Increase your patient base by working with businesses and corporations in your area.

If you are looking for ways to expand your practice, marketing chiropractic care to businesses can be a solution that allows you to gain new patients, become better known in the community, and help both employers and employees. The work that you can do with companies can range from analyzing job sites to implementing injury prevention programs to caring for workers’ compensation (WC) patients. Becoming the company DC has its own set of challenges and rewards, but it can benefit both you and the company.

Chiropractic care is a valuable solution that can help companies save money, prevent injuries, and minimize the amount of time lost. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that work-related illnesses and musculoskeletal injuries surpass 5.9 million incidents, and more than 5.5 million incidents are associated with musculoskeletal injuries.1 Ninety-eight percent resulted in decreased productivity, medical treatment, and/or rehabilitation, or restriction of work duty.1 When workers are injured or ill, companies lose money. Employers spend $60 billion per year in WC costs with $20 billion spent annually due to repetitive stress injuries (RSI), and $40 billion a year spent on disability costs.1 WC costs have now exceeded 10% of employer payroll expenses.1

Companies can save money in the long run by investing in injury prevention programs, wellness programs, and ergonomically correct workstations. Employees get the benefit of improved health and the possible prevention of injuries or illnesses that could affect them for the rest of their lives. As the doctor, you get the advantage of meeting new patients. When you are introduced to people through their companies, it gives you credibility as an authority and a professional.

Long-Term Focus
Marketing chiropractic to businesses can be a win-win situation for everyone involved. However, keep in mind that businesses are most concerned with their own interests. Your goal should be to help companies meet their long-term objectives, such as reducing injuries, saving money, and protecting employees.

Tom Renner, DC, an industrial safety specialist, works with Allied Waste Industries Inc. His company, CIMA, provides businesses with a variety of programs to assist them in lowering their costs, including job-site analysis, injury-prevention training courses, wellness programs, and return-to-work programs.

“The biggest mistake that chiropractors make when approaching businesses is giving companies the impression that all they are interested in is looking for [WC] patients. Employers are very aware of this, and they don’t want that type of thing,” says Renner.

Whether you want to work with large or small companies depends on how much time you want to spend working with businesses. A small company may take 5 hours a month, and a large company may take 20. Employee safety and WC costs are a concern for both large and small companies. An average of 6.7 WC cases occur for every 100 full-time employees.1 Renner recommends working with companies with 100 to 250 employees.

“It’s much easier to work with a smaller company of up to 250 workers. Bigger companies tend to have some of their own on-staff medical people,” Renner says.

If you are considering working with businesses, the place to start is with your current patients. Ask your patients where they work. Encourage them to tell their human resources director what an asset they have found in chiropractic—especially if you have helped them recover from an injury or improved their ability to perform at work.

If you notice that 20% of your patients work at XYZ Furniture Co and many suffer from low back pain, then you can use this information to offer the employer a solution. You can call the company’s human resources department and tell them, “I can teach your employees a stretching program that can help prevent back pain and injury.” If you can offer a company a solution that can save money and reduce injuries, it is much more likely that they will want to work with you.

When you begin working with companies, it is important for you to be an advocate for the employees’ health as well as an advocate for the company. Once you begin seeing an employee as a patient, you can treat them exactly the same as any other patient. If you determine that the employee could benefit from an adjunct product, whether it be nutritional supplements or flexible, custom-made orthotics, then you should suggest it to the patient.

It is possible to put the needs of the company first without sacrificing quality patient care. For example, a WC patient comes to you because he injured his shoulder at work. But during his first visit, he tells you that he also suffers from low back pain. You realize that it will take you 2 weeks to work on his shoulder, but 8 weeks to work on his back. The company is only willing to pay for the 2 weeks that it will take to repair his shoulder.

A solution to this problem is to work on his back at no cost to the company while he is coming in for his shoulder, and ask him to come back at his own expense for 6 weeks so you can continue working on his back. This prevents you from violating your obligations to the company or your obligations to your patient.

If the total cost of treatment is $1,800 and the company and employee each pay $900, then the employee saves $900. The company got the improved shoulder they paid for, but they also have a more productive employee because now his shoulder and back have improved. You have also benefited because you might never have met this patient if you had not started working with businesses.

Places to Start
There are many types of businesses that could save money and improve employee health through chiropractic care, but industry, health care, and hospitality are three good places to start. Workers in all three of these trades are at an increased risk for musculoskeletal injuries and illnesses because their jobs involve lifting, bending, and repetitive motions. Their jobs may also involve long hours of standing or walking on hard surfaces.

Industrial workers in manufacturing, labor, and construction are at risk for injuries because of the physical demands of their jobs. A survey of masonry workers conducted by the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsworkers found that the most common type of injury suffered was back injuries—primarily ruptured or herniated disks, dislocations, back strains, pulled muscles, and cuts and lacerations.2 The leading causes of injuries were bending, climbing, crawling, reaching, twisting, falling from a scaffold, and overexertion due to lifting.2 The same survey revealed that more than 50% of masonry workers would be interested in participating in a safety training program.2

Health care workers could also benefit from chiropractic care because they spend the majority of their workdays on their feet. Depending on what type of work they do, they may also be responsible for lifting patients, which puts them at risk for musculoskeletal injuries. You could offer a program to teach them how to properly move patients.

Hospitality workers could include waiters, busboys, maids, bartenders, and front-desk staff. All hospitality jobs involve some degree of lifting, walking, bending, and standing on hard surfaces for long periods of time. Hotels are good businesses to approach because they employ numerous types of hospitality workers.

Working with businesses can be rewarding for the company, the employees, and for you. The key to successfully marketing chiropractic care to businesses is being prepared. The Internet can be a valuable resource for learning more about an industry.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Web site, www.osha.org, can provide you with information on workplace safety in a wide variety of industries. The American Chiropractic Association Council on Occupational Health’s Web site, www.acacoh.com, can help you find information on chiropractic care and industry. CP

Jeffrey D. Olsen, DC, has been in private practice in Roanoke, Va, with his two partners/brothers since 1997. Olsen has also instructed as an adjunct faculty member at the College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, teaching anatomy and physiology in the Physician Assistant Department. He can be reached at (800) 553-4860.

References
1. Corporate Health of America. Marketing Services Program. Available at: http://www.corphealthamerica.com/marketing.html. Accessed November 2, 2004.
2.    International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsworkers. Safety and Training page. Available at: http://www.bacweb.org/safety_training/sh_news/ 00_0708-cementmembers.htm. Accessed November 8, 2004.