Case Study - a Wellness Transformation

This doctor, practicing in Pennsylvania for over 16 years decided to incorporate a wellness model into his clinic. After much research, Dr Brady chose to to follow the 8 Weeks to Wellness model. 8 weeks to wellness is a unique opportunity to the chiropractic profession. One that is growing practices throughout the country. Davlen is solely authorized as the designer of 8 weeks to wellness clinics. Davlen is the exclusive designer for them and we have seen amazing results in offices ranging from 1,450 sq. ft to over 10,000 sqare feet in size with countless variations in between. Follow along with one of our clients as they began the journey from being a Chiropractor to creating a true Chiropractic Wellness center as they added the systems strategies and guidelines of 8 Weeks to Wellness.

The following are excerpts from a recent article that we wrote for Chriopractic Economics:

Expansion and Reduction through Wellness

Research comes in all shapes and styles. It can cover countless treatment techniques and compare the results of the clinical tools that today's Chiropractors use to refine the wonderful healing art we all know as Chiropractic. A highly overlooked form of research revolves around how one creates, orchestrates and implements the business systems of their practice. This case study will show how a typical Chiropractor has improved his working environment which allowed him to grow his practice, add services, reduce expenses and become more profitable.

Client: Dr. Brady Practice location: Pennsylvania

Years in practice: 16

Practice Style: Chiropractic, Multiple related services, Rehab.

Monthly patient volume: 625 visits.

Monthly New Patients 8

Patient conversions 55-60% (est)

Reimbursements (cash vs. insurance) 35% / 65%

Facility size: 1,900 sq ft.

Goals: The doctor's goal was to transform his practice into more of a wellness model, increase services, increase volume, have the practice become less dependent on him, reduce stress and increase profitability. His desired short term growth (1 year) was 25%. His long term goal (2 years) was to double his services. He contacted Davlen to determine how much space he would need to achieve his goal.

Challenges:

The doctor's lease was nearing its end. The rehab he was offering was not the model that he believed was in the best health interest of his patients. The insurance companies were still impacting his care plan and reimbursements. Rehab did nothing to attract new patients. He was unable to do health care classes. He had Inconsistent results from his Report of Findings. He had no room to add the additional services that he required.

Dr Brady knew that instead of reinventing the wheel, he chose to add the systems and strategies of the 8 Weeks to Wellness program to his practice. Upon Davlen's design study, a short and long term plan was developed that allowed him to increase his Chiropractic volume while being able to incorporate additional services without having to expand or relocate.

Approach:

As an authorized designer of the 8WW program, Davlen modernized the patient flow and working efficiency of the office to support the systems, strategies and services of the 8WW model. The majority of the changes would be made by streamlining patient flow and providing a multi-function approach to several areas in the clinic. This resulted in more space becoming available to add more services.

By relocating his front desk into a previously oversized waiting room and creating a "New Patient Intake" area, patients no longer waited in a waiting room, but were pampered through the new patient intake process. Converting three closed treatment rooms into a semi open treatment area increased his adjusting volume potential by 225%. Utilizing portable T-bars allowed the doctor to do special educational classes for up to 30. The "Chiropractic Patient Curriculum" concept taught by his management company also became geometrically more effective. This increased patient awareness resulted in increased PVA. This also improved automatic internal referrals.

By consolidating the front desk, reception room, administrative areas and report of findings rooms, waiting time of the patients were reduced and patient flow was streamlined. By modernizing the décor, patient's perception of wellness began as they first entered the practice.

Added benefits:

Careful planning and minor remodeling negated the need to move or expand. As is common practice, Davlen's creative design allowed this transformation to occur around patient hours so there was no impact to patient care. Due to the Modular approach of Davlen Products, the investment that the doctor made can be relocated to a new facility and can be added to or rearranged if the geometry or flow of the new location mandates modifications.

Results(within 7 months)

By having a sound business model, and a highly efficient and productive working environment designed to produce the intended results, Dr Brady was able to make the following improvements.

New Practice Style: Chiropractic Wellness practice

New Patient volume: 815 visits. (up 190)

Monthly New Patients (up50%)

Average services (up 20%)

New Patient conversions(up 16% )

Reimbursements(cash vs ins)45% / 55%(up 10% )

Total Growth (up 30.4%)

Time to pay for changes : 6 months

And he got to do so without having to expand or relocate!

Based on his current projections, Dr. Brady is looking to purchase a building capable of attracting over 25 NP/Month. The intended 1,800 patient visits per month should generate over One Million in collections with a dramatically higher profit margin. Davlen, like Chiropractic, works! To follow along with this and other results click on the "Case Studies" tab at www.DavlenDesign.com

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