Tag Archives: American Acupuncture Council

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Handling the Money and Time Objection

 

 

And so how can you navigate this so that whoever you’re talking to will actually end up deciding to come in for treatments, if it’s really the best fit for them and it, if it could really help them?

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Do you get discouraged when you hear money is tight? I can’t afford it or things like I don’t have the time for, and this is Chen Yen. You’re six and seven figure, practice makeover, mentor at introvertedvisionary.com and your host for the acupuncture American Acupuncture Council show today. So this can be something that when you hear you, you think, oh, I could so help this person.

And so how can you navigate this so that whoever you’re talking to will actually end up deciding to come in for treatments, if it’s really the best fit for them and it, if it could really help them? So let’s talk about this, that there are couple of key things that can help with this. The first thing is that it’s really important, cuz how many of you feel like you don’t wanna be pushy?

Go ahead and tie like this. If you feel like you don’t wanna be pushing, cuz you’re not alone with that. And one thing about this is that I was actually thinking about this one day. I. I just had this click that. You know what there’s actually no pushy a leader out there. There’s no one that says, oh, you’re pushy.

Oh, wait, you’re not pushy. Oh, wait. You’re pushy. So it’s really about how can we come from the person’s highest good in how we help our, or talk to our potential patients or clients. And if we can be in alignment with that, then we can’t control whether someone might feel like we we are being pushy or not.

How do, can you navigate when someone says to you, money is tight or I can’t afford it. So how many of you tend are feeling like you’re hearing this more or maybe just about the same or less than before. Go ahead and type in the comment and below, and I’m curious, I’d love to see, as far as the money is tightening the first thing too that’s important is to really help whoever you’re talking to, to feel heard.

So for example, what acknowledging that they said that whether it’s, I understand or empathize with their, what they’re saying, and then the next step is something that a lot of. Acupuncturists and other holistic practitioners end up skipping over bring up and which is. Finding out more about what they’re really thinking and why is this?

Because when someone says money is tight or I can’t afford it, why does someone say that? Sometimes they truly can’t afford it. But sometimes it’s because they don’t really know how you could they haven’t really Brought into the idea of coming to you for treatments or that this is the best approach for them yet.

So they might say that because they’re not really sure yet. And. And then cuz have you ever paid for something that, that it, maybe you even were looking for this one particular thing, but then I, you didn’t think it was the right fit. So thought, oh, you even mentioned to someone that you couldn’t afford it, but then you might have turned around and bought something that was even more expensive.

So you the truth was you had the money but that whatever you were looking for, you didn’t feel like it was the right fit. So you just said you couldn’t afford it, but you really could afford it. How many of you has that ever happened to you before? The first step is to find out what more about their situation and in terms of whether they’re interested or, they’re ready to move forward.

It’s just that money is a consideration or so what you can say is this something you wanna do and money is a consideration, or you’re not really sure yet. So that way they can tell you more about how they’re really feeling about the treatment that you’re recommend. Then what you can say next is you can say, let’s talk it through happy to answer any questions for you.

So what kind of, what questions or con considerations or cons you could either say considerations, or you could say concerns, what questions or concerns are you are you having, so then you could understand more about where they’re coming from, and then if there’s something that they aren’t as educated about yet, or then you can educate them about that.

But if you never ask that question then and you jump to the conclusions that they can’t afford it, then you would never know that. So that’s really important and can help you. The other thing is that depending on what the where you are at in the conversation and how the conversations is going, sometimes it’s about being very direct with people.

For example, it could be mentioning that mentioning this so you can write this down. We will pay for what we prioritize to be important. The truth is when you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. When you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. And then just leave it at that. And then you could say it’s up, but it’s up to you.

and again, if you are truly coming from that, person’s highest good. Then what you say will land for people and really help them think. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from. Acupuncturist and other practitioners, for example, this one acupuncturist was telling me that she had a patient of hers tell her that I can’t afford it.

And then she drives off in this really nice car. And sometimes people need to be reminded about the importance of their health and that’s what you’re there for. So if you truly have Their best in terms of you feeling like you’re recommending what’s truly best for them in your heart, then you saying being direct will actually help them think so.

Now let’s talk a little bit about the consideration of, I don’t have time. So this is something where how many of you sometimes hear this? I, the, I don’t have time to come back once a week or twice a week, or, once a month, I’m so busy. The times that you have just don’t work for me and then you start thinking, oh wait, maybe I need to go change it around my calendar, make myself more available at this time so I can fit them in or right.

And the again, this is a similar similarly you can bring up. So there, there are two, two reasons why someone might say that they don’t have time. One is that they are really busy and then they’re not really seeing the value of what you’re recommending in terms of them coming in for treatments as a higher value to what they’re doing with their.

And so this is another scenario where either it might require them understanding the importance of getting the treatments and how it’s going to help with their health and how important that is. And if it makes sense, too, you could also bring in the truth is that when, if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.

Sometimes even, people like us, right? Clinicians who really care about our health, even ourselves, we need to be reminded of that sometimes when we get busy as well and let alone our patients or potential patients. So now the very important thing here is, remember how I mentioned to you about how how many of you are concerned about being too pushy.

Here’s one hot tip. So that is in, in terms of, if you are already thinking about how can you help them understand or educate them more about this. So they get it more before you say things like are, is this something that you wanna do? But money is a consideration or saying things like the truth is if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything before saying that.

It’s really important for your potential patient or patient to feel heard. So the first step is to acknowledge them, whether it’s whatever they said to you, like I understand, or whatever they say and really, feel into understanding them from where they’re at.

The only thing that I would, wouldn’t say that I understand or Frame that I get that is I don’t have the money or I can’t afford it. So instead of saying, I understand you don’t have the money. Or I understand you can’t afford it. Why would I not reinforce that? It’s just because people say that for different reasons.

Some people say it because they can’t afford it. They truly can’t afford it. Some people say it because they can’t afford it, but they don’t really. See that this is something they wanna do yet. Like they’re not sure yet. And or they don’t see the value in it or they don’t trust in you enough.

And that’s why they’re just saying I can’t afford it. And that’s why it, if someone says that you don’t need to reinforce that for them, because it may or may not be true. So what you can say in that situation and what I like to say or recommend our clients say is if it resonates with you, is that I understand money is a, it sounds like money is a consideration for you, right?

And then you can talk things through. Okay. So as far as here’s another hot tip, as far as the here’s one of our clients, she’s actually an, so she’s an acupuncturist. And then she says that she likes to, to work this into the conversation. And so you could listen in on this and then see if it resonates with you.

And if it also matches up with what’s happening, then you could also incorporate it in your visits or conversations by phone. So she says that she likes to break up to people that at the end of the day, It. She only wants people who are happy to be here. So if it doesn’t feel good to you, then it’s and then this isn’t the time for you to do this.

However, if it feels good and it’s something that you wanna do, let’s talk it through. So it’s let’s talk through your XYZ. Let’s talk it through to see if we could work it out together, because once you leave, then I can’t give you any other information. So if there’s something that I can talk through, then let’s talk through it.

So once you leave, so it could be once you leave or once you get off the phone, once you get off the phone, then I can’t give you any other information. So if there’s something we could talk through, let’s talk through it. So really energetically with this, it’s about being committed, but not attached, being committed to help them.

But not be attached to them. Seeing. So energetically holding that space for your potential patient or or client. So do you ever have other kinds of concerns that people bring up like, but you don’t accept insurance and then that’s the end of the conversation or I need to for some of you who may be Offering things like packages or things that could involve spouse, like fertility kinds of things.

Do you ever get people saying, oh, I need to talk to my spouse. So do you end up feeling like, Ugh what do I say to this? And what and so if these are, and other kinds of considerations or concerns sometimes trip you up as far as how best to hold the energy, how best to hold the space for whoever it is that you’re talking to.

And what to say, right? And so if that’s something. Has been a challenge or you would just like to. Having more mastery with withholding the space, then feel free to, to check out our website@introvertedvisionary.com and you can go to the about button and then the contact button and just message me there.

And I’m happy to give you a template that a script, as far as what you can a framework of what you can see if it resonates as far as how to navigate. For example, the insurance kind. Situation which can come up in a practice often. That way you’re not in a place where it’s do you accept insurance?

And if you don’t accept their insurance, or if you don’t accept insurance at all, then that’s the end of the conversation. So how can you navigate that in, in an authentic way? And that feels good to you. So yeah, so feel free to, to just message me there@introvertedvisionary.com. And and click up out and then contact us and happy to send that to you.

To you educating people and really holding the space for their highest, and if it’s not the highest good for them in terms of what you feel like would be good for them, then refer them somewhere else or suggest some something else. And that will allow you to To have the space to continue to attract people who are really the best fit to, to work with you.

So look forward to hearing how this goes, and till next time.

 

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Acupuncture Medical Necessity and Preauthorization– Made Easy

 

What I want to focus on is the medical necessity of acupuncture. How do we define it? What is it? And then how that leads to pre-authorization as I’m sure many of you have noted acupuncture has become very well covered by lots of plans.

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the American Acupuncture Council malpractice, To The Point, getting your practice better, making your practice improve on many facets. My job as always is to talk about the acupuncture and getting paid for it. How do we create that business model? Today’s edition.

What I want to focus on is the medical necessity of acupuncture. How do we define it? What is it? And then how that leads to pre-authorization as I’m sure many of you have noted acupuncture has become very well covered by lots of plans. Aetna now mandates it. I If you’re in Massachusetts, it’s mandatory on their coverage.

And of course there are five states with acupuncture. That’s mandatory, but many plans now are covering acupuncture, but let’s even go beyond that. What about a cash? I want to focus on a little bit on both of those in the sense of let’s talk about what is necessity, how do we define it? And then how do we use that to get pre-authorizations?

One of the things I deal with quite a bit, and being an expert on coding, billing, documentation and collection is, Hey, how do I get them to approve more care? Particularly if you do the VA. Premera or Ash, any of these types of plans. So let’s go to the slides of room. Let’s talk about the medical necessity of acupuncture and pre-authorization as always, there’s our website and there is my email as well.

Let’s talk about what is medical necessity of acupuncture? How do we define it? And I think you really have to look at it in two ways. It’s really the same, but two different ways you have the patient and you have the third-party meaning. If someone else is paying for it, if you’re paying for something you want to make sure there was service was provided and it was needed.

So from a patient standpoint, let’s think what does a patient need for medical necessity? I come to you. I don’t feel good. I’m in pain. What am I looking for to reduce my. So medical necessity for a patient is, does it work? Does it accomplish why went to which is an always pain management? Obviously acupuncture can treat more than just pain, but you get my point.

Let’s keep it simplistic on the pain level. Did it improve it? Let’s face it does pain medication. It does. You, if you take enough Vicodin or, something more S more significant what it reduced the pain. Sure. But then what is the outcome you’re asleep?

You don’t feel the pain cause your body’s knocked out. So does that really improve anything? So from a patient standpoint, they’re not just looking for pain, Redux. But improvement of their life improvement of their activities of daily living. And so from that standpoint things, but medical necessity for a patient is either they’re getting better or they’re not, if they’re not getting better, what did they do?

They stopped coming simple as that. When we deal with it from a third party, meaning someone else’s. Let’s say a parent is paying for a child. If it’s not working there to stop having them come well, insurance works the same way they want to make sure is the patient getting better. And I think this is where agriculturists often have a hard time.

Acupuncture works very well, as you all know, but I will go back to, did you demonstrate it that’s really going to be an important factor. How did you document that the patient got better is a statement. Like I feel better, really adequate. Think of it like a person. If you put someone on a diet and they go, oh my God, I feel better.

I have more energy. Those are good things, but what’s the purpose of the diet for the. Is to lose weight. So we need evidence of weight, loss, or evidence of reduction of pain. So let’s take a look at how does insurance define this, and this is an Anthem policy, their newest guideline notice just from this year.

And this was their typical acupuncture guideline. Now, with this, it gets a bit confused when it talks about medical necessity and mostly it gets into the types of things that they allow you to treat nausea, vomiting, chronic pain, and so forth. But I want to highlight this. It says the individual being treated continues to experience one or more of the conditions listed above and the requesting physician documents ongoing benefit from the use of acupuncture.

So what is going to be the. Or reduction of these how do we demonstrate it? Is it going to be enough to say I feel better? And I’m going to say probably not let’s take a look at like Aetna, here’s the epic policy when it comes to acupuncture and it talks about the types of things they’re expecting.

And the main thing they’re expecting is this, the plan of care should be ongoing, updated as a matter of hours, condition changes, meaning we have to have evidence of change and are considered medically necessary. Only if there’s a reasonable expectation. That acupuncture will achieve measurable improvement.

This is where I think we have difficulty. A statement of, I feel better is not really measured. So we have to somehow try to attempt to quantify that. And it says, of course the patient should be evaluated regularly. The bottom line is treatment goals and subsequent documentation should result in that.

There’s an achievement of a change. What if we’re saying a pain reduction, we have to stay to such by how even a numerical pain scale while not perfect, at least give some evidence of that. But I’m going to say to you that’s not enough when it comes to pre authorizing care. If you’re dealing with a premier Ash, a statement of reduction of pain is good, but they want a little more evidence.

So let’s take a look at what they all say. Maintenance treatment is where the member symptoms are. Neither regressing or improvement is considered not medically necessary. So keep in mind a lot of times you’ll say the patient’s not getting worse. And while I don’t disagree with that, they’re going to question well, if they didn’t get.

They not get worse. So we have to be able to have some ability to prove it. So this says here, if no clinical benefits is appreciated after four weeks, then treatments should be reconsidered. In other words, they’re not expecting the patient to be better overnight, but some measurable change will even Cigna gets in the mix here.

It talks about it’s protocol. What I’m showing you here is from each carrier. So that way it’s not just Sam getting opinion, but what did they stay that. They say standardized tests and measures a functional outcome measures. And it says measuring outcomes is an important component of acupuncturist.

Practice. Outcome measures are important in direct management of individual patient care and for the opportunity to provide the profession and collectively comparing their results to others. How do we know ours is better? We compare it. So here’s what it says. Second paragraph, the use of standardized tests and measures early in an episode of care, establishes a baseline of status for the patient.

Providing a means to quantify change in the patient’s home. Outcome measures along with other standardized tests and measures used throughout the episode. In other words, we’ve got to measure things. So be careful of, I feel better. That’s good. But when they say they feel better, I want you to measure it simply this way.

When you say your pain is bad, give me a couple of things that you can’t do or have difficulty doing because of the pain. And then as it improves, How have those change. So you want to start to think of, I want to use tools to make this easy and what I want to point out, this is quite easy. I would even say an acupuncturist could have mediocre documentation so long as you’ve documented the aspects of the care that was delivered, the time the services.

And ultimately the outcome, the biggest thing is what is the outcome of the patient? So I like to take ever, of course, behind the scenes for United Anthem and a lots of policies, including Optum. And here’s what they say. One thing is you should use a pain scale. Don’t just tell me their pain is hurting.

Give me a level, the only problem with the pain scale. How do we really measure what is the difference between a seven and a five? So what I believe, and it may be even a better tool. So take a look of what it talks about here, about functional measures, and you’ll notice a common theme, documentation of a patient’s level of function as an important aspect of patient care.

The documentation is required in order to establish medical necessity of ongoing acupuncture treatment. It says the patient specific functional scale of the PSF. Is a patient reported outcome that is easily and appropriate for acupuncturists to demonstrate the care. So keeping it simple, don’t think it has to be very hard, but keep simple things of a patient’s telling me not so much how much it hurts, but how pain affects function.

In fact, I’m going to give you a tool today that you’ll be able to take away from this presentation. So what this is all pointing to is that medical necessity comes down to data-driven. Tracking changes and restrictions of activities that they live, not just paying. Cause if pain was the only measurement, heck we might as well take pain medication, but pain medication, of course, all the other side effects.

And the fact that there’s no increase in function, it means it’s not quality care. So we want quality care that not only reduces pain, but increases function. And that’s frankly, what you do think of how many times all of you have had this miracle in your office. A patient comes to you. They’re basically.

And they’re saying I’ve been to a Cairo, I’ve been to medicine, I’ve tried this, that physical fit. They tried everything and they figured what the heck I’ll let acupuncture give it a shot. They come in and after a visitor too, they’re like, oh my God, I can’t believe it. Think of the. Of that.

I bet some of you became an acupuncturist because that happened to you. What we have to do is deliver that in a way that not just that the patient sees it, but that we’ve documented them, seeing it, think of it. Have you ever been to a medical doctor? And I don’t say this as a negative, but that’s not the way they treat.

If you ever went in and you left going, God, I feel so much better. My headache is gone. That’s not the way they treat. They prescribe the send out of their information. You have the power of someone can come in with a headache and literally leave. Was it before. That’s the powerful. That’s a value that patients want.

We have to make sure did we demonstrate it. So I want you to thinking along the lines of something we call Promus, this is the new term you’re used to outcome assessments, but this term promo stands for patient reported outcome measurement instruments. And you’re familiar with many of these Oswestry, the low back one neck general pain index.

I want to show you some examples to implement some easy ones to don’t make your life too complicated, because frankly, as much as I like this is the one for the Oswestry for local. That’s 10 questions. That’s a lot of information. Will your patients really adequately fill this out accurately? Every time you do it, to make sure you really have got a valid assessment.

And I’m going to say in many instances, no, if you’re going to use this one, I would make it part of the history or exam that you ask the questions because your patient may not remember what they said last time. And how many times have you had a patient tell you they feel better? But yet their pain scale, they note it was higher.

You’re going to go wait, that doesn’t match because they don’t remember. So this is good, but is it sometimes not as valid because patients just simply don’t fill it out accurately. So I’m going to recommend something simpler. This is called the general pain index. I particularly liked this one because it covers almost any condition.

I don’t care if they have headaches, abdominal pain or knee pain, because what this does is it focuses not on how much it hurts, but more about the function. So notice each question. Family and home responsibilities, recreation, social employment, and so on are focused on not how much it hurts, but your ability to function.

If you have good function, it’s a zero. If your function is reduced, it could be, completely it’s a 10. So the higher, the number of them when the patient scores this, the worse off they are. So we do this at the beginning. Maybe they score 30 points. After two weeks of care, you do this again. Now they dropped down 10 or 15 points.

It’s clear evidence. Objective. Of how the patient has changed, not about how I feel, but the function part of it. You correlate that of course, with other objective findings. How about this one? This is something new called the pain interference, and this is something the VA is really pushing and you’re going to notice, we’ll see them.

That’s pretty much the general pain index, except it’s just not as detailed notice. There’s only five ways to report this one, as opposed to the tenants. Where it’s interfere with day activities from a little bit too very much. It’s still good. I just don’t like it as much because it’s not as quantified, but this is when you could do weekly.

I prefer something with numbers, frankly, because it’s a little bit easier to score, but this is a good tool as well, because this is the evidence of the change. If someone’s losing weight, when you put them on a diet, how do you prove it to I’m on scale, then the next time you use these scales. So think of it when you’re going to make a request for services.

We have to have something we can provide to show that the patient’s gotten better. So I’ve taken this from the VA’s requirement for increasing or for requesting additional care. And it says what they’re looking for, a significant durable pain intensity. By functional improvement by clinically meaningful improvement on validated disease-specific outcome instruments.

Oh my goodness. Where have we heard of this? Do you see the consistency here? And of course, if there is any reduction of pain related meds as well, but it says here, objective measures demonstrating the extent of meaningful clinical improvement today. And the rationale for treatment requesting care is what they need.

Show me that the patient, Hey, they’ve improved 20% after two weeks of care and it’s been considered. Why wouldn’t we continue that care until they’ve reached a point of plateauing where there’s not any improvement, realize that so long as the patient’s improving, there’s a reason to continue care when the patient plateaus at a certain point, obviously that’s when we put them on a maintenance, stylish means not covered by insurance, but at least something where the patient can know the value of it.

And notice it also indicates including any barriers to recovery. So you want to think along the lines of, do I have information that someone reading it could go, oh yes, this is what. A statement of, I feel better. Isn’t that valid. So let’s take a look at a medical necessity when it comes to American specialty health.

This is the one that probably can be some of the strictest. What things do they rely on diagnosis? Of course, past history. Those things obviously creates the Verity, but comorbid factors, but notice what they look for, findings things that you can objectify range of motion, palpatory, tenderness, orthopedic testing, neurologic testing.

I’m not saying you have to do all of these already. But you have something that you have to have objective, even if you’re doing tongue and pulse. Tell me what’s better. Give me a way to show on paper. If you will, how the patient is better in a measured. So functional limitations is something they rely on as well.

In fact, if you’re used to the pre-treatment authorization forms and that includes Ash Evercore, Premera, they all refer to these. So I’m just going to say, make your life easy, begin to use the simpler outcome assessments. And I would suggest initial visit and probably every two weeks, but no greater than once a month, understanding that the whole goal is to reduce pain, but more so increased function.

So I’d like for all of you to think for a moment, how am I going to make this happen? We can be a good source for the American acupuncture council of course, is your malpractice carrier, but we also help you with these types of issues for any of you that have our outcome or our our AQI code.

We have all of these forms on there. Take a look, do this QR code. Certainly you can come to our site, take a look at our information. What I want to make sure is that, do you have the right tools and places to go? We’re always going to be a resource for you. I’m going to say to you, if you have any. Where are you going to go?

Don’t Google it. Come to the experts at the American Acupuncture Council. Thank you for everyone. I’ll see you. Next time. .

 

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My Favorite Points for Cosmetic Acupuncture

 

thank you to the American Acupuncture Council for giving me this opportunity to talk about my favorite acupuncture points for the face.

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Hi, my name is Michelle Gellis and I want to thank all of you for coming today to my facebook live presentation and thank you to the American Acupuncture Council for giving me this opportunity to talk about my favorite acupuncture points for the face.

I have been teaching cosmetic acupuncture for almost 20 years now. And during that time, I frequently get asked what are my all time favorite points for either lifting the face or enabling more movement, more fluidity and the facial expressions and. So I have put together my top seven and I’m going to start out with points that I use in my protocol that are mandatory for my students.

And they are what I call steps. 3.5 or stomach three and a half. It’s almost like stomach three and three quarters because it’s pretty low down. So normally when we find stomach three, we get in line with the center of the pupil and we come down. Over the cheek and that is stomach three, but for stomach 3.5, you want to come down until you’re all the way over the cheek area.

And you are going to needle straight up into either the fatty part of the cheek, or if you’re a. Patient is very thin. You can even get underneath the cheek bone and right into the foramen in the orbital rim. And so that stomach three and a half, and the next point is small and test an 18, which is found on the outer canthus of the eye you come down and the same thing, you’re going to needle straight up.

And in some individuals you’ll be into the fatty part of the cheek, maybe into the Fatia or to what we call the mass layer, which is the superficial muscular aponeurotic system, which is what enables the muscles to control the movements on the. And for some individuals, you’ll actually be able to get underneath that cheekbone.

But when you needle both of these in an upward direction, it can really provide a lifting effect to the face. And I have a picture of that in a second. The next is Sanjay 17 for the gels and the lower face. Stomach nine for the neck and balancing the hormones. You yeah, for the, I’m sorry, you yell for the brow area and yin Tom for the frown lines and stomach for the mouth.

So let me go through each one of these individually. So here is a photo of. Of someone where I have needled stomach three and a half, and you can see it’s almost down into that stomach four area and then small intestine 18, which is way over the cheekbone and you needle straight up. And you can see how this could have a lifting effect on the cheeks, on the mid cheek area.

The next is San Joe 17, which is behind the ear. It’s in that space that really deep divot behind your ear. And. When I needle this point, I needle it towards the nose. You want to be careful. There’s a lot of glands back there and, but this point is wonderful. Is great for the lymphatic system.

It affects the whole lower part of the face that we call the gels. I always joke when I’m teaching and I say there’s two types of people that have gels and people that are going to get them because as we age all of the. Fat and muscles and ligaments that used to be up here, the ligaments loosen and the fat kind of slides down.

And we ended up with a less defined jawline. So by noodling this point, And then whenever I do facial cupping, I always cut this point and I do wash Shaw back there. It really has a very lifting effect on the lower part of the face. And also on the neck area.

Stomach nine is. Definitely one of my all time favorite points. This is a picture of yours truly, and thought it was a great example of a neck. So I went ahead and marked stomach nine on it. And so stomach nine can be found. It is inline with the prominence of the laryngeal prominence and the way you find it is you ask your patient to swallow.

And when they swallow, you will feel the prominence, the laryngeal prominence, you put your finger on it and you slide right over into the empty space between the larynx and the S. And if you’re having trouble finding the SCM, you can ask your patient to just press against your hand and the SCM will pop out and.

Once you found the SCM and the larynx, then you put your finger in between the two and you feel for a pulse and wherever you feel a pulse don’t needle there you can push against where you’re feeling the pulse with your finger and then needle straight in. I use a half an inch needle. You don’t have to needle very deeply, but this point is.

Wonderful for a lot of reasons, it helps with hormones, right? It’s right by the thyroid. It also helps to open the energy up to the face is a local treatment for the neck and. I’m a classically trained five element acupuncturist. This point is called people. Welcome. It can really people who have shut down, maybe they’re a little shy or they’re.

Pushing people out of their life. Maybe they have things they want to say, but they weren’t saying them this point can help to open people back up. It’s especially important. Since the pandemic where people were in and not getting out. So this stomach nine is definitely one of my favorite points.

Next is you. Yeah. Now when I needle this, I don’t needle it in the traditional way, which the traditional definition is at the center of the brow you needle straight. And the way that I needle it is I take a half an inch needle, a two, I put the two underneath the eyebrow. I go to the center of the pupil and the center of the pupil lines with the levator muscle.

So you want to get above the orbital rim. You don’t want to be noodling on the eyelid inside the. You get above the orbital rim. Sometimes you have to lift your patient’s brow up a little bit and you take that tube and you get it right underneath the brow. And then you, once the tube is right underneath the brow, you can just push the needle right up.

And so you can see in this picture that I have. Where I’ve needled underneath the brow. And then I have followed this up with bladder two and Sanchez 23, all three lifted a needle in a kind of lifted direction in order to really pull that brow. So you, yeah. Now is a real heavy hitter when it comes to lifting the brow and it can even help, not just with the brow, but with the lid.

next are those frown lines. And some people we have just the one line in the center. And if that is the case, I will thread in Tom right through the wrinkle. I needle it in an upward direction, right through the wrinkle. And again, I’ll use a half inch. Needle. And this serves two, three purposes. One is it relaxes this whole area and relaxes your patient.

And it also works right on the procerus muscle, which is this little triangular muscle here, which pulls this whole area together. And You can also needle with little intradermal needles, if someone, so you can have just the one wrinkle or you can have the two wrinkles, which they call the Eleven’s and this woman has those.

And then some people, they get the, what they call the a hundred and Eleven’s where they’ll have a wrinkle. Medial to each eyebrow, plus they’ll also have a wrinkle right in the center here. So you can use yin tongue needled and you can also use some intradermal needles and get into those other little wrinkles right there.

And this will. Both relax, your patient lacks the procerus muscle. And locally, any time you take an acupuncture needle and you thread it through a wrinkle, you’re stimulating collagen locally in the scan, fibroblasts are created and it helps to Create a collagen in the area. So the wrinkle itself can fill in because even if you just relax the muscle, there can still be a resultant, a wrinkle in the area.

And the last point. Which is another favorite of mine, and this is a real powerhouse for the whole mouth area. And the mouth area can be difficult to treat because there are a lot of different issues or concerns that individuals have with their mouth, not just cosmetic, but also with issues with movement.

And I’m going to back up real quick, a step. This can be the same with, I was talking about using you yell for the brow. If someone has had Bell’s palsy, you can use the point noodle, the way that I said, and this can help get movement back into the brow area, lift their lid. If they still have drooping, or if they’ve had a stroke.

Stomach four is right in this area called the Modi OLIS and it is just lateral to the corner of the map. And the reason why this is such a powerhouse and why it’s one of my favorite points is the muscle around. It’s not shown in this picture, but there’s a muscle that goes all the way around the outside of the mouth.

So this is the or us and people get wrinkles all around their lips. So by treating pretty much any of the acupuncture points, like run 24 or stomach for any of the acupuncture points that light around them. You are going to treat the whole obicularis Oris, which really plays into these wrinkles around the lips.

So that’s one reason. And the other reason is people can get these frown lines that go they’re called marionette lines, but it looks like the person is frowning, even when they’re not. And the wrinkles go from the corner of the mouth, down to the jaw line. And by treating stomach four, you can see all the different muscles that stomach four is attached to.

So the Buka Nadir, which is very deep here, the resorts, which pulls the mouth this way. And you have your zygomaticus major and that helps to pull the sides of the mouth up. You have your , which runs, it hooks onto your jaw and then goes all the way down over your clap. You have your levator angulate Orus your depressor anguli Oris.

And your what we call the D a O is the depressor anguli Oris, which is this muscle right here. And this muscle right here attaches right onto your platoon. So you can see all these different muscles. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I think there’s a muscles that are attached to this modal list, which is our stomach four.

So by treating stomach four, you’re treating all of these muscles. You’re helping the wrinkles. You’re helping the drooping that can go on. And also laxity since the Dao is attached to the . When you treat the Dao, you help to reduce any pulling on the platoon FISMA, which can cause those SMA bands that can happen.

I love stomach four and I highly recommend it. You can needle it straight in. And it’s one, it’s actually a motor point for treating the whole mouth area. And so those are my favorite points for treating the face. There are many more, there are many muscles on the face, but those are my top.

And if you want to learn more about. Cosmetic acupuncture or acupuncture for treating neuromuscular facial conditions. You can go to my website, facial acupuncture, classes.com, and learn more about I’ve got a lot of free videos. I have a lot of free information handouts and plus my class informing.

So thank you for showing up today. And I look forward to seeing you again, next time.

 

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Removing the Fear of Discussing Informed Consent

 

We are going to be talking about a sticky topic that as practitioners I’m sure some of us try to shy away from, but it’s extremely important.

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of, to the point. I am Dr. Nell with the American Acupuncture Council, and I’d like to thank AAC for the opportunity to present today. We are going to be talking about a sticky topic that as practitioners I’m sure some of us try to shy away from, but it’s extremely important.

And that is removing the fear of discussing informed consent. As usual, I’m going to make sure that you all have tools at the end of this, that you can implement in your practice. Immediately. With that being said, let’s go to the.

Okay. So here’s how today’s going to get broken down. In, a short value-driven time period. We’re going to start with how you’re currently using informed consent. What does that look like? How patients actually feel about informed consent versus how we might feel about informed consent.

So some key element. Of informed consent, what needs to be in there for it to be effective. And then do’s, and don’ts because there are some things that we naturally want to do as practitioners that don’t necessarily align with what we need to be doing when having this important discussion. And then of course, those very tangible takeaways that we need for you all, to be able to say, Hey, I did this 15 minute live and now I’m going to implement in my practice.

So let’s dive right in. How are you currently using this? So when I say. We’re discussing informed consent. What does that first thought look like? Is it, oh, that’s that form? That’s in my electronic health records and it’s a quick sign off that patients do before they come in. Is that something that even gets discussed?

Is it part of your new patient packet when you’re coming in, your patients coming into the office and you have a stack of paperwork for them to fill out. They’re running late and you still want to get them in and they’re going through everything and just signing as quickly as possible. Do you actually use this as a counseling tool?

Do you go through it? Is it a written and verbal way to educate your patient on what their treatment plan is going to look like and what they should anticipate? Are some of you feeling unsure? I know I’ve been in this place before, when I was new to practice. Yes. I believe informed consent is a forum.

How am I utilizing that beyond a quick signature? And if we’re being honest, it might be this last one. Is it something you just get someone to sign as quickly as possible? Hoping that they won’t ask questions like, oh gosh, I don’t want them to ask about bruising or pneumothorax because that’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation.

We’re going to go through these and actually flip it. So you see what an incredible opportunity we do have. I truly believe that informed consent and discuss. Discussions around. It is probably one of the most underutilized patient retention tools. And usually we don’t think of it in that way. So that’s what I’m hoping you all are going to get out of this today.

So let’s keep going. So perception versus reality. So that last note that I had on. Slide about, are you just racing through it, hoping that they sign it in your electronic health records forms. And then we don’t have to really have a discussion around it because there are things like pneumothorax, bruising, potential bleeding burns from moxa or cupping.

Those are things that are actually in an informed consent. And so that can feel a little intimidating and a little scary to have to talk somebody through because our medicine is very safe. The good news is patients are very accustomed to signing informed consent. A lot of times it’s a very passive process.

Half the time they don’t even read it. But when we dive into those elements of informed consent, we’re going to see that. Not only them reading, but also understanding is a key part of that. And we want to make sure that we’re doing that. So with that being said, we are going to dial down our fear because patients are used to this.

If they go into any other medical practice, they’re accustomed to signing an informed consent form. And also. No those drug commercials or when you get a prescription and that long, long sheet of paper that lists all of the potential side effects of what they’re entering into with that prescription.

This is something that is so common nowadays, and it’s not unusual to go to a doctor’s office and have to sign an informed consent. And part of that is our legitimacy as medical providers, right? So we want to be doing things that align us with the healthcare delivery system. So we can provide that integrative care that is really patient centered.

That being. This looks intimidating, especially as a practitioner. We like to spend time with our patients. We have a very personalized medicine. We want to get to know them. And some of this can feel a little impersonal at first glance, but I want to briefly break this down for you because when you look at these elements of an informed consent form, You realize this is actually about patient centered care and this opens up true opportunities to dive into conversations that will actually help your patients come back into your practice.

So converting from new patients to overturning patient, so this whole form am definitely not reading it through. If you want a copy of this form. We do have one through the American acupuncture council and I am happy to send it to you. And my email is posted on this. So Nell at acupuncture, council.com.

I’d be more than happy to send you this because it’s a good, solid, informed consent form. But what does this actually say paragraph by paragraph? The first paragraph is just saying. As a patient, I understand that I’m signing this agreement and these are the things that are going to be included in this agreement.

Then we get into. That they are actually requesting the treatment. It’s not something that’s being forced upon them. It’s something that they are saying, yes. I would like acupuncture and I’m ready to enter into this treatment space. Different methods of treatment. So is it acupuncture? Is it ? Is it cupping?

Moxa. Those are the different methods that they could encounter herbal medicine when seeing a practitioner such as ourselves and then getting into the benefits and risks. Quite frankly, we should probably flip that. It’s a little more risks than benefits. Hopefully you are throughout the entire process of bringing a prospective patient into your practice and then retaining them as a patient you’re of course, going to be going over benefits in this form, though, there is more of a focus on the risks because patients need to be informed about what those potential risks may be.

And this is where I actually think that opportunity comes in for a discussion, which we’re going to go over in a few minutes. Something also very important results are not guaranteed and there’s no promise to cure. Now with this, that is standard across all medical practices, you are not going to go to a doctor’s office that tells you their results are guaranteed.

It’s not a spa experience. It’s not Walmart. It’s not, McDonald’s where you have it, your way. You’re a medical provider. And so we can’t make those promises. And especially in our medicine, we know. How individuals bodies respond very differently to treatment and those expectations have to be managed appropriately.

And again, that levels us up to being on par with other medical providers, because of course, we’re not going to promise to cure someone or guarantee results. And then going over the patient has responsibilities with this as well. It’s not just about you informing the patient. This is what they should anticipate, but it’s also the patient accepting responsibility for their part in this treatment.

What gets focused on in the informed consent when it comes to the patient’s responsibility is to inform the practitioner. So let’s say you have a patient who is not pregnant when they initially come into your practice. They should be letting you know if they become pregnant later on. If they stopped taking a medication.

If they start taking a medication, how would you know that unless you are in active communication with their MD or the patient tells you. And so we want to be really clear that there is a patient responsibility aspect to this informed consent. It’s not just about you as a practitioner, laying all these things out there for them.

And then alternatives to the care that you are recommending. And, in this particular form, might list and sides might list massage. What are things that people may be doing through the standard of care? Or could be doing other options that are out there for whatever ailment that they have, that they’re coming to you for treatment.

And it’s important because again, that’s informing the patient and that is true patient centered care. You want people to know what their options are and then an opportunity for questions. This is actually a requirement that. They’re signing off as the patient saying, I was given an opportunity to ask questions with this form.

And I think this is important because how do we remedy that with, the standard way that electronic health records and patient intakes are set up? A lot of times people are filling out this form before they come into your practice. And that’s not really the design of informed consent, and we are going to go a little bit into.

How this is so much more than a form and how you can incorporate this in every patient treatment that you give and that you need to be incorporating it in every patient treatment that.

Let’s look at the do’s and don’ts, so let’s not set it and forget it. So what do I mean by that? There are things that you do want to set it and forget it. Your business license, you want to make sure you take care of that. And that’s not really something that you might need to be thinking about on a day to day, your malpractice insurance, it protects you.

You’re paying for it every year. You know that you’re covered, you’re reading your policy. Should be reading your policy. But unless something arises, it’s not something that you have to actively engage with on a day-to-day basis. Informed consent is different. It is not something that you just have someone sign on that very first visit and then never have another conversation around it.

And I’ll tell you exactly how we implement that. We don’t want to limit that informed consent to the first visit. Okay. Every time you go into a patient room to check them when they have needles in, if you are taking needles out, if you are reinserting needles, that’s an informed consent conversation that communication that you have with your patient telling them that you’re going to be inserting a needle into GB 30, which is in a sensitive area.

That’s informed consent, asking the patient, if that’s okay, asking that they understand the purpose of that part of your treatment. So it’s something that you will engage in constantly. And we don’t want to shy away from discussing these key points of the informed consent, particularly those potential adverse events.

This is actually an opportunity to educate your patient because. If they are used to standard of care, if they’re used to integrative care, they’ve run into horrific potential side effects from treatment, whether it’s from pharmaceutical medication surgery, a lot of things that people with chronic illness.

Which is what we see in this country run into. And it’s actually an opportunity to get into those potential risks of treatment and educate the patient on how truly safe this medicine is. And you’ll be able to come up with your own ways. I can give you some examples in a minute of how to talk about bruising.

How to talk about how bruising from cupping is different than an injury bruise and. It’s the same thing. When people are doing sales, like to address the objections, you want to make sure you get in front of that because you don’t know where your patient’s mind is going to wander to. And how scary potential side effects could look for them.

And maybe they’re just mulling over that in their head. This gives you an opportunity to educate them on how unlikely some of the risks are and how common some of them are things to definitely do. And we, I just alluded to this a little bit, engage the patient in a collaborative conversation. When you’re making sure that they have time for their questions when you are welcoming those questions and actually going out of your way to elicit those questions by diving into them informed consent, that creates a bond with your patient that helps build trust.

That allows them to understand like, Hey. This person, this practitioner is truly engaged in helping me with my long-term health goals. This isn’t them just trying to get through paperwork, which unfortunately is something that patients are used to that will set you apart, engaging in that conversation and remain confident.

Because again, you are a medical provider, just like other medical providers that patients have seen in the past. You have this patient centered approach they’re already used to informed consent. So you taking the time to really dive into that with them, you should be confident. You are an expert in your field.

You’re more of an expert, even if you’re right out of school, more of an expert than the patient who’s coming to see you. So you deserve to have that. And realizing that patients are not, they’re just not intimidated by informed consent. They may have questions. I hope they have questions. I hope they’re engaged in their care.

That’s good for you as a provider. If someone is committed to their health and reaching their health. But just know that they’re not intimidated by this questions do not mean they’re against signing this form or engaging in this process now. All right. So like I told you, your tangible things, your action items for informed consent.

So I always tell students and practitioners, there is huge opportunity here. When you look at it as an opportunity to educate, and I am all about managing expectations. I think it is something that unfortunately, how many of you have had that patient who says, oh, I tried acupuncture before it doesn’t work.

Oh, how many times did you try it once? Did anyone tell them that it takes more than one treatment to receive sustained results for a chronic condition? No. So you get to be the provider who does educate that patient. So things that you can have a really engaged discussion on that actually turn your new patients into compliant followup patients who can become a life patients, because you’re building that trust and you’re managing the expectations on the front end.

Let’s talk about the results, not being guaranteed. Again, very standard across medical practices to have something in there saying results are not guaranteed. The way that I like to discuss this beyond just saying, in the form, we don’t guarantee results. Engage that patient in a discussion around how everyone’s body is.

How this medicine focuses on individualized, personalized, comprehensive care, which means that the patient that’s sitting in front of you, that’s suffering from insomnia and their friend who was suffering from insomnia and got this one point in time. Doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for the patient sitting in front of you.

That’s an opportunity to educate them on how treatment plans look different on how you are going to be putting your time, your energy, your commitment as a provider towards their personalized treatment plan. What a great way to discuss results, not being guaranteed. It’s about them. It’s about how their body responds.

That also engages the patient in this space where they realize, oh, I have. In my treatment plan as well. It’s not just about this doctor telling me what to do and I lay there on the table and get needles and it’s magically going to change my life. I have things that I can be doing outside of here. And that’s the same thing with no promise to cure.

It’s that personalized care we have to see how your body responds, knowing this medicine, this is what I anticipate. As you’re talking through your report of findings, you’re talking through your treatment plan. You get to utilize your expertise, but also make sure that the patient has some ownership in that.

This is an important one. There may be discomfort before relief. How many of you check in with your patient after that first? See how they’re doing, particularly if they’ve never had acupuncture before they’re coming in for pain, they feel great walking out the door. And then they go home to the stress of their kids or to the stress of work.

They are, physically moving things in a way where they don’t have proper biomechanics. They can do outside of your treatment. So many things to either promote your treatment and the good work that you did or completely tear it apart. And again, because of the individualized nature of our medicines, You don’t know which way that’s going to go for somebody.

And so knowing that there may be to some discomfort and that, we’re retraining the body, we’re reminding the body, what it feels like to be balanced, to have homeostasis that takes some time to stick. This is the managing expectations piece. And this all comes from a proper conversation around informed consent.

Okay. There’s no one size fits all approach. You are a wonderful, special individual. Who doesn’t want to feel special, making that patient feel special. And that you’re curating something just for them and knowing that they’re not going to be fixed after just one visit, you have to understand it’s not a no brainer for patients who haven’t experienced this medicine.

They are used to taking a pill and having symptoms go away. The problem isn’t necessarily solved, but that is the quick turnaround that immediate gratification that patients are accustomed to. And so we need to be able to recognize that, address it and explain that, it’s like a lot of things you could go to the gym.

You’re not going to get into shape or lose 10 pounds. It depends on what your goals are, how many treatments you’re going to need, how your body responds, but managing those expectations on the front end so that your patient doesn’t turn into somebody who goes to another acupuncturist, say it didn’t work for me.

And then I like to consider using more than one informed consent form. And I’ll tell you how I do this in my practice. And we have a. Host next week Michelle Gallas, who will be talking about cosmetic acupuncture. She is an expert in that field. And so she, might agree with this as well when you’re doing certain procedures like cosmetic acupuncture or micro-needling, there’s a higher risk involved with that.

It’s a little bit different than a general acupuncture treatment. Then cupping then Quasha. So I utilize AACS informed consent form, which has a very comprehensive, the form that we went over today. Very comprehensive list and you’re well covered. But I use an additional form for cosmetic acupuncture and microneedling.

The reason I do this is because it opens up yet another conversation. It doesn’t scare people off who are not getting cosmetic acupuncture and microneedling. If you have microneedle, you need to be listing bleeding. The face obviously is much more likely to bruise than other areas of the body.

You want people to stay out of the sun after microneedling depending on, what you use topically and. Depth all of that. So those are things you might not have to talk about with someone for a general acupuncture treatment. And so to keep the conversation really focused and make sure you are reaching the goal of having a patient who understands who is requesting the treatment excited about the treatment.

I like to use those separately. So if I have someone who comes in initially for a regular treatment, they’re being onboarded as a new patient, I will use the general informed consent because let’s say six months later, they’re like, wow, my GI issues are gone. My insomnia is better. I heard you do cosmetic work.

Can we do some of that? I want that new form coming in for a new discussion so that it’s fresh in their mind. And we have an opportunity to have that collaboration together, and the patient really understands what the expectations are. So I recommend always look for ways to discuss informed consent rather than shying away from it.

This is going to boost patient engagement, those referrals. You want patients who are excited and enthusiastic about the care that they received from you and something that makes us so different from other providers, patients usually see it’s not only that individualized approach, but that true connection that you have with your patients.

They want to feel that people want to feel heard. They want to feel validated, understood, and like you’re making a plan, especially for them. And so when we focus on that and look for ways that we can incorporate informed consent, whether it’s when you go in five minutes after the treatment is started, just to check on the patient, to stimulate the needle.

Let them know what you’re doing, ask them if it’s okay. Ask them how they’re feeling, how they’re responding. You get so much valuable feedback from that. And each touch point like that helps build trust with your patients who are then more likely to continue in your care and are more likely to refer other people to your practice.

So this is what we got through today. I hope that we’ve shifted some minds and hearts how we’re currently using the informed consent, how patients really feel about it. We went through those key elements do’s and don’ts, and then of course your tangible takeaways. So thank you all so much. For joining today I’m very excited about our next speaker next week on to the point, like I said, we have Michelle Gellis.

She is an expert in the cosmetic acupuncture field. I think, yeah, I might need to tune in and get some tips from her. So thank you all again for joining and be sure to share.

 

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The Top Practice Building Questions You Asked

 

I’m going to be answering several questions that have come in over the years from practitioners who are trying to grow their practice.

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Hi folks Jeffrey Grossman here. And thank you so much for joining me. The American Acupuncture Council, meet up here. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to join me, to learn more about business and marketing. So today is going to be a little bit off the cuff. And I’m going to be answering several questions that have come in over the years from practitioners who are trying to grow their practice.

And I’ve got a series of questions here that I’m going to go through and provide as detailed of answers that I can for those. And if there are any other questions that come up later on, feel free to reach out to me or post something below here. So my name is Jeffrey Grossman. I am the owner and founder.

Acupuncture MediaWorks, Accu Perfect Websites and Accu Downloads. And I’ve been helping acupuncturists since 2002 build their practice and educate their patients and market and do all the things that are necessary for us in order to bring in new patients and remain viable. Now, acupuncture school gave you all the amazing tools to be an excellent diagnostician pulse finder, tongue reader.

Point prescriber and guash Shaw Dewar, but it neglected to give you all the tools that you need to run a business and be the entrepreneur that you need to be as far as in order to, grow your practice because I’m sure some of you are out there looking to be successful and make money that is gives you, earns you a reasonable salary.

I’m here to provide some insight into some questions that maybe you have, or have had in the past. And also if you ever need any help at the end of this training, you can feel free to reach out to me. Send me an email at Jeffrey, J E F F R E Y. @ acupuncture. Media works.com. I’d love to chat with you and help figure out some of these concerns issues.

Questions that you yourself might have. So let me just jump right into this here. One of the questions that I get often from practitioners is why should I use social media in my practice? And how would I even get started if I choose to do that? Social media. These days is something that you really can’t avoid.

We’ve got Instagram, we’ve got Facebook, we’ve got Twitter. And I’m not saying that you need to be part of all of those. Social media portals, but you need to have an online presence. And these days when people are looking for you, they are going to the internet in order to check you out and read about you and learn about you.

So it’s important to have a social media presence. And my suggestion is that you have. A Facebook business page for your practice. It’s really important to do because most of your clients are probably on Facebook and it would be important for you to have different posts on there different just, different ways to interact different questions that you’re going to be answering for them.

Couple of things that you can be doing is creating a marketing calendar and a marketing calendar could be something really simple. Like every Monday you could do Meridian Monday, where you talk about a specific Meridian every Tuesday. Testimonial Tuesday, we use share an insight and some information for, on success of one of your patients.

Wednesdays could be wisdom, Wednesdays where you share some. Wisdom and some knowledge bombs that you’ve learned over the years that could be helpful for self care or home remedies or just some really great quotes that you’ve come across that add insight and inspiration to your patients.

Thursdays could be about technique Thursdays, where you offer a specific different technique wash up. Yeah, electric stem and then Fridays could be free for all where you would do whatever it is that you want. So that’s a really simple strategy to use and post on your Facebook pages. Now, one of the things that I’ve heard that.

Rough for a patient for practitioners is developing the content. There are several ways you can go about this one. There you can go to, you can hire that out and outsource that. You can hire writers. You could hire designers for you. And you can have people create, marketing social media graphics.

As for you. You could go to a online website called Canva and create your own portals. Or you can go to an online website called Acue downloads.com where they provide done for you content for practitioners specifically for the acupuncture industry social media graphics, research updates, clinic forums.

Everything that you need to establish an online presence. So that can really simplify what it is that you need to do and how to get it done for you when you use social media. But I really do think it is important to have that presence because. The more that you are in top of mind awareness with your patients.

The more familiar they will become a view. And therefore when something comes up with them an injury or a friend needs a referral, they will remember that you posted something on Facebook about migraines or infertility or sprained ankles or whatever it is. So curating that awareness will be helpful for you.

Develop that online following. Okay. Hopefully that helps. So another question that comes up from practitioners often is what’s the difference between a core message and an elevator pitch. Okay. So this is something that I’ve talked about on the AAC in the past is developing your core message. And it’s an incredible piece to.

Creating your practice and creating your message. So a core message is really important. The core message is it’s a positioning statement telling people why you do what you do and why they should choose you over the competition. Whereas an elevator pitch just tells people what you do. So let me talk with you a little bit about some of the core principles that create a corpsman.

Part of a core message is coming up with three aspects. What the person’s problem is in this case, your patients have a particular problem that they want solved what your particular solutions are to solve that problem and what their life will look like after you solve their problems. So for instance, acupuncture, media work.

Our court, what are the core messages that we use is that acupuncturists, the problem is an acupuncturist. I’m just speaking to you. Now, the problem is that acupuncturist don’t like marketing their practice, right? They don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to grow their business and so on. So the core, our core message reflects that and our core message would go something like this acupuncture.

Struggle with growing their practice and developing marketing tools to attract new patients here at acupuncture, MediaWorks, and Accu downloads. We provide high quality cost-effective and powerful marketing and patient education tools for the acupuncture profession so that acupuncturists can spend less.

Developing those tools and more time to helping their patients so they can ultimately reprieve the rewards and increase their profit. So that is a simple core message that we use for Acura doubt for acupuncture. Media works. Okay. Simple core message for you. As a practitioner could go something like this.

Let’s say for instance, you are working with patients who have sports injuries and they want to really do well on their next marathon. So the problem would be that many patients, many of my patients suffer from injuries and strains and sprains are due to overexertion here at Jeffrey’s acupuncture.

We provide state-of-the-art high and Telecare and telehealth and and acupuncture techniques to help alleviate pain, improve for four minutes so that our patients can go out and win their next race. And and and and be injury free, something as simple as that would be great for that particular type of conversation.

A core message is an important piece. And I feel like it’s one of those things that is often overlooked and squashed in with creating an elevator pitch, an elevator pitches. Hi, my name’s Jeffrey Grossman. I’m an acupuncturist. I help people get well and stay healthy. And my practice is over, down the street over here.

Whereas your core message really defines the problem, the solution and what their life will look like afterwards. Okay. Hopefully that’s helpful. Another question that I often get from PE from practitioners is I have people fall out of care all the time. What can I do to keep them scheduled? So my first comment on that, and my first question would be to you is what are you doing on a regular basis to stay in top of mind awareness?

So your patients won’t fall out of care. Do you have regular emails that go out? Do you have regular communications that you’re sending? Do you have. Texting policies. Do you have a social media presence is your website are updated and current and you’re are you often sending leads and patients to your website to find new information?

And when patients fall out of. What kind of particular protocols do you have in place to get them back on the books? All right. So oftentimes we spent a lot of energy getting patient, doing a marketing and doing a health fair or whatever it is that we’re doing to pull patients in. We get them in, we treat them, they stick around for three or four visits and then boom, they’re gone, they fall out of care. So the important thing first off is to do is to review. Series of a treatment plan with them. And I call that a report of findings. When a patient comes in, it’s important for you to review what you found, what’s wrong, what they can expect and how long it’s going to take with them.

And you do that when you deliver the report of findings and what this. It sets down this particular protocol and it sets down this timeline of treatments that you’ll be requesting or suggesting that they receive with you. Lot of practitioners go from treatment to treatment.

They don’t necessarily say. I want to see you once a week for the next 12 weeks, and then we’ll reevaluate, which is what you should be doing. Maybe you’re not saying 12 weeks, maybe eight weeks or six weeks or whatever it is, but it’s important for you as a practice to lay down the grounding and that foundation for them when they first, when the first visit or within the second visit of what they’re, what your expectations and what their expectations of care are, and then recommend that to them.

Okay. Patients have a clear understanding that’s going on. X amount of visits and then you’re going to come back and reevaluate then it’s, it like sets these precedent in their mind that this is what’s expected and this is what they will or won’t do. And therefore they will, most likely continue their treatment plan with you.

And then once that initial treatment, Continue to follow it up. They’ll have a regular tuneup visits, but that’s what you need to communicate to your patients in the best time to do that is between the first and the second visit using report of findings. So patients will fall out of care. It’s inevitable, but the way.

Communicate to them throughout the process from when they first become a new patient. You’ve got to always be in top of mind with them. You ought to always be sending them communications and always be sharing things with them. One of the things that I find that’s interesting with the Accu download software is that when a patient comes in off the treatment table, what do you send them home with?

Right there. So a patient comes in, they’ve got migraines. Do you send them home with something that you can literally print handout and send them for self care? When a patient comes in and they’ve got back pain, what do you send them home with to help them alleviate their back pain further? What kind of self-care tips do you provide them?

If they got suici deficiency, what are you sending them home with? Awesome that you’re doing moxa or cupping or even the, or the acupuncture, but what kind of self care, what kind of protocols are you sharing with them that they go home with and furthers their care? So when you send them home with something, it does a couple things.

One. Makes you look awesome because you’re sending them home with some really cool tools to further support their care. And they’re like, wow, this guy must really care about me. Every time I go in, I get a new piece of information that helps me get better. Helps me get well, he’s really committed to my care.

That’s one thing that it does. The other thing that it provides is it provides you with constant tools of communication that you’re already. Sending and sharing with your patients. Okay. So when you do that, it makes patients less likely to fall out of care. All right. All right. So let’s see another question that comes in that I asked for that I get frequently.

No, of course, right? How do I get new patients? Okay. Everyone wants to know that one. That’s the million dollar question. So when I work with my coaching clients, Then needing to get new patients. The first thing I asked him is what’s your core message. Okay. Then I’ll ask them what happens when I hit your website.

Is your core message on your website. When I go to your website, do I know exactly? What it is that you do within a few seconds. Do I know that you are a sports injury doctor? Do I know that you helped with infertility patients? Do I know that you help that you’re the migraine expert in the community? I need to know these things, the moment I hit your website.

Okay. And so when people hear about you, when they get a referral, For from you, the first place they go is your website. So that needs to be dialed in a way that expresses what your core message is. And that offers them strong calls to action, like schedule an appointment, download this form to come in for a a an free or low cost evaluation or whatever it is that.

Wanting to use to motivate those people to come in. It needs to be front and centered and present on your website. It shouldn’t be just schedule your appointment with me. There should be something. Prior to that gets them introduced to you. That gets them to test the waters, so to speak, to see if so they can be assured that you’re the right person for them.

And so you could rest assured that you want to actually work with them with care. All right. And so the first things to think about when you get new patients are what’s your messaging. What’s your website and then what is your followup, your nurturing that happens after patients get on board.

Okay. How do you stay in communications with them? All right. So let me just give you a couple of cool things about attracting new patients. First thing I tell all of my students, when I teach at the practice management class. Join Toastmasters. Okay. Toastmasters international, go to it, putting your zip code, Google it.

And you’ll see tons of Toastmaster organizations with where you are now. Toastmasters changed my life. It gave me the confidence to speak more efficiently. It gave me the stage at which I would present my topics about acupuncture. And it also gave me referrals. And from those referrals, I got other referrals.

All right. So Toastmasters is not only. Powerful to help me get new patients, but it’s also an incredible way for me to build my confidence as a practitioner. Step one way in getting new patients. Another way is reaching out to local MDs, NDS, chiropractors, LMPs, and, introducing yourself, getting connected with them, reaching out to them, asking them how you can refer to them.

And in turn. I was telling them how they can refer to you. And what I mean by that is when you develop this relationship, this rapport, and you reach out to them with the idea that, Hey, I’m looking to refer people to chiropractor. I want to know the best route at which how I can send people to you. I want to know what kind of chiropractic you do.

I want to know what kind of, what your success rate is with particular conditions. Do you focus on anything? Do you specialize in anything and so on? And you can do that in different different medical arenas. And then with that, you would ask them if they want to establish a referral relationship, you’d give them, tell them, what you specialize in, what your current message is and how.

Best for them to refer people to you. Do you have certificates that you can hand out? Do you have business cards with calls to action on them? Do you want them to go to a specific pages unique to that doctor in, on your website, in that respect? Okay. Also health fairs are an amazing way to get new patients on board.

I love health fairs. One of the books that I found most intriguing. And most effective for me to get a PA patients from the event into the clinic was Giovanni’s book on tongue diagnosis. I literally opened that book up to the ugliest tongue pictures, put it on this front and center on my table and people would walk over and they’d be like, Hey.

Gross look, what are those tongues doing over there? And then that would be my segue and opening into talking with them about, that tongues are a barometer of inner health. And as an acupuncturist, we take the tongues and all these other diagnostic procedures into consideration to come up with a an in-depth unique treatment plan for every individual that comes into the clinic.

No two people are treated the same and so on. That would bring the people from the health fair into my room. And then from there you need to have a strong call to action to get them from that event into the practice, what I’ve used in the past for two things, inviting them in for a stress reduction treatment where I just use 0.0 and Shen men of the ear.

And then also and then also inviting them in for a low cost evaluation. Okay. Great ways to get new patients on board. That’s about all I have for you today. So if you have any questions, any comments feel free to reach out to me again. jeffrey@acupuncturemediaworks.com or info@accudownloads.com.

Either those you can reach me at and. The world needs more healers. Like you guys are conscious, you’re aware you’ve got powerful healing abilities with this medicine changes lives. Be scared about getting out there and grow your practice. These lectures that the AAC brings you are powerful and deep.

And even if you walk away with just one little nugget from today’s lesson that potentially could change your practice. So I apologize for wearing my headphones and looking like a pilot here today, but that’s how we had to go with with the recording. So you guys stay beautiful. Stay. Awesome. And until next time remember change the world one needle, one person at a time.

You guys are awesome. Take care. Bye.

 

Click here to download the transcript. Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors. Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript. Thumb

Update – The #1 Way to Inspire More MD Referrals

 

 

What’s the update on inspiring MD referrals into your practice

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

So, What is the number one way? What’s the update on inspiring MD referrals into your practice? This is Chen Yen, six and seven figure practice make-over mentor at introverted visionary. Your host for the American Acupuncture Council live show today. Attracting new patients is a. It’s a so nice to be able to have referrals coming into the practice because it just feels good.

And you could focus on helping your patients instead of worrying about where to find them. And when it comes to medical doctor referrals, Ma many medical doctors have a lot of patients within their practices and we’d be willing to refer if they knew about you and also understood how you can help, but what would be the best way to develop those relationships and then be able to actually inspire those referrals.

So the first thing to think about is what is the trifecta. So when we look at the trifecta, I want you to think about. Either a particular provider you would like to be getting referrals from, and that way you don’t have to be doing as much marketing in your practice. So it could be a medical doctor.

It could be a nurse practitioner. It doesn’t have to be limited to medical. Doctors could be PA. PTs. We just had an acupuncturist. Client of ours get quite a few referrals from a PT office just the other week. And so think about what holistic practitioners also conventional practitioners could medical practitioners could be good sources of referrals for you then consider.

The trifecta. So what is the trifecta? So once you’ve decided on who you would like to be sending you referrals, then we need to think about how can we inspire them in these three Trifacta areas. Number one is what. How is their level of connection with you as a person, because have you ever thought about this?

The people you tend to refer to, they’re probably people you have some kind of a connection with, it’s probably not someone you don’t really like. So that level of connection with the person can also determine the frequency and whether they refer. Or not that’s one aspect of the Trek trifecta.

You can think about this by drawing a triangle by the way. Or just thinking about it in your head. So the second key area trifecta is what. Is there trust and understanding of your modality. Now you might think of this first as oh, okay. So they need to trust in acupuncture, working for their patients, but it’s not just limited to that.

It’s also about. Are they clear about what situations are good are most helpful to be sending their patients to you for it, because they’re not going to send all their patients to you, but in what particular situations would be good to send it to you for acupuncture. And do they feel comfortable with it?

Because a lot, the truth is a lot of medical doctors and conventional medical practitioners are concerned about loss exceeds. They don’t want to refer someone, a patient to someone and then really don’t know what they’re doing with them. And then there’s some issues with the patient and a lawsuit comes up, like they’re concerned about that.

So how can you help them be able to feel comfortable with safety and efficacy? If they don’t feel like it’s going to be safe and effective, they’re not going to refer. So that’s a second aspect.

So the third chat trifecta. Is the third trifecta is what is the how are you staying in top of mind awareness for them? Because just because they have, you have a good conversation with them and it feels good and you think, oh God, I’ve got a connection now and they’re going to refer. It doesn’t mean that they’ll even remember you.

A few weeks from now, because many times doctors are approached by different people, whether it’s nurses, different vendors drug reps, all kinds of things and new people coming at them. And so if you’re not top of mind awareness that even if you do develop a relationship with them and they do know about you and they trust in you, if you’re not top of mind awareness, then.

They’re not going to refer as much, for example, why do you think that drug companies hire drug reps to go and talk to the doctors? Why not just hire them to do it once because, and I’ve worked at HR company before I’ve seen the insides of a drug company, and I know there’s statistics about every single time when a drug rep goes and talks to a medical doctor, there’s a prescription.

For that particular medication. Why? Because that doctor was reminded of that. So when you are top of mind awareness for the doctor, then they’re going to be more likely to refer. So those are the three key aspects of the trifecta. So then if you have decided who you would like to be getting more referrals from, or getting new referrals from a medical doctor or a provider, then consider rate yourself on a scale.

One through 10 for each of the aspects of the trifecta and with 10 being the highest that you’re, really solid on that with one being, being the. Then we could see how we can move you up closer to 10 for each aspect of the trifecta. That’s going to help you with inspiring more medical doctor referrals.

Now, another common question I get is what is the the best way? So what is the best approach to getting their attention and in such a way that they would refer. Now I will say low-hanging fruit for many of you is not. Cause one thing I hear is oh, I don’t like to just reach out to random doctor’s offices and cold call them.

That just feels really intimidating. And I think so one thing that low-hanging fruits is you could reach out to people for whom you have. And then I, but just because they’re pressed with how well you treated their one patient, it doesn’t mean that they’re going to refer and constantly refer either.

So one very important thing is. Circling back to the trifecta about trust in your modality and really understanding how it can help their patients and what’s particular situation. So it’s about how to educate them in such a way that they will end up trusting you enough to refer. That is going to be so key, and this can happen one-on-one with a provider.

It can happen where you educate them in their office. So for example, the acupuncture session is telling you. Client of ours. She ended up educating a PT office and I helped her with what to say and also what to bring. And she started getting referrals from that PT office. So having a good way, an effective way of doing that.

And then what. Also needs to happen if you would like to continue to get referrals without having to always be marketing, is, do you have a system in place that supports inspiring those referrals on an ongoing basis? It’s interesting because I have heard of practice management companies talking about oh, this is how to get doctor referrals.

You’ve got to write out your list of 75 or a hundred doctors in the area. Oh my gosh. As an introvert, that just sounds so like tiring, doesn’t it. And when our approach of it, because a lot of our clients are introverted, visionary acupuncturist who don’t really want to be. So outwardly and spending their energy that way, they like to be just, they would like to have relationships with fewer people and more in-depth relationships.

You don’t have to, the good news is you don’t have to be extending your energy out in an exhausting way. And to a lot of people, you just need to be very Like effective with a handful of providers. So having a, an approach that works with that, and then having a a, also a way of inspiring referrals beyond that initial connection.

Have, do you have a system in place that supports that? Do you have. Because when you do, then you will find yourself starting to get referrals from medical doctors and other providers. You will notice yourself that while you, for one, you’ll notice that the patients who come in through those relationships, it’s like they have listened to they’ll listen to you more than just because their doctor told them to see you.

Their provider told them to see you. So it’s very different than someone calling up and then saying, oh how much do you charge? And that’s the, in the conversation. Great. So it’s often at least our clients have shared with us. It’s so much nicer of a relationship. When you are getting referrals from medical doctors.

So one way of doing this in terms of getting a medical doctor’s attention is that our clients have been doing lately is to reach out to them through LinkedIn. Is one avenue. And but what do you say w what would get their interests? So I’m going to pop this in the chat and that way, or in the comment section.

So then that way you could click on the link and get, download the script and also get additional step-by-step training on how to attract more medical doctors referrals into your practice. So you can go. I’ll just give this to you out loud too. Is that at www dot? Get more MD referrals.com www dot.

Get more MD referrals.com forward slash linked in script. So www.getmoremdreferrals.com. Forward slash linked in scripts. I’ll pop the link below and you can click on it and get that exact script you could copy and paste and use to, to start developing relationships with providers. And for those of you who are in a place where you feel like you’re at a plateau, or you would just like help with this, because a lot of our clients tell us, oh my gosh, I’m so glad I ended up getting help with this from you, because I wouldn’t have thought of half these things.

And now I can just literally swipe. Paste or or just having an approach that works and starting to get those referrals, because we imagine if you actually had two providers sending you two patients a week, what would that do for your practice? It totally adds up. Doesn’t it. If you would like help with, as you can go to introverted visionary.com and request a chat with us and happy to see how we can help you grow faster with less stress.

So next week stay tuned for Jeffrey Grossman host of your show. And till next time and click on the link and I get your free LinkedIn script, download and start getting more doctor referrals.