In my book, re-conversion or “re-commitment” should be the ultimate goal for your practice. Patient retention strongly depends on the foundation you’ve laid in your education and relationship thus far.
My Dad always said –
“It’s not about being invited… it’s all about being invited back.
The “Re-conversion” is being invited back!”
Conversion is one thing! For a New Patient to say “Yes I will give you and your care a try” is great, but a try can be a one time thing. Reconversion is another.
An important practice statistic is Patient Visit Average (PVA). PVA represents the average # of adjustments your patients get in a lifetime relationship with your practice.
Patient retention strongly correlates with the growth of PVAs of the practice, but it is driven by clarity.
The compound effect of Chiropractic care requires retention over and over again. It drives better outcomes for patients and practice growth. It also drives your fulfillment. So, basically patient retention is everything!
Calculate PVA by dividing your total monthly patient volume by the # of new patient commitments. Your goal should be as big of a number as possible!
Sadly, the Industry Average is around 12 Visits! Clearly, this is driven by the mainstream medical insurance model. Cash or Cash-Like Wellness Oriented practices average around 40 patient visits.
If you want to create a new standard for your practice, ask yourself how many Adjustments will your family receive over a lifetime?
I am sure that that number is over 40.
Our Practice Retention or PVA is around 350 Visits. This marker is simply the result of an unwavering commitment to the Chiropractic Principles, Patient Education and a dedication to training on Execution Excellence across all categories of practice.
You should aim to see your PVA increase by 10 to 15 visits every year in practice.
The question is not what is my goal but how do I get there, right?
By nature, re-commitment means that a person has experienced your care and your team’s service already. They KNOW what you offer and hopefully, now understand the PURPOSE and VALUE of Chiropractic Care through the CLARITY you’ve created in the relationship. TheRE-Commitment is your Anniversary.
This is the chance for a patient to say – “Yes…I choose to stick around and continue my care, at least for the next set of recommendations.” But hopefully – this represents the next step in a life-long, beautiful relationship.
BUT it is not just YOUR CLARITY that matters. It is your Team’s Clarity AND your PATIENTS clarity that will determine your retention.
Their clarity in WHAT you do, why you do it and HOW they should consume this value called chiropractic. This cohesiveness acts as a glue that ensures your practice’s service is valuable to a patient and everyone is clearly on the same page. In the end, it results in higher PVAs each year.
Patients drop out of care when they loose clarity.
When they can no longer CLEARLY see the benefit of continued chiropractic care. When things get “wonky” patients drop out.
Coming up this month, we’ll introduce what we call “The Big 7 Pitfalls of Retention”. These are 7 key mechanisms that create greater clarity for your patients. You do not want to miss it.
If you want to know more now, you can find specific stats inside TRP Academy Module 46 Trouble Shooting Retention. This is a meaty section, lots to review! If you’re not a member by now, it is time to tour our TRP Academy – click here.