Mark Sanna, DC, CCRD, FICC, CEO of Breakthrough Coaching

Mark Sanna, DC, CCRD, FICC, CEO of Breakthrough Coaching, talks to Chiropractic Products about the services it offers to chiropractors.

Why should chiropractors choose your company over competitive companies?

Breakthrough Coaching moved to the front of the class in practice management this year when we released the Complete Practice System©. No other turn-key, operations-oriented system has ever been more effective at providing chiropractors the total support they need to maximize their practice results in the real-world of reimbursement. We magnified this achievement by providing each member of our program with a coach who takes personal responsibility for their success in practice. Our company is based upon the “Mastermind” principle. Each of our coaches was first a super-successful member of our program before he or she became a coach! This provides our coaches with the credibility of actually having performed the very same procedures they teach our members. We bring balance back to practice with the right blend of teaching doctors how to document functional outcomes, grow their practices with a flood of high-quality new patients, and have fun while they keep themselves and their practice team members passionate and on purpose.

What other steps can chiropractors take to make their practices more profitable?

Setting a marketing budget for your practice is a priority. Many chiropractors do not have a specific budget for the marketing functions of their practice. In fact, many do not even know that it is important for them to set a marketing budget. Most chiropractors make the decision to invest money in marketing their practice when the volume of their new patients dips down, and then stop spending money on marketing when the number of new patients returns to a satisfactory level. This strategy creates a “roller-coaster” effect in the practice and results in the total number of patient visits remaining stagnant over time. If you desire to grow your practice, this is not a very effective strategy. Breakthrough Coaching recommends very specific marketing programs and strategies for chiropractic practices that focus on a proactive approach. My advice is that you plan your marketing strategies a minimum of one quarter in advance, so that your practice team is always aware of which programs will be deployed in the months ahead. When seeking to create growth in your practice, set aside 10 percent of your gross collections toward your marketing budget. If you are satisfied with the current volume of your practice, five percent of your collections should be dedicated to marketing to maintain that level.

How can chiropractors improve the care and results for their patients?

Chiropractors must practice with a standard of care based upon empirical evidence and document the functional improvements chiropractic care delivers, and how this impacts the quality of life of their patients. One of the primary technical advances in the field of chiropractic is the shift away from the passive model of patient care toward an active model of care. The paradigm of passive care with which some chiropractors have practiced since the inception of our profession is now defunct. The passive model is one where patients lie passively and receive treatment modalities applied by a physician or therapist. The establishment of the medical necessity of the care you provide is based upon your ability to objectively document functional progress in the activities of daily living that impact the quality of your patients’ lives. Active care means giving therapeutic procedures a role in your patient care plan. The definition of a therapeutic procedure is, “a procedure applied one-on-one by a therapist or physician to improve function.” The operative word in this definition is function, for the language of the active paradigm, and hence the language of reimbursement, is function. CP