Chiropractic Patient Experience Goals for Better Business

For chiropractic patients, there is a gap between expectations and the delivery of care. Researchers say that this significantly impacts the patient experience.

The two biggest components of a positive patient experience are treatment outcomes and progress while undergoing treatments, such as pain reduction or improved movement. That said, chiropractors must also set other patient experience goals that relate to the total experience, which go beyond just providing quality care.

Why Is the Patient Experience Important?

Treating patients is about more than alignments and exercise. When patients have a positive patient experience, they consistently report better outcomes. Patients also are more likely to adhere to care plans and follow through with lifestyle management when the overall experience is positive.

Chiropractors also benefit. Setting, meeting, and exceeding chiropractic patient experience goals can help improve relationships.

When you can build a relationship with a patient, they are more likely to complete care plans and continue to schedule appointments. This increases your customer lifetime value and helps grow revenue. Highly positive patient experiences can improve retention rates by as much as three times. This impacts the frequency of visits and increases referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.

Certain insurance carriers are using patient experience metrics to assess the quality of care for healthcare providers. A poor rating can impact contractual agreements and potentially affect reimbursement rates.

If you want to grow your chiropractic business, you need to focus on the patient experience and set goals for continuous improvement. Since many patients live within short distances to multiple chiropractors and the fees are relatively similar, it’s the patient experience that becomes the determining factor for whom patients choose to work with.

Four Key Factors that Influence the Chiropractic Patient Experience

According to a study by the National Library of Medicine, the biggest shortfall in providing an exceptional chiropractic patient experience revolves around transparency and communication. Patients say that these four items shape the relationship and the patient experience:

1. Providing an accurate cost assessment of treatment plans at the first consultation
2. Discussing possible reactions to treatment, both positive and negative
3. Explaining alternative or additional treatment options in detail
4. Providing a method for confidential feedback

Ensuring that you are addressing these four factors in patient interactions can significantly improve trust and confidence, which are essential for a positive patient experience.

Also, since so much of the patient experience is shaped by outcomes and progress, it’s crucial to set goals and discuss patient progress during every visit.

Patients often disengage when they don’t see progress quickly enough and may fail to acknowledge incremental improvements. By tracking and demonstrating consistent improvement in pain reduction, flexibility, or mobility, chiropractors can reinforce the progress being made. In turn, this helps patients see how they are improving and enhances the overall patient experience.

Streamlining Systems and Processes

The next patient experience goal is streamlining your systems and processes. Approximately 54% of patients say that the process of finding, choosing, and scheduling a doctor is complicated. The easier that you can make it for patients, the better their experience will be. For example, offering online scheduling can make it simpler for patients to make appointments. If you do not have this ability now, consider adding it soon. About 68% of patients say that they are more likely to choose healthcare providers that offer the ability to book, change, or cancel appointments online.

Another goal should be to modernize your practice by improving your digital experience. About half of all patients say a bad digital experience can overshadow other factors. So, chiropractic practice management software can significantly improve your practice and reduce friction points for patients.

Here are a few examples of how the right chiropractic practice management software can streamline the patient experience:

• Automated patient reminders to reduce no shows
• Online intake to reduce wait times
• Virtual front desk for faster patient routing
• Digital workflow, including documents, images, and annotation
• Faster entry of SOAP notes and auto SALT to reduce keyboard time when with patients
• Integrated billing for faster checkout and payments
• Software and data available across multiple locations within a single platform

These are just a handful of features that make ChiroSpring the premier choice for chiropractic practices with patient experience goals. It provides the tools that you need in a cloud-based platform that is intuitive and easy to use.