Do you play favorites? As a mother of nine—I’ve learned to be very careful about “playing favorites.” All my kids are different and I love them all.

You won’t catch me playing favorites when it comes to my kids! That would cause BIG problems.

But, can I tell you a secret? In my clinic, I have FAVORITE patients. Come on… Don’t judge. You’ve been there too! It’s hard not too right?

Some patients just have a way of wrapping themselves around your heart. You can’t help but have favorites!

My favorite patients are those who come in for monthly Wellness Care.

In today’s blog I’m going to teach you three things that transform an Acute Care Patient to a Wellness Care Patient (aka FAVORITE patient).

First, let’s talk about WHY it’s important to transform Acute Care Patients into Wellness Care Patients.

Wellness Care patients are a lot easier to work on. If you have a bunch of them on your schedule, you can pay the rent every month. Not only are they loyal, but they’re also a great source of referrals. Plus, you really get to know them and love them—thus they become some of your FAVORITE patients.

I’ve been working on a strategy to turn Acute Care Patients into Wellness Care Patients for quite some time now. Let me share three key elements I’ve learned that work in the transformation process.

#1: AcuGraph Report of Findings

On the first visit, I do a thorough history and complete evaluation, along with an AcuGraph exam.

The through history and evaluation helps me to address the patient’s chief complaint AND see a bigger picture of their lifestyle.

AcuGraph helps me to have a baseline measurement of their first visit and gives the patient a Report of Findings, with information they can read at home.

#2: A Series of Visits

I book the patients first five to six visits right after I give them the report of findings, and BEFORE we start their first treatment.

A series of visits is important. Several things need to happen during your series, before you can transform them into a Wellness Care Patient.

• Acute care is an obvious priority. It takes 2-3 visits to get the patient beyond their initial symptoms. But you can’t stop there.

• The next couple of visits are focused on rehabilitation. The patient is beginning to feel better, but we haven’t fixed the underlying cause of the problem. I’ve found that the root of the problem is often buried under the acute symptoms. Sometimes it takes 4-5 visits before the patient’s underlying constitutional problems are ascertainable.
• Once we are beyond the acute stage of care, I begin prescribing constitutional formulas to help resolve underlying patterns which led to the acute condition.

It’s really important to graph the patient each time. In order for the first graph to be valuable as a measuring device, you have to be able to make a comparison. Take a look at the five week progression of this patient.

This, my friends, is VALUABLE stuff. The initial report of findings got the patient to commit to a series of visits. The comparison is the glue that seals the deal for Wellness Care.

It’s one thing for the patient to feel better. You’re in a whole other league when your graph comparison PROVES that your treatments were effective.

#3: Patient Education

You’ve got to teach the patient. This process starts on the first visit and goes all the way through. By the time my patient has finished the series, this is what I want them to know.

The difference between Acute Care versus Wellness Care.

All the other things I can treat, besides what they came in with.

How to refer to me.

What it feels like to be in balance.

Warning signs they will feel in their body to let them know they are out of balance.

BONUS:

Last October I had a new patient walk through my door. I booked her for her first six visits. Since then, I’ve treated her 20 times. She started out as an Acute Care Patient and now she comes in for Wellness Care every three weeks.

So, how valuable is an Acute Care Patient that turns into a Wellness Care Patient?

This one patient brought in about $2200 to my clinic this past year. (Just enough to buy an AcuGraph by the way.)

What if you turned one patient per month into a Wellness Care Patient? You could expand your income by $26,400 per year! That’s a pretty good raise.

What if you wanted to become excellent at transforming Acute Care Patients into Wellness Care Patients? Life could be pretty good for YOU and your FAVORITE patients! The possibilities are unlimited. (By the way… I teach this strategy in my NEW Expert Graph Analysis CEU course if you’re interested.)

AcuGraph is the first step. If you’ve got one, then start creating Wellness Care Patients today.

If you don’t own one yet, what are you waiting for? Click here and watch this video!

I know you’ll have questions and ideas to add to mine. Post them below so we can all learn!

Until Next Time,

Dr. Kimberly Thompson, L.Ac., DACM

Clinical Educator, Miridia Technology

kimberly@miridiatech.com