Your new orthotics profit center focuses on the place where many musculoskeletal problems begin: the feet

When someone has knee and hip pain, backaches, neck tension, or other musculoskeletal problems, you can often trace them to unbalanced feet. By offering orthotics to patients, DCs can go a long way toward helping their patients feel better. It can also result in a high rate of return to the DC, resulting in a nice secondary profit center for the practice.

To find out more about the benefits of selling orthotics, Chiropractic Products invited three experts to guide DCs toward selling these products.

Kent S. Greenawalt is president and CEO of Foot Levelers Inc, Roanoke, Va. Bruce Marrison, BScKin, MBA, is senior vice president of The Orthotic Group in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Dawn Wood is director of marketing for Allied OSI Labs in Indianapolis.

How much should a DC expect to pay as an initial investment to start an orthotics profit center, and what is the revenue potential?

Greenawalt: The start-up cost for providing orthotics can be amazingly inexpensive. For less than $30, a chiropractor can purchase a system containing all the tools necessary to supply patients with custom-made, flexible, stabilizing orthotics. Electronic casting systems cost more, obviously. Regarding profit potential, here’s one easy example: If just four patients are fitted for orthotics each week, the additional annual profit for a practice can easily be over $20,000. That’s quite a return on investment.

Marrison: Basic starter kits cost as little as $50 and include six foam impression kits, posters, and brochures. More substantial starter kits include footwear samples and displays and cost $100–$300. Offering computerized gait analysis costs an additional $200–$250 per month. Orthotic laboratories charge about $100 per patient. The average chiropractor charges $300 per orthotic and prescribes 10 pairs per month. This represents a profit of $200 per pair, or $24,000 per year. Clinics utilizing computerized gait analysis can conservatively expect orthotic revenues in excess of $70,000.

Wood: While we recommend purchasing an initial stock so that orthotics are readily available at the time of patient visit, it is not a requirement. They can be ordered one pair at a time. A reasonable estimate of initial stock cost would be anywhere from $150–$300, depending on how many styles and sizes you wished to stock.

What are the hot new products in orthotics?

Greenawalt: Electronic digital foot scanning has never been so effective or affordable. It is the easiest way to identify a postural need for custom-made orthotics and the fastest method for ordering. As for orthotics themselves, thin is definitely in. Men’s and women’s dress shoes generally fit more tightly around the foot than casual shoes do. Today’s ultraslim orthotics can offer a variety of support and comfort qualities while occupying very little space in a dress shoe.

Marrison: There are two major trends in orthotic therapy. The first is the transition from flexible leather and foam orthotics to semiflexible plastics. Plastics are thin, offering chiropractors and patients a greater range in correction while fitting in shoes easily. The second is the movement toward more sophisticated analysis and diagnosis methodology. Computerized gait analysis offers chiropractors quantifiable data that helps them make a correct diagnosis, as well as a tool that helps to educate their patients on the need and efficacy of orthotic therapy.

Wood: Talar Made brand of prefabricated customizable orthotics are the latest innovation for in-office dispensing of orthotics. They are ordered by size and come with wedges that vary in degree for the forefoot and rear foot, allowing you to customize them to your patient right in your office. You’ll know what degree of wedge your patient needs based upon a simple neuromuscular evaluation.

What marketing strategies do you recommend for DCs offering these products?

Greenawalt: I get asked this question often, and I always recommend the use of eye-catching, interactive displays in chiropractic waiting rooms, treatment rooms, and exam rooms. Let patients get a hands-on experience with orthotics and supportive footwear, and make sure informative literature is available nearby. Educational posters and “success story” testimonials from satisfied patients should also be on view. Finally, doctors and their staff should wear orthotics themselves and offer firsthand experience and reassurance to patients.

Marrison: We recommend at minimum that DCs display posters, samples of orthotics, foot impressions, and patient brochures in their offices. We provide images to help with the creation of their newsletters, email communications, and Web site development. Our most successful DCs use their TOG GaitScan™ system to market their practice outside their offices. They use GaitScan to conduct foot-analysis screenings at health fairs, sporting events, and office-site visits. This increases orthotic exposure and helps introduce prospects to the chiropractic office.

Wood: Talar Made is much less expensive than custom orthotics and yet very close in the support and balance they provide to the patient. Therefore it is a sound alternative to the high expense of custom orthotics. Doing a simple neuromuscular test on the patient with versus without orthotics can show them how much stronger their body is with the support and balance of orthotics.

What type of support do you offer for your DC clients?

Greenawalt: Foot Levelers was founded in 1952 by my father, Monte Greenawalt, DC. We have always supported chiropractic at every level—from the 100% satisfaction guarantee on our custom-made products, to the thousands of credit-approved seminars we have sponsored, to the millions of dollars we have donated to chiropractic colleges and professional associations. We share our clinical research with the profession in peer-reviewed journals, and we initiate campaigns to bring more people to chiropractic clinics.

Marrison: In addition to marketing support, our customer-service team members all have health science degrees for product support. We provide dedicated account managers to each client, and a team of three health care professionals—including a PhD, DC in biomechanics and a podiatrist—is available to answer advanced questions. We also conduct seminars to further educate our customers on the advances in orthotic therapy. This type of live support, combined with online order status and other Web-based tools, help us support our DCs.

Wood: Free consultations and a customer-service staff trained in biomechanics and orthotic therapy.

Why should DCs choose orthotics as a secondary profit center over other products?

Greenawalt: Adjunctive health care products need not be an “either/or” proposition, especially when it comes to custom-made orthotics. Any chiropractor can offer orthotics while enhancing patient care by also providing items such as rehab equipment and cervical support pillows. The best advice I can give to a chiropractor is to carry only the products you personally feel comfortable with, from companies you know will have the interests of your patients first and foremost. Recommend only what fits with your beliefs.

Marrison: I strongly believe that orthotic therapy is an integral part of every DC’s office. The foundation of the spine and the kinetic chain must be supported in order to stand, walk, and run. Research has shown consistently that orthotics help reduce symptoms caused by pronated and flat feet. Chiropractors can either refer orthotic therapy out or keep it in-house. Offering orthotics in-house makes it easier to track the success of the orthotics and also keeps the revenue in the clinic.

Wood: In order to properly align the body, the feet need to be in proper alignment as well. You can adjust a patient’s feet, but if there are foot problems, the minute the patient bears weight he or she is no longer in proper alignment. Orthotics are the remedy to this problem, and they don’t necessarily need to be custom. Additionally, orthotics are a good source for increasing profit margins. CP