So this is, this talk is actually about health models and really like a new paradigm in which we are finding ourselves as acupuncturists, Chinese medicine, practitioners, and brick and mortar businesses.
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Hello and welcome. I’d like to thank the American Acupuncture Council for actually producing these informative Facebook lives and YouTube lives. My name is Tsao-Lin Moy. I am the founder of Integrative Healing Arts Acupuncture in New York. And I’m very excited to be with you today when we’re going to talk about new health models.
And let’s go to this.
Okay, so where we are. So this is, this talk is actually about health models and really like a new paradigm in which we are finding ourselves as acupuncturists, Chinese medicine, practitioners, and brick and mortar businesses. So I’m also a brick and mortar business. I have an office in a union square in New York city where.
Patients in person. And so what we’re really going to be looking at is are the hell are the health models that can actually support you and your patients and your practice as we’re navigating. What is uncertainty? This is about resilience for your acupuncture and Chinese medicine practice. As we enter what I’m calling , which is year three of the pandemic.
And that’s. 2022 for you future listeners in the archives. And all right, so we’ll go to the next slide. So where are. Versus where are we heading? So traditional brick and mortar businesses and services have been suffering especially if you have an in-person service. And this is something that I want to point out was already true before.
COVID hap especially true right now for acupuncture, massage therapy, businesses like hair salons and other touch based services. And so the. But I want to just say, is there really, isn’t a substitute for a touch in person service. And as much as, a lot of the telemedicine that has been going on and virtual this and virtuals that realistically.
Human touch is extremely important. Of course, research shows that makes a difference, right? Babies that don’t get touched and have having psychological problems and developmental problems. And this is not just limited to children. It’s also, it shows up later on. So some in person services, I’m going to point out, we’re able to pivot because they were able to offer virtual substitutes or a.
So this is something like yoga, right? And in fact, I looked it up, there was a an uptick in yoga from the pretense pandemic, in terms of going virtual now, yoga has been a trend which is really good for us. The similar what we call an avatar or a person who. Actually does yoga is also going to be someone who’s going to be interested in acupuncture, Chinese medicine, other natural ways of healing.
And my screen just went down. Okay. So what we’re looking at is 10% of people were doing, let’s say online and then I’ll online before the pandemic, having like virtual classes and then during the pandemic, 90% of students were taking on online courses and what’s estimated as post as we get out of this pandemic, 65% will still be online in addition to in-person and that’s anticipated.
And this is. What’s happened is this what we’ve been forced to do something in a virtual space? We’re really not going to be going back to the way it was. So people are still going to seek services. And what it is really about having choices and something that’s delivering. Deliverable, and I know this might be blowing your mom.
Like how can you make a, something like acupuncture, massage or what it is that we do? Virtual I personally, have resistance around it which is why I’m actually talking about it. Excellent. Okay. So really what we’re doing, we’re living in what they consider uncertain times.
We’re at, you hear this we’re living in unprecedented times. But that’s not really true. Uncertainty is defined as doubt, right? So we’re very doubtful about the future. We’re uncertain about the future. And this uncertainty is because we may be operating from a paradigm that doesn’t accurately reflect what we need to focus on.
And therefore it’s no longer serving us. It’s not really useful. And so if you’re finding yourself. Stock or I can’t do anything about it. Then this is going to be like an area we really need to look at a lot of people. What am I going to do with my business? There’s a, another surge happening. And can we continue to every time there’s a surge where, like interruption closed, et cetera, et cetera.
Okay. So we’ll really need to look at, this is an opportunity, right? It is shifting a paradigm. In the way we practice. And I know there’s that word, mindset all over the place, mind shift, mindset shift, and really what this is understanding a different paradigm, right? We are in a different reality than what we want to be.
So if your language is about going back to the way it was like, oh, I can’t wait to go back to the way it was pre pandemic. Then we’re really thinking in terms of the 2019, but we’re living in a 20, 22 reality. And I hate to point this out. Some of the previous generations always are talking about, I remember when milk was 35 cents a gallon, or I remember the time and.
We can’t romanticize the past in that way, it’s really a matter of okay. That’s, we need to look at where we are and in terms of change our thinking, and this is a really big thing. And the beauty is if you practice acupuncture, Chinese medicine, it is a different paradigm.
And. Awesome go with the next slide. So we need this mindset shift. So we’ve got to stop using what’s considered a transactional model. So when instead we should be using, what’s known as a transformational. And so the, health paradigms, what we call the Western medicine paradigm is transactional.
It’s based on a broken and fixed model and it’s very cookie cutter. I go, I’m sick. I go, you give me medicine. I get better. I also want to point out because I noticed this is really like creeping in, or it has been creeping in to acupuncture, Chinese medicine practices, especially the more.
That insurance is being taken. The more we speak in terms of Western medicine terms, of, how many times does it take to for an ankle to be, to treat an ankle. And then we’re trying to, some not me or trying to work within oh, insurance only allows X amount of treatments and therefore.
How we practice begins to surround what is based on someone else defining that for us. And what I want to point out is, there’s a lot, that’s an evidence-based, there is a no. Point of language. And I may be going off a little bit before I come back in with this. And that really, when we look at evidence-based it really means a minimum care of standards.
It’s not the same as patient centered, so we can always use it. Yes. Research has shown that this is effective, but research doesn’t determine exactly what’s going to be the right plan for your patients. It’s always nice to get recognition that they did some study, but most of those studies are really very poorly designed and they do not reflect Chinese medicine, that holistic model. They’re looking at this lamination of a very narrow focus based on very narrow parameters that there they are measuring. And oftentimes the results are well, not significant difference. Great. So people are treated according and in that model, people are treated according to a minimum standard.
And when that happens, they get minimum results. It’s all the things that we complain about the education system. Oh, not enough of the standard. So we have to look at, there’s a big system-wide attitude. There’s a whole paradigm in which we’re educated. There’s a paradigm that also.
Trickles down to medicine. And so what we have to look at is really take a look at how you’re treating your patients. Are you doing the minimum daily? Is it like, are you saying, oh, three sessions or before you really can determine that? And are you actually addressing all aspects of, of their health and their life, remember this is holistic medicine. Excellent. Okay. So Chinese medicine is holistic and personalized, right? So this is the challenge is going to be, how do we bridge this high level of care without diluting it? So there’s this big gap right now, right? And this gap needs to be filled or rather bridge.
And I’ll reiterate, there is no substitute for the human contact, but there are ways to create order considered touch points with your patient. And so this is the difference that we’re going to make.
So using the paradigm that is Chinese medicine to bridge or create those touch points. So people right now are more aware of their health issues than ever before. Social media is our friend. And it’s also our, I will say is, very deleterious but people have been trained to go virtual for most of the activities and services as possible.
So virtual space has become a main form of communication. Just like this broadcast that we’re on right now. If you had to sign up. Clear your schedule traveled to a place, listen to a lecture, that would have been very limiting. But, and also people are searching for virtual or hybrid ways to stay healthy or solve a health problem.
They’re also looking for what we considered done for you formats to follow. And this is good news because this is something that you can help them with.
So what our touch points are ways to connect with your patients and show them that you care about them.
Excuse me. They come in the form of newsletters, text messages, calls, videos, offerings, articles, or they cards, right? Recommendations. I put an asterix there and programs.
So creating something like a wellness program is going to offer solutions to better serve your patients. So this is one of the health models. It’s also a way for you to leverage your time and serve more people. And so what I’m going to ask right now is any of this resonating with you in terms of where you getting some ideas about what you might be able to do and how you can serve your patients.
If you’ve been practicing for some time, you have a way that you work with your patients and your way of doing things right. And that’s what we would call your style. And one of the things that I just want to make a shout out to all the tri-state. And even though tri-state college is no longer operating.
One of the things that we learned in terms of how we’re going to treat was creating your own style. We had to question that, what is your style? What kind of style do you practice? And, that means incorporating many different things in how you treat. And so this was a really important topic, as you started to integrate all of your learning into how do you treat your patients, right?
This is also what makes you a unique healer. And so the question is why do you treat, what are you great. So you, maybe you’re a great at being a pain specialist back pain or sleep, weight loss, helping people with sugar fitness, right? Sports anti-aging, fertility menopause, what you become an expert in is oftentimes who’s coming to you.
You have great success with right then that becomes, what’s known as your knee. And really the question is like, how do you treat it? What kind of recommendations do you make? So this is something that if you haven’t thought about it, that you already are treating in a particular way and that you can actually put two together in, let’s say a package, so that is in, that will be referencing done for you format. It’s still, it’s not cookie cutter. It’s your style, your way of treating, but put into a form in which you’re able to, help many people and you utilize, what’s known as the virtual space.
So acupuncture and Chinese medicine is considered alternative or complimentary to Western medicine. But in reality, it’s completely different paradigm. So when I referenced, evidence-based and really what kind of research is done? Those studies are always looking at having something like Chinese medicine or east Asian medicine to fill in some gaps where, you know, but staying in that same model.
But if we really, we look at the fact is that we’re not like a, like an assistant that we are a complete paradigm and a complete way of looking at health. Health model, then we can separate ourselves from, being let’s say subservient right in that hate to use it.
But this idea is that, the we’re just like a little helper. But we look at, mainstream. Mainstream medicine that standard really does not serve. And so I want to just bring this back to you that you went to acupuncture school, you studied all of this shift in the way we think about health and not to lose sight of this.
So people come to acupuncture and Chinese medicine because the standard health model doesn’t get them results. So we don’t want to just put them back into the standard health model. We need to like really take a look at this. And right now, where we are, people are stuck at home.
People are more aware of health issues than ever before. We are aware of the many gaps in. System, it’s a whole system. And we have to really take a, zoom out and take a look at this. Where do we fit in? We may not fit in. We maybe have to look at, that and accept that we’re not, involved in the same system.
We are aware that most people are uninformed about their health, and very vulnerable to misinformation. People are searching on Instagram tech, talking YouTube, and they’re finding a lot of misinformation. So I don’t even want to get started on this topic because I am just, all the Tik TOK videos, Wausau, cupping, you name it.
It’s it being used out of context. So you are a licensed professional, right? So you have the. Credibility. We have a profession, we have professional organizations, we have licensing. And also with your current patients, you have a relationship, right? So this is also really important. They know you for the most part, patients don’t really know their primary care physician.
In fact, there are all of these like walk in places which are cropping up all over the place. And it’s great for actually. But not for personalized care.
So here’s where we are. I love this this is actually, the character is really for a wit risk way G right? So we’re at this point right now where we can either move forward, right? There’s a danger of loss, but also an opportunity of success. Now, this Character has been used. A lot to look at like being used for like disaster or that moment of oh, danger opportunity.
It’s being used as oh, where there’s this disaster happening or. Where we are right now in a pandemic it’s danger and opportunity. But the reality is we’re looking at this moment where we have a choice, right? And the risk is if you don’t shift and make adjustments to the way that you practice, you have, you can lose something.
And the beauty is this Character used as risk, which is also, which is really more accurate. It has both the aspect of the unit in the arm, right? The two kind of oppose it there they’re connected together. So the way we practice has to shift and we know it’s not going to go back, even though we want, we would love for things to be back to 2019, but it’s not going to go back directly.
Homework for you. So here’s where you get to look at what’s happening this coming year. Take a look at your practice to look at the things that you say, day in and day out. Like one of the ways that you can create touch points. went over quickly. A list is you can do short videos.
There are things like. Where you after you have a session with someone, you can just say, Hey checking up on you. Or if you’ve given them instructions to drink more water, to get more sleep this is an area also where you can create a touch point for them, right? With follow up emails send them articles.
Do you, Facebook lives have small groups. You can even do like a book club, right? So you Cate, the, you have that contact with your patients. I also suggest that you create something like a dispense. And where you can actually, help people. If you personally like a supplement, you can share that you like this supplement, that this is what you do so long as within your scope, right?
How you treat, you can do that and you can send them emails and recommendations, and this is a way to be much more personal than. Most practices don’t do that. Some of you may already be doing that. Reinforcing those of you that actually do make those connections.
Your patients love you. They come to you right. For your unique style and how you treat them, that relationship. And this isn’t really a matter of what we do. That makes a difference. It’s that personalized care. So your homework is to do an assessment of your practice. Look at the things that you say day in and day out.
What are your, what are your aligns, your tagline? And use them as a subject line in an email or use it as a post on social media tag people make those connections, they’re going to need to hear from you. And also that is a way for you to, create health programs and things for them.
And I know I touched very briefly about health programs as well. It’s a whole a whole thing, but I wanted to just put that little buzz in your ear to think about it because realistically practices are going to need to do some form of a hybrid. Great. And this is good, right?
The, we can actually utilize the technology and also help people. So I want to thank everyone and just to remind you that next week we’re going to have Chen Yen is going to be on the broadcast. And thank you for that.