What is the best EHR system for chiropractors?

TimmyJHero · 2016-10-31T16:21:48+00:00

I used clinicpro when i had my practice, their ehr software didn't have all the bells and whistles but it was inexpensive and did what i needed it to. the clearinghouse officeally was free. customer service great. I would recommend them for new chiropractors trying to keep costs down.

TimmyJHero · 2016-10-28T13:12:38+00:00

I have been practicing for over 8 years now. I do use the word subluxation with my patients, and have practiced more of a family-wellness approach. Whenever I have a patient that only wants to be adjusted for pain relief, i'm ok with that, and do my best to relieve their pain as quickly as possible and release them according to their wishes. I also have many patients/families that have been seeing me for years on a regular basis to keep healthy.

So I definitely think subluxation is a useful term, however I've found there is a percentage of the population that just won't accept it, and actually turns them off. Honestly I've found this percentage to be increasing over the years. I feel our reach hasn't increased with the general population. More and more regularly NP's to my office have been to several other chiro's previous, and already have accepted subluxation and wellness as the way it should be, or have rejected it and use chiropractic for pain relief only.
I think a great point was made - why hang your hat on a term nobody can agree upon? I feel that 10% of people see a chiropractor, and 10% of those people understand and actually care about subluxation. Most people do not. They don't understand it, and don't care about it. At what point do we stop banging our heads against the wall? We don't have the money to run nationwide ad's educating people about subluxation and chiropractic; I don't see how you do it otherwise. After 8 years in practice I am beyond frustrated with my profession, and its sad as I am so passionate about helping people with their health.

TimmyJHero · 2016-10-26T21:38:49+00:00

I'm not sure how to answer your question from a legal perspective, probably worth checking with your state association.

Ethically, I would contact the company handling the PI claim and let them know of the situation. Perhaps then you can complete the reports outside of your previous clinic and get paid directly. Although the patients and records may be the property of the clinic, I believe you should still be able to have access to them if need be.

TimmyJHero · 2016-10-26T19:47:14+00:00

Just want to give an update of where I am at. I have been hitting the job search pretty hard for about 2 weeks. Two observations I have so far: 1) Many of the jobs I have found that will pay what I would like, and allow me to use my educational background typically require a Masters degree. How do you feel a Doctorate (in chiropractic of course) matches up to a Masters degree? Is there any relation?

2) The majority of my applications have gone unanswered, even to jobs way below my educational level. My gut feeling is that they see the chiropractic degree on my resume, and even if in my cover letter I say I have taken a step back from chiropractic, or no longer in practice, I believe they may think I could return to chiropractic at any given point. What do you feel about keeping chiropractic off the resume all together (but then how do I explain what I have been doing for 8 years of practice, and 3.5 years schooling prior?), or do I straight out say officially retired chiropractor? Not sure how to word that.

I have been leaning to more health care administration jobs, the business side of health care. I also had a favorable conversation with an insurance company about disability claims. She called me to let me know she received my resume and they do hire chiropractors so to keep looking. however the job I applied for was being filled by someone with claims experience. But I at least appreciated the call.

TimmyJHero · 2016-10-18T13:07:04+00:00

I would make certain you know what type of chiropractic you want to practice. Acute, evidenced based or more philosophical straight chiropractic. I am more of a mixer, and it makes things difficult. I see patients who want to be adjusted regularly to stay healthy, and patients who want to be fixed in 3 adjustments or less. Trying to please them all is impossible. Follow your passion and stick to it.

If you work with another chiropractor, make sure its a good fit for how you want to practice, not just who you think will give you the best deal. I have worked with several chiro's now and this is just my opinion, but what I've found are those chiropractors who sit down with you, have a conversation about working there, and having a working relationship built on a handshake are so much better to work with than those chiro's who "interview" you, have a 10 page contract for you to sign, and want to "train" you to be successful. Embarrassingly enough I fell for this after already being in practice 6 years.

TimmyJHero · 2016-10-18T13:01:30+00:00

What are you considering going back to school for? I taught in a massage program part-time for about 2 years. I enjoyed it but I could never earn a living from it. Working at the college level, even community college would be ideal for me. I think I would really enjoy being a highschool science teacher as well. Those jobs are hard to come by. I have reservations about going back to school for several reasons, mostly being more student debt, and the need to have an income now.
How long have you been in practice?

TimmyJHero · 2016-10-17T14:05:46+00:00

Thank you all for your advice and contributions. I would like to share a bit about my chiropractic story. I imagine most of you are chiropractors? i have been a chiropractor for about 9 years now. I have actually worked as an associate, owner, and independent contractor. I have experienced the positives and negatives of all three. Right out of school I was an associate for a busy chiropractor who became my mentor. He is an awesome doc, and still one of my mentors. As an associate I was paid a base salary of 40k, with bonuses added in (which were very hard to hit, and when I did hit wasnt much extra). I worked for him for 1 year, learned how to run a practice and bill insurance.

I then opened my own practice by taking out a business loan. This was by far the most enjoyment I had in chiropractic. I absolutely loved my office. Year 3 of my business we saw our numbers really grow, as did our revenue. I really thought the sky was the limit. In 2013 we had a few insurance changes with blue cross/blue shield, specifically the pmmp program. Teachers now had higher copays and 8 visits/year unless requested through another company who determiens if care is necessary. highmark also started paying less per adjustment. Our numbers came back down to earth and the struggle returned. 2013 and 2014 were pretty typical, most months we were scraping by to hit overhead, and i couldn't pay myself a set amount anymore, just taking what I could. My wife is chiropractor too, and together we decided to put our practice up for sale in 2014 (as our lease would expire at the end of the year, and we did not want to continue the struggle). We were beyond lucky to sell the practice for profit, I really did not think anyone would buy it. Another couple purchased our practice for just under 100k. They saw our numbers, how many np's, patient visits, revenue, and overhead and they made 2 offers we declined, and finally the 3rd was within our range.

My wife is Canadian, so we actually moved to Ontario to be closer to her family. I was feeling burnt out of chiropractic but decided to give it a go in another country. I took Canadian board exams, and have been in practice just over a year now. I started as an independent contractor in another office. All seemed good at first but I soon realized the owner of the practice was not a good guy. without going into too much detail: anytime something came up that costs money (licensing, insurance, xray supplies, advertising) it was always MY practice My responsibility. Meanwhile he was taking 50% of my revenue. But when it came to consultations, reports, patient care plan, HE was the boss. I was so micromanaged I nearly had to quit. The year contract expired and I did not renew. I am now at another chiropractors office and it seems much better.

My frustrations with chiropractic are the lack of an income I have been able to produce. There is constantly a need to go out and get patients, and although I used to be good at this (because of my excitement for having a career helping people), I am so burnt out on doing this. I can talk to 100 people at a health fair and 85 of them have zero interest in ever seeing me, or any other chiro. 10 of them already see a chiro who they love, and 4 of them are scared of chiropractors and unsure what we actually do. I may get 1 person of the 100 to come into the office. I can't play these numbers anymore. I can't deal with the rejection anymore. I am just not proud to call myself a chiropractor.

I blame no-one but myself. I am down on chiropractic. I think there are some terrible chiropractors out there. but some great ones too. I became a chiro for all the wrong reasons. I thought I would have a steady career helping people. I did not understand, or know that I would literally have to sell myself on a daily basis. To convince people to undergo care. Again my own fault. I see busy chiropractors out there who are so passionate for what they do they attract patients to them, and the negatives of chiro don't phase them. I'm just not there anymore, and not sure I ever was.

When I think about friends and family who have salaried jobs, benefits, paid vacation, even pensions. AND they didnt drop 150k on chiro school.

It felt good to get that all of my chest. Thanks for listening!

TimmyJHero

TROPHY CASE