ice is used. Gel packs and topical rubs are not 100% effective. They do not last long enough, and if used together, the combination may cause a skin burn. Real ice is 100% safe, cannot burn the skin, and an effective form of therapy.

Graebe: If there are any questions, you should be able to discuss the clinical advantages or technology of the product with a representative at the company or by visiting their website.

Stone: The trend clearly leans toward multidisciplinary practices. If DCs do not yet have sufficient training in rehabilitation, they may fare better adding a physical therapist or another DC on staff who is. Insurance payors favor practices with a multidisciplinary structure. CP

Julie Z. Lee is a contributing writer for Chiropractic Products.