“How do I Get Ideal Referrals into my 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 everyone, and welcome. I’m so excited to be here. I’m Dr. Nell and I just wanna thank the American Acupuncture Council for the opportunity to be here and talk about one of the most common things that I get asked questions about, and that is, how do I Get Ideal Referrals into my Practice? Let. What are the slides?

So this is what we’re gonna be going over today. We have a lot of information we’re gonna get in a short period of time, so value packed. We’re gonna talk about those ideal patient referrals. Not just a Luke warm person who might be interested, but really, truly deep dive into how are we getting those ideal people into our practice?

We’re gonna go through what’s your current referral strategy. Three key questions that you really need to be asking before you even seek out referrals, and then what those next steps are. So let’s get right into it. What is your current referral strategy? And I will say a lot of times I get a blank stare when I ask practitioners this question.

Sometimes if it’s current patients, Oh, I rely on the patients who are already coming into my practice. They like my treatments, so of course they’re going to refer to me. Maybe it’s m. If you work in an integrative setting, if you are working with patients who have other health concerns other people on their care team, that could be MDs, that could be other integrative providers it could be maybe friends and family.

Are you thinking my friends and family know that I’m well educated in this medicine, They know that I can do to help so my friends and family can refer to me. That’s my strategy, That’s my plan. Maybe you enjoy public speaking. You might do continuing education. Perhaps you are a leader in a certain area of this medicine, and so other practitioners might see you as a thought leader, an expert in a certain space like fertility, for example, and then say, Oh, that’s the person who I’m gonna send referrals to.

I will say though, that when I ask this question, , it’s usually met with, I’m still looking for a strategy or I, I do rely on patients to refer to me, but I don’t really have a strategy around that. I don’t know how to ask people for referrals. And a lot of times we get stuck in this, what I call the.

The one man, one woman, one person referral machine. And that means that getting referrals into my practice is directly related to me being there personally. So I meet someone on the street and get them in or I am, at an event and I talk to someone and they become a patient. And really the goal of a referral strategy should be to get you out of a place where it has to be you telling people to come into your.

And there’s another trusted person funneling people in. And ideally, you want these to be ideal people for you. So that means people who geographically are in the right place, are the right fit for your practice. And we’re gonna go over some of those really key things and how do we make this a seamless transition.

So let’s go to the next one. First step. You’re gonna have three questions here, and the first thing you wanna ask yourself before embarking upon this journey to getting ideal referrals, who do I even want to attract into my practice? Let’s take a pause for a second because I know so many of you, including myself, wanna say anyone acupuncture can help.

So many things. Why would I turn anybody down? Why would I not seek out as many patients as. Having a targeted referral strategy does not mean that you have to turn down patients that walk in your door. It just means that you get really clear with what your ideal patient is so that your bandwidth, your energy, your time, your money.

All of it gets funneled to the right place to bring as many people in that are ideal for you and for your practice. We can’t be the be all, end all for everyone. But you wanna look at, okay, who am I attracting? Is it people with specific health issues? Do I like working in the fertility space?

I do a lot. Men’s health and post-surgical work specific health issues can be a great way to start narrowing down that target for you of who you wanna attract in if you have a specialty. Makes a lot of sense. But if you don’t, there are other ways to lean into that too. So you can look at age, location, obviously, financial status, occupational demographics.

Who is it going to be? Seamless and easy to get in and maybe past experiences with medicine. So I know that some practitioners. Are the person that people come to once they’ve exhausted a lot of other treatment options. They’ve tried particular things in western medicine, or they’ve gone for another type of care they need an additional provider on their care team or something didn’t work for them.

With my postsurgical patients, I have patients who have a history of addiction. And so when they’re having a surgery, they’re very concerned about avoiding pain medication after the surgery. And so that’s a real consideration. So someone is seeking me out because they know that they need that specialized care so that they don’t only have standard of care as their option.

Even looking at what interests do these particular people who you’re hoping to welcome into your practice as patients, what interests do they have? Do they travel a lot? Are they, really high performing, hardworking, stressed out individuals and their favorite downtime is to. Be a foodie and go to restaurants.

These are all things that you wanna consider when you’re looking at who is ideal. How do I come up with that ideal patient avatar? And we’re not gonna go into this a lot, but I wanna show you how granular this can truly get. So again, not reading all of this to you, but when you’re thinking of that ideal person who you wanna welcome in, you wanna name them, you wanna think about their age, What is their family life like?

What’s their occupation? Where are they living? Where are they traveling? What’s their personality type? Where do they go to eat? What do they wear? Where do they shop? Really thinking about what are their values, and that’s gonna bring us to this next very key question. So the first question was, who am I looking to attract into my practice?

Second question is, who does this person already value? Quick note here, not who we value as a practitioner, who does that person value? So we’ll go with my example of Craig who does Craig value? What’s important to him? And so when you’re thinking about who they value, you wanna think, All right, they already invest in this person.

And what I mean by invest we mean financially or with their time. They trust them. They rely on this person’s council, and they’re influenced by this person. So that’s how you can get a little bit of an idea about who they truly value. This person could be a personal trainer, it could be another healthcare provider that they have.

It could be the leader of their business, networking. Let’s go with personal trainers as an example. Let’s say Craig is religious about going to his personal trainer. And I’m speaking from experience here because I have done this and I know you all can do this very effectively. When I had was first starting out in Beverly Hills.

I had my practice and there was a. Equinox, I’m sure you all are very familiar with, and I started looking at the personal trainers there because all of those personal trainers had clients who were paying a very high amount for personal training. So I knew they were in close proximity to my office.

These clients, I knew that they could afford my services. I knew that they were already invested in their health and I knew they already trusted their. So when you get through that, you say, Oh, okay, so we’ll keep with the personal trainer example. I know that. So now that’s gonna lead us to our next question, and this is the big one.

Now how do I become the trusted source? And really the strong point behind that is, How can I provide value? We know you’re going to provide value for your patients, but it’s about getting them in the door. It’s about getting that buy-in. It’s about it not having to be you convincing that person to come in.

Following this example of Craig and the personal trainer, I want the personal trainer to start convincing people. To come in because then it’s not dependent on me to stumble upon Craig at a restaurant and convince him to get acupuncture. You have someone who is out there who believes in what you do, who can tell their clients, the people who value them, and their opinion that they should be coming to you.

And so when you’re thinking about how do you become the trusted. In this example for the personal trainer at Equinox thinking about how can you provide value, I always have loved to think that it’s enough to say. I can help your people. That’s true, but it’s not specific enough. And so when you’re looking for getting these ideal patients into your practice, you need to solve a specific problem for that personal trainer, for the person who has those ideal clients that you wanna bring into your practices.

So what could this look like for a personal trainer? What type of problems are they experiencing that you can solve? Perhaps if their clients are in pain, they’re not coming to train as often. Perhaps if they’re training athletes who want to get to a higher level of performance and be excited about continuing to train they wanna recover better, they wanna perform better, we need to be able to speak to those key areas where we can add value.

To that person who can influence their clients to then come into our practice as patients. So let’s just, That was a lot of information in a short period of time. Let’s look at it from big picture again. So when you’re looking for ideal patients to come into your practice, not just anybody, because you know you do well for your patients, people will refer to you, but this is about having that strategy that doesn’t take a lot of work.

That doesn’t require you being the person who always has to meet somebody for them to become a patient. You wanna ask these three key questions, and this is what is going to narrow. Focus, it’s going to allow you to use less bandwidth, less energy less money targeting people. So you’re gonna ask these three questions first, Who do I wanna attract?

Remember, get very specific with this. It doesn’t mean that these are the only people you are going to see in your practice. It simply means this is who I am going to put my energy towards. I’m gonna look for. Second question, who does this person value? And again, Not who we value, but who that ideal future patient values, who they invest in financially time-wise, rely on for their council.

So that’s really important cuz it’s that patient centered care. So we need to be thinking about what is this perspective patient care about. And then lastly, how do I become the trusted source? The trusted source? No, not only for the future patient, the trusted source for the person that future patient values.

So the personal trainer in this example, and that’s really about. How do you as a provider, as a business person, as an owner of a private practice, who wants to do right by your patients, how do you add value to that person’s life? How do you solve a problem for them? What is a specific thing that you can do that would make their job easier, that would make their life easier, that would help support their.

And I know you all, I know we come from a very genuine place with wanting to help patients with wanting to help people in general. So this is not a an unfamiliar area for us, right? We want to provide value that is very innate in this profession. So this is just an additional, more strategic step when it comes to referral.

How are you gonna add value to someone who has already the client base that you want to bring into your practice? And these are really the benefits of having a strategy, right? Because your skills, your time are so valuable if you are spending time and energy doing things. You didn’t go to school for, you’re not interested in, you’re spinning your wheels.

Just trying to make sure you have enough patience in your practice that you can help. That does a lot to your energy, and we don’t want that. We want to have more energy. We want to be really intentional with our energy, and it’s the same thing. You’re being intentional here with who you can add value to.

This also helps bring the right people to you. So once you identify these people, Sticking with that personal trainer example, they understand how your practice works. They understand the results that you can get for their clients. They understand the value that you bring to the table, and so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time explaining to someone, This is the way the process works, this, they’re gonna do a lot of that for you and make your job so much easier so you can focus on treating and getting great.

Which you can do. It also was time and energy saving, right? So again, it takes you out of that, Oh, I need to always be there to convince someone to come in. I need to be there to explain how acupuncture works and what it does. No, you train somebody else to do that, and then they’re doing that for you, and that effect multiplies, and that is so key.

So important and it’s very tangible, like you will get tangible results from this. And lastly, here are your next steps for these three key areas. You first and foremost, wanna identify your ideal patient. Being as specific as possible, knowing that being specific does not exclude anyone from coming in. It just means you’re gonna get the right people coming in for you and for your practice.

Determine who their trusted resources are, so the trusted resources. For your ideal patient, and then you just really importantly, need to think about that value add. How are you going to offer value to those trusted sources? I love talking through this with people. I’m happy to answer any comments moving forward and.

This is an exciting thing because we need more people who are familiar with our medicine. We are great practitioners. More people need to know about us, and this is a way to help people in your community send you the ideal people for your practice. So hope you all enjoyed that. I’m excited that I got to be here and talk through this proven strategy with you.

Please don’t miss another episode of To The Point. We next week are going to have Chen Yen, and I believe, I mean she, she is all about referrals as well, so she’ll be adding value for you next week. I hope you all enjoy it and I will see you next time on Two the Point.

 

 

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.