April 3, 2025 • 18 mins
Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse Podcast.
This week’s topic: The Struggle to Manage a Busy Practice and Patients Too
The KC CHIROpulse Podcast is designed for Chiropractic professionals ready to elevate their practice to new heights, and is hosted by Kats Consultants CEO Dr Michael Perusich and Dr Kelly Fredricks. Michael and Kelly are both seasoned experts in Chiropractic business development. This podcast provides invaluable insights and actionable strategies to help you create a flourishing and sustainable Chiropractic business.
In this episode, we discuss:
- What is happening in your chiropractic business while you are busy seeing patients
- How do we successfully manage both sides of the practice
- The ever increasing importance of staff development
- Why you needs someone holding you accountable
- …and so much more…
In each episode of KC CHIROpulse, we delve into crucial aspects of building a successful Chiropractic practice, covering topics such as establishing a strong foundation, adopting a patient-centric approach, mastering marketing techniques, achieving financial fitness, fostering effective team building and leadership, integrating technology and innovation, and navigating common challenges in the field.
Whether you're a seasoned chiropractor or just starting your practice, the KC CHIROpulse Podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and personalized practical advice to help you navigate the intricate world of Chiropractic business. Join us on this journey as we explore proven strategies, share success stories, and connect with industry experts to empower you in your pursuit of building a thriving Chiropractic practice.
Don't miss out on the latest insights and expert guidance. Subscribe now and unlock the secrets to taking your Chiropractic practice to the next level. Your success is our priority at Kats Chiropractic Business Advisors.
DISCLAIMER: The information presented in this broadcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to offer legal, investment, accounting, or medical advice, and represents the opinions of the speakers. Seek the consultation of a professional for advice in those areas. And remember…your results using this information may be different than described.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Michael Perusich (00:09):
doctors, do you struggle trying to give
patients great care and managinga busy practice at the same
time?
Hi everybody.
Welcome to the KC Chiro PulsePodcast, brought to you by Kats
Consultants in Chiro Health USA.
I'm Dr.
Michael Perusich.
I'm your host, and I'm joinedwith my guest host, Dr.
Kelly Fredricks.
Kelly, this is something we bothknow a little bit about,
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (00:30):
a little bit.
Yes,
Dr. Michael Perusich (00:31):
deliver great patient care, but at the
same time, we know that going onbehind us is this whirlwind of a
busy practice.
That requires businessmanagement.
How do we manage it?
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (00:44):
Very carefully.
It's funny that we're talkingabout this today'cause I, I
literally just finished mymorning shift and I had two
people in my adjusting room.
I had two people waiting and allof a sudden, here comes my
assistant.
She says, the cleaning companyis here to talk to you.
And I'm like, great, greattiming, right?
(01:04):
Like how am I supposed to dothis?
And I'm like, Hey, go getChristie.
Christie's, my office manager.
Let Christie talk to her.
Christie had just left to go tothe bank, so Christie's not here
to talk to them, and I reallyneeded to talk to them.
So thankfully my sweet patient,she says, I'm okay.
I can sit here for a little bit.
Why don't you go talk to them?
So I went.
Dr. Michael Perusich (01:26):
It's always a constant juggle though.
There's always somethinghappening like that, whether
it's a, a behind the scenesemergency, an accountant calls
and you gotta talk to'em realquick.
Or the radiologist.
Yes.
Or you know, some vendor walksin and needs your attention for
a couple of minutes.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (01:41):
Yes.
Dr. Michael Perusich (01:41):
You know, and one of the ways that that.
I found success in managingthose kind of things was, and
you kind of just hit on this alittle bit, is making sure I had
people I could delegate to.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (01:53):
A hundred percent.
Yes.
Yeah.
You wanna make sure you a, youhave that point person, so
whether that's your ca or youroffice manager or whoever is in
that day, you want to make sureyou have that point person.
So that way.
When the salespeople come in thedoor, or when those phone calls
come, it goes to that personfirst instead of them needing to
(02:13):
come to you while you'readjusting somebody.
Dr. Michael Perusich (02:16):
Right.
So that delegation's hugelyimportant.
Yeah.
Part of delegation is givingpeople the authority to say,
Hey, cleaning people, Dr.
Fredricks is busy right now withpatience, which takes priority.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (02:29):
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Perusich (02:29):
And so have a seat, or how can I help
you?
Or can you come back at a bettertime when she might not be as
busy?
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (02:35):
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Michael Perusich (02:36):
Just giving your staff that authority
to say those kind of things andhelp manage things behind the
scenes for you.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (02:44):
Absolutely, and I think also keeping them
abreast too at what's happening,the staff.
So for example, in the huddle inthe morning, if we're waiting
for a phone call for fromsomebody or we have something
that we're working on, makingsure that the whole staff knows,
Hey, we're accept, we're, we'rewaiting on a phone call from the
banker or.
I'm expecting somebody to comein from here, so that way they
(03:07):
are as prepared as possible, youknow, and, and know how to
handle those situations insteadof being blindsided and not
knowing what to do.
Dr. Michael Perusich (03:16):
Right?
And you'd hate to be waiting ona call from a radiologist about
a patient's x-rays at 9:00 AMand then you, you get done at
five 30 and your staff says, ohyeah, the radiologist called
about nine 15.
Did you need to talk to him?
And you know, in their mindbecause they didn't know they
were calling.
Mm-hmm.
They're gonna take a messageuntil you later.
(03:36):
So yeah, you have to make surethat you keep your staff plugged
into what could be important,that you need to lay eyes or
ears on at some point during theday.
So.
Absolutely, we, we gotta take aquick break.
But we're talking about thestruggle and it really is kind
of a struggle sometimes ofmanaging a busy practice, taking
care, great care of yourpatients, and still making sure
(03:57):
that the business whirlwind isrunning behind the scenes.
So we'll continue ourdiscussion.
We'll be right back.
ChiroHealth USA (04:05):
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Families are facing toughchoices, having to reconsider
what was once essential to them,but close to healthcare, no one
should have to compromise ontheir wellbeing because of
financial constraints.
That's where Chiro Health USAsteps in the solution for your
practice.
We understand the financialpressures families are under.
Whether they're insured onMedicare or paying out of pocket
(04:28):
for treatment.
By offering discounts on care,you can ensure that your
patients can still afford thetreatment they need.
At Chiro Health USA, we'recommitted to making sure no
family has to sacrifice theirhealth due to financial
hardship.
We will work with you to createa game plan that keeps your
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And here's the best part,offering affordable care not
(04:49):
only benefits your patients, butalso positively impacts your
bottom line.
So why wait?
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Dr. Michael Perusich (05:15):
Alright everybody, welcome back to the
KC ChiroPulse Podcast.
We are talking about thestruggle of managing that busy
practice and trying to seepatients at the same time.
And you know, this is one ofthose things where the
struggle's real.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (05:29):
It is absolutely real.
Dr. Michael Perusich (05:30):
Docs out there with busy practices, you
know what we're talking abouthere.
And so you have to find thisbalance between making sure that
the.
Business behind the scenes isbeing run properly.
Mm-hmm.
While you're still able todeliver patient care.
And the risk is always thatsomething's gonna fall through
the cracks.
Either you're gonna neglectpatients for a minute or two or
(05:53):
too long, or you know, somethingyou really needed to take care
of or really needed to happenbehind the scenes, didn't get
taken care of, so Right.
You know, part of that is, andwe talked about this already,
part of that is delegating someof those duties to our staff.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (06:10):
Yeah.
Yes.
Part of it I
Dr. Michael Perusich (06:12):
think is just planning ahead too.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (06:14):
Yes.
I was just gonna say thatplanning ahead and communicating
are really the, the biggest keyfactors and making sure that,
that they know what's important.
So getting back to what you werejust saying with that phone
call, you know, normally we'dtell our staff.
We are not taking phone callsduring patient care, or if it's
salesperson push them off.
So communicating what isimportant and, and.
(06:37):
Anticipating what could behappening is, is key too.
So planning out for somethingfor, for example, I have another
example today.
We are having a doula speeddating in our office on
Saturday.
So we have been talking aboutthis all week because we have
things that we need to bepreparing for.
While patients aren't here onthe off times, you know, to get
(07:00):
ready for this event.
So, but also we've got peoplewalking in the door because the
doulas are coming.
They need to assess the, thespace.
They're gonna be planning forthese things as well.
But this is something that we'vehad on the books and on the
calendar for a while, so.
Right.
It's something that we've beenanticipating, but then also as
things happen, we realize, oh mygosh, we forgot this, or we
(07:21):
forgot this.
So I had to send my officemanager out to Dollar Tree to
pick up a couple things for araffle basket that came up this
week that we decided we wantedto do.
So we do our best.
We plan for what is to come, andthen you just know that things
are gonna happen, things aregonna pop up here and there, and
then you just delegate.
Dr. Michael Perusich (07:41):
You delegate and you know, yeah,
things do pop up, but sometimesthey're emergencies.
You know, I can tell you a greatstory about a patient that I had
in my practice one time that,that she walked in the front
door, she went to the front deskto check in, and she turned to
pivot to go sit down and.
Her, her femur shattered.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (08:01):
Oh my goodness.
Right there
Dr. Michael Perusich (08:02):
in the lobby.
And you know, so talk aboutplanning.
Had we planned for that specificincident?
No, but we did have contingencyplans in place that we practiced
and rehearsed.
Yeah.
In case something did happen.
And so I'm not out there.
Obviously I'm back taking careof patients and, but my team is
managing this issue.
(08:23):
As somebody's coming to get meto come up front and, and help
out with the situation.
So, you know, I think part ofthis managing this, this
struggle, if you will mm-hmm.
Is planning ahead and it'strying to plan as much
contingency into things as youcan.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (08:41):
Running through scenarios, right?
Like as a group discussing whatare potential things that could
happen and, and things willhappen that you're not
expecting.
And then once that does happen,you better believe our next
staff meeting we're having thatdiscussion.
I.
Okay, this is what happened.
What should we have donedifferently?
Is there a new procedure that weneed to be putting into place so
(09:01):
that way we are prepared forwhen it happens again or if it
ever does happen again.
Dr. Michael Perusich (09:05):
Sure, sure.
And you know, part of managementof your business is sometimes
things like patient flow.
Mm-hmm.
And so as the doctor, you'rebusy, you're head down with
patients all day long, who'smanaging that patient flow.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know what, if you getoff track during the day, you've
got a.
Emergency patient that comes inand now your patient flow is
(09:27):
getting backed up.
Who's managing that?
Who has that authority to manageit?
And when you get done at the endof the day, are you discussing
what happened?
How could we have done itbetter?
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (09:38):
Yep, yep.
Exactly.
We call that person the hostess.
So, or host, you know.
So we choose, okay, who is forthis shift?
And we discuss that in thehuddles.
Who's the host?
Who's the hostess for the shift,who's running?
You know, running the flow.
Who's making sure things aremoving?
Who's making sure that peopleare in the right rooms when they
need to be, and if somethinghappens, who is that point
(10:01):
person?
Dr. Michael Perusich (10:02):
Right.
Right.
You know, and I think too,having staff help manage things
is incredibly important.
So, you know, what is your staffdoing?
Doctors, what is your staffdoing to help you really manage?
So for example, we've all havebuilt in times of the day where
we're not seeing patients.
Let's take lunchtime forexample.
Mm-hmm.
Now, are we not busy during thattime?
(10:23):
No.
Of course we're busy.
We've got notes to catch up onand phone calls to do, and blah,
blah, blah.
Staff meetings probably fromtime to time to have and and so
forth.
But I know when I would come offthe patient floor and was
getting ready for that downtimeduring the lunch hour, Marissa
would hand me a piece of paperthat outlined everything I
needed to get done, phone calls,I needed to return meetings, I
(10:46):
needed to be in notes I neededto do, you know, whatever it
might be.
Yeah, she would hand me a list,so.
What was great about that was ithelped keep me on time and using
my time wisely and effectively.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (10:59):
Yeah, definitely.
'cause it's hard when you comeoff shift, you're, you've been
in a whirlwind, right?
So you kind of, right, whoa, Ineed to decompress a little bit.
And that can take a little bitof time, and then you find out
that all of a sudden you justwasted.
10, 15, 20 minutes and you couldhave been getting a couple
things accomplished.
So I, I think that's such agreat idea that you're just,
(11:20):
you're shifting right into tothat downtime and knowing what
it is that you're moving intonext.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:27):
Yeah.
You can
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (11:27):
be productive.
Yeah.
So, and intentional.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:29):
Yeah.
Well, and that's true.
You, you do, you, we use thatword a lot around here.
You have to be intentional, andpart of that intention is
knowing that you as the doctorand a busy patient.
Load practice are not gonna beable to do everything
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (11:44):
right.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:44):
So we have to have success partners behind
us.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (11:47):
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:48):
Office managers, great front desk
people, you know, all these cogsneed to be in place.
And so how do we build thosepeople?
Well, it's.
Team development and I wanna, wegotta take another break, but I
wanna come back and I wannaspend a little bit of time on
that topic and how it helps uswith the struggle of seeing a
(12:08):
high patient load and stilltrying to manage the successful
business.
So hang in there everybody,we'll be right back.
Kats Consultants (12:20):
Kats Chiropractic consultants, your
partner in chiropractic success.
We are dedicated with one-on-oneguidance to bring you all your
practice management needs.
Let's supercharge your practice.
Give us a call today.
Dr. Michael Perusich (12:47):
Everybody, welcome back to the KC Chiro
Pulse podcast.
Today we're tackling thetightrope that all of us deal
with in our practices and thattightrope is managing a good
patient load and managing thepractice all at the same time.
And Kelly, we just, we juststarted to dive into this topic
of the importance of teamdevelopment and how that helps
(13:08):
us manage both ends of thepractice.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (13:11):
Definitely team development is, is key.
So making sure that you havetime in your month, in your
quarter where you're meetingwith your team and you're
discussing goals, you'rediscussing, you know, what's
silly around here?
That's a big thing that we useoften.
Yep.
You know, always good.
That too.
(13:31):
Yeah.
So that way as a team you cancome together and then you can
figure out.
What needs to be done and who isthe best person to handle that
particular task?
And that's what's, that is thekey point in team development.
Because if you have a personthat is an introvert.
All of a sudden you're trying tohave them help you with some
(13:54):
events or some marketing ortalking to patients at the front
desk.
That's probably not the bestperson to be developing in that
role.
But if you've got somebodythat's an extrovert and they
like to do those things, that'sthe person that you wanna
develop into that role.
So you need to really dive deepinto who you have and what their
strengths are so that way youcan build a position for them
(14:17):
around what needs to be done.
Dr. Michael Perusich (14:20):
Yeah.
And I think as the practicegrows too, you have to redevelop
and reshift.
Mm-hmm.
Some duties sometimes.
So, you know, part of what'ssilly around here is, is okay,
let's all define who's doingwhat.
Yeah.
Even though we may think weknow, it's always surprising to
write it down on paper and seewhere we imbalanced a little bit
(14:41):
and how can we shift thingsaround to spread the load back
out.
'cause it, it has a tendency toaccumulate.
Towards your more impact playersSometimes.
Yeah.
And so we have to make sure thatwe, we redistribute so that we
keep the team fresh andcongruent.
Yeah.
As well as cross-trained.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (15:02):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, because that's so true.
It's very easy to pick yourgo-tos, right?
To load them up with your tasksbecause you know that they can
handle that.
But then you may have a newer cathat is.
Wants to grow and they want tocontribute and they want a
chance, put me in coach.
Right?
So right.
(15:23):
So writing them out on a bigwhiteboard or what are, whatever
it is that you guys are workingon, and you can see who's
handling all the load and a lotof times the staff, they'll be
overloaded and they won't tellyou.
We don't think about it becausewe're just like, we're trying to
get to the next thing, right?
So we're just like, you do this,you do this, you do that, and
then all of a sudden they'reoverloaded and then they're
(15:44):
starting to get a little upset,and then they're starting to get
a little burnt out.
When, you know, when we set itall out and realize we need to
shift some of this to this otherperson, to this new person and
make it more congruent, theneverybody's happy.
Dr. Michael Perusich (15:58):
Right.
Exactly.
You know, so doctors, if you'relistening out there.
And, and you've got a busypractice, which I'm sure most of
you do.
You've got that busy practiceand you're trying to manage the
entire thing by yourself.
I'm telling you right now, youcan't do it effectively.
You are great at patient care,you're great at managing patient
cases.
(16:19):
You're probably great at runningthe business side of the
practice too.
But you can't do it alone.
So we have to develop our, oursuccess partners in the
practice.
And this is also where sometimescoaching and mentoring can
really help you as well, to helpkind of be the sounding board or
the the, the board of directors,so to speak, just to help
(16:39):
provide some oversight and howcan we manage this thing better
and more efficiently andultimately more profitably.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (16:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
Sometimes you just need thatextra voice to, to push you
along and to guide you along andbe like, it's time, it's time
for you to hire somebody else,or it's time for you to allow
yourself to delegate that off sothat way, so that way you as a
doctor can continue to grow inother,
Dr. Michael Perusich (17:07):
in other, I think one of the.
Exactly.
I think one of the problems ofbeing an entrepreneur owning
your own business is we have atendency to push ourselves to
the top of the food chain.
Mm-hmm.
And that actually is a littledangerous because we lose
accountability when we do that.
So it's always good to have thatextra set of eyes looking down
on you and making sure.
(17:29):
You're not only holding yourselfaccountable, but you've got
somebody truly holding your feetto the fire so that you're
constantly pushing yourself.
You know, Michael Jordan alwayssaid he'd had never been the
success he was, had he not hadmultiple types of coaches.
I think if I remember his storyright, it was like nine coaches
or something that he had.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (17:47):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Perusich (17:48):
You know, so, so even the great ones need
a coach.
Hundred.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (17:52):
A hundred percent.
A
Dr. Michael Perusich (17:53):
hundred percent.
So go check us out atkatsconsultants.com.
See all the great things thatwe're doing to help our clients
and help the profession developnot only practices that are busy
and seeing lots and lots ofpeople, and taking lots of great
care of all those great spinesout there, but also managing
their practice so it'sprofitable and fun, and not just
(18:13):
pushing you under and burningyou out.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (18:15):
Yes, yes.
Not just the grind.
We gotta have a good time.
Dr. Michael Perusich (18:19):
Right.
Absolutely.
Alright everybody, thanks fortuning in today to the KC Chiro
Pulse Podcast.
On behalf of all of us here atKats Consultants and Chiro
Health USA, we thank everybodyfor tuning in.
We'll see you next time.
doctors, do you struggle trying to give
patients great care and managinga busy practice at the same
time?
Hi everybody.
Welcome to the KC Chiro PulsePodcast, brought to you by Kats
Consultants in Chiro Health USA.
I'm Dr.
Michael Perusich.
I'm your host, and I'm joinedwith my guest host, Dr.
Kelly Fredricks.
Kelly, this is something we bothknow a little bit about,
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (00:30):
a little bit.
Yes,
Dr. Michael Perusich (00:31):
deliver great patient care, but at the
same time, we know that going onbehind us is this whirlwind of a
busy practice.
That requires businessmanagement.
How do we manage it?
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (00:44):
Very carefully.
It's funny that we're talkingabout this today'cause I, I
literally just finished mymorning shift and I had two
people in my adjusting room.
I had two people waiting and allof a sudden, here comes my
assistant.
She says, the cleaning companyis here to talk to you.
And I'm like, great, greattiming, right?
(01:04):
Like how am I supposed to dothis?
And I'm like, Hey, go getChristie.
Christie's, my office manager.
Let Christie talk to her.
Christie had just left to go tothe bank, so Christie's not here
to talk to them, and I reallyneeded to talk to them.
So thankfully my sweet patient,she says, I'm okay.
I can sit here for a little bit.
Why don't you go talk to them?
So I went.
Dr. Michael Perusich (01:26):
It's always a constant juggle though.
There's always somethinghappening like that, whether
it's a, a behind the scenesemergency, an accountant calls
and you gotta talk to'em realquick.
Or the radiologist.
Yes.
Or you know, some vendor walksin and needs your attention for
a couple of minutes.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (01:41):
Yes.
Dr. Michael Perusich (01:41):
You know, and one of the ways that that.
I found success in managingthose kind of things was, and
you kind of just hit on this alittle bit, is making sure I had
people I could delegate to.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (01:53):
A hundred percent.
Yes.
Yeah.
You wanna make sure you a, youhave that point person, so
whether that's your ca or youroffice manager or whoever is in
that day, you want to make sureyou have that point person.
So that way.
When the salespeople come in thedoor, or when those phone calls
come, it goes to that personfirst instead of them needing to
(02:13):
come to you while you'readjusting somebody.
Dr. Michael Perusich (02:16):
Right.
So that delegation's hugelyimportant.
Yeah.
Part of delegation is givingpeople the authority to say,
Hey, cleaning people, Dr.
Fredricks is busy right now withpatience, which takes priority.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (02:29):
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Perusich (02:29):
And so have a seat, or how can I help
you?
Or can you come back at a bettertime when she might not be as
busy?
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (02:35):
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Michael Perusich (02:36):
Just giving your staff that authority
to say those kind of things andhelp manage things behind the
scenes for you.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (02:44):
Absolutely, and I think also keeping them
abreast too at what's happening,the staff.
So for example, in the huddle inthe morning, if we're waiting
for a phone call for fromsomebody or we have something
that we're working on, makingsure that the whole staff knows,
Hey, we're accept, we're, we'rewaiting on a phone call from the
banker or.
I'm expecting somebody to comein from here, so that way they
(03:07):
are as prepared as possible, youknow, and, and know how to
handle those situations insteadof being blindsided and not
knowing what to do.
Dr. Michael Perusich (03:16):
Right?
And you'd hate to be waiting ona call from a radiologist about
a patient's x-rays at 9:00 AMand then you, you get done at
five 30 and your staff says, ohyeah, the radiologist called
about nine 15.
Did you need to talk to him?
And you know, in their mindbecause they didn't know they
were calling.
Mm-hmm.
They're gonna take a messageuntil you later.
(03:36):
So yeah, you have to make surethat you keep your staff plugged
into what could be important,that you need to lay eyes or
ears on at some point during theday.
So.
Absolutely, we, we gotta take aquick break.
But we're talking about thestruggle and it really is kind
of a struggle sometimes ofmanaging a busy practice, taking
care, great care of yourpatients, and still making sure
(03:57):
that the business whirlwind isrunning behind the scenes.
So we'll continue ourdiscussion.
We'll be right back.
ChiroHealth USA (04:05):
In today's economy, every dollar counts.
Families are facing toughchoices, having to reconsider
what was once essential to them,but close to healthcare, no one
should have to compromise ontheir wellbeing because of
financial constraints.
That's where Chiro Health USAsteps in the solution for your
practice.
We understand the financialpressures families are under.
Whether they're insured onMedicare or paying out of pocket
(04:28):
for treatment.
By offering discounts on care,you can ensure that your
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(04:49):
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Dr. Michael Perusich (05:15):
Alright everybody, welcome back to the
KC ChiroPulse Podcast.
We are talking about thestruggle of managing that busy
practice and trying to seepatients at the same time.
And you know, this is one ofthose things where the
struggle's real.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (05:29):
It is absolutely real.
Dr. Michael Perusich (05:30):
Docs out there with busy practices, you
know what we're talking abouthere.
And so you have to find thisbalance between making sure that
the.
Business behind the scenes isbeing run properly.
Mm-hmm.
While you're still able todeliver patient care.
And the risk is always thatsomething's gonna fall through
the cracks.
Either you're gonna neglectpatients for a minute or two or
(05:53):
too long, or you know, somethingyou really needed to take care
of or really needed to happenbehind the scenes, didn't get
taken care of, so Right.
You know, part of that is, andwe talked about this already,
part of that is delegating someof those duties to our staff.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (06:10):
Yeah.
Yes.
Part of it I
Dr. Michael Perusich (06:12):
think is just planning ahead too.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (06:14):
Yes.
I was just gonna say thatplanning ahead and communicating
are really the, the biggest keyfactors and making sure that,
that they know what's important.
So getting back to what you werejust saying with that phone
call, you know, normally we'dtell our staff.
We are not taking phone callsduring patient care, or if it's
salesperson push them off.
So communicating what isimportant and, and.
(06:37):
Anticipating what could behappening is, is key too.
So planning out for somethingfor, for example, I have another
example today.
We are having a doula speeddating in our office on
Saturday.
So we have been talking aboutthis all week because we have
things that we need to bepreparing for.
While patients aren't here onthe off times, you know, to get
(07:00):
ready for this event.
So, but also we've got peoplewalking in the door because the
doulas are coming.
They need to assess the, thespace.
They're gonna be planning forthese things as well.
But this is something that we'vehad on the books and on the
calendar for a while, so.
Right.
It's something that we've beenanticipating, but then also as
things happen, we realize, oh mygosh, we forgot this, or we
(07:21):
forgot this.
So I had to send my officemanager out to Dollar Tree to
pick up a couple things for araffle basket that came up this
week that we decided we wantedto do.
So we do our best.
We plan for what is to come, andthen you just know that things
are gonna happen, things aregonna pop up here and there, and
then you just delegate.
Dr. Michael Perusich (07:41):
You delegate and you know, yeah,
things do pop up, but sometimesthey're emergencies.
You know, I can tell you a greatstory about a patient that I had
in my practice one time that,that she walked in the front
door, she went to the front deskto check in, and she turned to
pivot to go sit down and.
Her, her femur shattered.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (08:01):
Oh my goodness.
Right there
Dr. Michael Perusich (08:02):
in the lobby.
And you know, so talk aboutplanning.
Had we planned for that specificincident?
No, but we did have contingencyplans in place that we practiced
and rehearsed.
Yeah.
In case something did happen.
And so I'm not out there.
Obviously I'm back taking careof patients and, but my team is
managing this issue.
(08:23):
As somebody's coming to get meto come up front and, and help
out with the situation.
So, you know, I think part ofthis managing this, this
struggle, if you will mm-hmm.
Is planning ahead and it'strying to plan as much
contingency into things as youcan.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (08:41):
Running through scenarios, right?
Like as a group discussing whatare potential things that could
happen and, and things willhappen that you're not
expecting.
And then once that does happen,you better believe our next
staff meeting we're having thatdiscussion.
I.
Okay, this is what happened.
What should we have donedifferently?
Is there a new procedure that weneed to be putting into place so
(09:01):
that way we are prepared forwhen it happens again or if it
ever does happen again.
Dr. Michael Perusich (09:05):
Sure, sure.
And you know, part of managementof your business is sometimes
things like patient flow.
Mm-hmm.
And so as the doctor, you'rebusy, you're head down with
patients all day long, who'smanaging that patient flow.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know what, if you getoff track during the day, you've
got a.
Emergency patient that comes inand now your patient flow is
(09:27):
getting backed up.
Who's managing that?
Who has that authority to manageit?
And when you get done at the endof the day, are you discussing
what happened?
How could we have done itbetter?
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (09:38):
Yep, yep.
Exactly.
We call that person the hostess.
So, or host, you know.
So we choose, okay, who is forthis shift?
And we discuss that in thehuddles.
Who's the host?
Who's the hostess for the shift,who's running?
You know, running the flow.
Who's making sure things aremoving?
Who's making sure that peopleare in the right rooms when they
need to be, and if somethinghappens, who is that point
(10:01):
person?
Dr. Michael Perusich (10:02):
Right.
Right.
You know, and I think too,having staff help manage things
is incredibly important.
So, you know, what is your staffdoing?
Doctors, what is your staffdoing to help you really manage?
So for example, we've all havebuilt in times of the day where
we're not seeing patients.
Let's take lunchtime forexample.
Mm-hmm.
Now, are we not busy during thattime?
(10:23):
No.
Of course we're busy.
We've got notes to catch up onand phone calls to do, and blah,
blah, blah.
Staff meetings probably fromtime to time to have and and so
forth.
But I know when I would come offthe patient floor and was
getting ready for that downtimeduring the lunch hour, Marissa
would hand me a piece of paperthat outlined everything I
needed to get done, phone calls,I needed to return meetings, I
(10:46):
needed to be in notes I neededto do, you know, whatever it
might be.
Yeah, she would hand me a list,so.
What was great about that was ithelped keep me on time and using
my time wisely and effectively.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (10:59):
Yeah, definitely.
'cause it's hard when you comeoff shift, you're, you've been
in a whirlwind, right?
So you kind of, right, whoa, Ineed to decompress a little bit.
And that can take a little bitof time, and then you find out
that all of a sudden you justwasted.
10, 15, 20 minutes and you couldhave been getting a couple
things accomplished.
So I, I think that's such agreat idea that you're just,
(11:20):
you're shifting right into tothat downtime and knowing what
it is that you're moving intonext.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:27):
Yeah.
You can
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (11:27):
be productive.
Yeah.
So, and intentional.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:29):
Yeah.
Well, and that's true.
You, you do, you, we use thatword a lot around here.
You have to be intentional, andpart of that intention is
knowing that you as the doctorand a busy patient.
Load practice are not gonna beable to do everything
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (11:44):
right.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:44):
So we have to have success partners behind
us.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (11:47):
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Michael Perusich (11:48):
Office managers, great front desk
people, you know, all these cogsneed to be in place.
And so how do we build thosepeople?
Well, it's.
Team development and I wanna, wegotta take another break, but I
wanna come back and I wannaspend a little bit of time on
that topic and how it helps uswith the struggle of seeing a
(12:08):
high patient load and stilltrying to manage the successful
business.
So hang in there everybody,we'll be right back.
Kats Consultants (12:20):
Kats Chiropractic consultants, your
partner in chiropractic success.
We are dedicated with one-on-oneguidance to bring you all your
practice management needs.
Let's supercharge your practice.
Give us a call today.
Dr. Michael Perusich (12:47):
Everybody, welcome back to the KC Chiro
Pulse podcast.
Today we're tackling thetightrope that all of us deal
with in our practices and thattightrope is managing a good
patient load and managing thepractice all at the same time.
And Kelly, we just, we juststarted to dive into this topic
of the importance of teamdevelopment and how that helps
(13:08):
us manage both ends of thepractice.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (13:11):
Definitely team development is, is key.
So making sure that you havetime in your month, in your
quarter where you're meetingwith your team and you're
discussing goals, you'rediscussing, you know, what's
silly around here?
That's a big thing that we useoften.
Yep.
You know, always good.
That too.
(13:31):
Yeah.
So that way as a team you cancome together and then you can
figure out.
What needs to be done and who isthe best person to handle that
particular task?
And that's what's, that is thekey point in team development.
Because if you have a personthat is an introvert.
All of a sudden you're trying tohave them help you with some
(13:54):
events or some marketing ortalking to patients at the front
desk.
That's probably not the bestperson to be developing in that
role.
But if you've got somebodythat's an extrovert and they
like to do those things, that'sthe person that you wanna
develop into that role.
So you need to really dive deepinto who you have and what their
strengths are so that way youcan build a position for them
(14:17):
around what needs to be done.
Dr. Michael Perusich (14:20):
Yeah.
And I think as the practicegrows too, you have to redevelop
and reshift.
Mm-hmm.
Some duties sometimes.
So, you know, part of what'ssilly around here is, is okay,
let's all define who's doingwhat.
Yeah.
Even though we may think weknow, it's always surprising to
write it down on paper and seewhere we imbalanced a little bit
(14:41):
and how can we shift thingsaround to spread the load back
out.
'cause it, it has a tendency toaccumulate.
Towards your more impact playersSometimes.
Yeah.
And so we have to make sure thatwe, we redistribute so that we
keep the team fresh andcongruent.
Yeah.
As well as cross-trained.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (15:02):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, because that's so true.
It's very easy to pick yourgo-tos, right?
To load them up with your tasksbecause you know that they can
handle that.
But then you may have a newer cathat is.
Wants to grow and they want tocontribute and they want a
chance, put me in coach.
Right?
So right.
(15:23):
So writing them out on a bigwhiteboard or what are, whatever
it is that you guys are workingon, and you can see who's
handling all the load and a lotof times the staff, they'll be
overloaded and they won't tellyou.
We don't think about it becausewe're just like, we're trying to
get to the next thing, right?
So we're just like, you do this,you do this, you do that, and
then all of a sudden they'reoverloaded and then they're
(15:44):
starting to get a little upset,and then they're starting to get
a little burnt out.
When, you know, when we set itall out and realize we need to
shift some of this to this otherperson, to this new person and
make it more congruent, theneverybody's happy.
Dr. Michael Perusich (15:58):
Right.
Exactly.
You know, so doctors, if you'relistening out there.
And, and you've got a busypractice, which I'm sure most of
you do.
You've got that busy practiceand you're trying to manage the
entire thing by yourself.
I'm telling you right now, youcan't do it effectively.
You are great at patient care,you're great at managing patient
cases.
(16:19):
You're probably great at runningthe business side of the
practice too.
But you can't do it alone.
So we have to develop our, oursuccess partners in the
practice.
And this is also where sometimescoaching and mentoring can
really help you as well, to helpkind of be the sounding board or
the the, the board of directors,so to speak, just to help
(16:39):
provide some oversight and howcan we manage this thing better
and more efficiently andultimately more profitably.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (16:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
Sometimes you just need thatextra voice to, to push you
along and to guide you along andbe like, it's time, it's time
for you to hire somebody else,or it's time for you to allow
yourself to delegate that off sothat way, so that way you as a
doctor can continue to grow inother,
Dr. Michael Perusich (17:07):
in other, I think one of the.
Exactly.
I think one of the problems ofbeing an entrepreneur owning
your own business is we have atendency to push ourselves to
the top of the food chain.
Mm-hmm.
And that actually is a littledangerous because we lose
accountability when we do that.
So it's always good to have thatextra set of eyes looking down
on you and making sure.
(17:29):
You're not only holding yourselfaccountable, but you've got
somebody truly holding your feetto the fire so that you're
constantly pushing yourself.
You know, Michael Jordan alwayssaid he'd had never been the
success he was, had he not hadmultiple types of coaches.
I think if I remember his storyright, it was like nine coaches
or something that he had.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (17:47):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Perusich (17:48):
You know, so, so even the great ones need
a coach.
Hundred.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (17:52):
A hundred percent.
A
Dr. Michael Perusich (17:53):
hundred percent.
So go check us out atkatsconsultants.com.
See all the great things thatwe're doing to help our clients
and help the profession developnot only practices that are busy
and seeing lots and lots ofpeople, and taking lots of great
care of all those great spinesout there, but also managing
their practice so it'sprofitable and fun, and not just
(18:13):
pushing you under and burningyou out.
Dr. Kelly Fredricks (18:15):
Yes, yes.
Not just the grind.
We gotta have a good time.
Dr. Michael Perusich (18:19):
Right.
Absolutely.
Alright everybody, thanks fortuning in today to the KC Chiro
Pulse Podcast.
On behalf of all of us here atKats Consultants and Chiro
Health USA, we thank everybodyfor tuning in.
We'll see you next time.
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