Revolutionizing Access to Continuing Education and More!

Interview with Peter Fernandez, D.C. D r. Peter Fernandez, a 1961 Logan College graduate, is past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association, and past chairman of the Chiropractic Knights of the Roundtable, an organization of the world's most successful chiropractors. His practice, with 5 staff chiropractors and 12 satellite offices, was, at one time, one of the country's largest all referral, high income chiropractic clinics. Dr. Fernandez has been a practice consultant for the last 24 years and, in this capacity, has consulted with approximately 5,000 DCs. as well as in the opening of over 3,000 new prac­tices. In an interview with The American Chiropractor, Dr. Fernandez describes his latest project, bringing chiropractic continuing education into the internet age on a verv unique level. TAC: With your history of more than 24 years as a practice management consultant, describe the major changes you've seen in chiropractic technology over the years and how this technology has helped the chiropractic profes­sion? Fernandez: First of all, the develop­ment and usage of mechanical instru­ments for the correction of spinal subluxations'is revolutionizing our profession. There was a time when only brute strength could make spi­nal corrections but, now, even the most petite doctor can render care to any size individual. Computer technology has increased our ability to diag­nose and document spinal aberrations, i.e., range-of-motion analysis and muscle testing can now be done by pushing a button. And, since insurance companies believe computers first and doctors second, these instruments are a real plus for validating chiropractic care. Outsourcing of services, such as insurance billing, ac­counting services, etc., is made much easier by the elec­tronic broadcasting of data between doctors' offices and these service providers. This technology frees up the doc­tor to do what he/she does best—treat patients. Computerized patient education aids, such as the Neuropatholator, make it much easier to explain chiropractic to our patients; thus, when used regularly, they will increase a doctor's practice. There is no question that "Knowledge is Power." The more knowledge a doctor acquires on how to fix patients' health problems, the quicker his/her patients recover and the more referrals the doctor will receive. Today, doctors all over the world can research any health problem by clicking a button and logging onto the Internet. TAC: With this issue of TAC's focus on Technology, tell us how your latest venture, MBAChiropractic.com, is revolutioniz­ing the way chiropractors access con­tinuing education, license renewal and consulting services. Fernandez: The strategy of any good pathfinder is to first understand the changing external elements that are af­fecting his or her industry and then develop a plan to prosper within those changes. Tom Cavanaugh, D.C., M.B. A., and I have researched and un­derstand the changing external envi- ronment that affects chiropractic and have assembled the technology to deal with these changes. Our new technology is a futuristic advance, which helps chiropractors grow their practices in spite of our changing Revolutionizing Access to Continuing Education and More! Interview with Peter Fernandez, D.C. health care environment. Actually, we may be the first company in any pro­fession to bring continuing education, license renewal, and practice building seminars to doctors by video stream­ing classes over the Internet. As easy and convenient as it is for doctors to view these classes, the process in mak­ing it happen was not. Being a brand new concept, it required massive re­search and development efforts on our part. Our research was conclusive in that most doctors felt they were in a "Catch 22" situation. They want to attend seminars, but are concerned about ex­penses, time out of the office and loss of patients from being gone on Fridays or Saturdays. But, if they didn't attend seminars, they wouldn't get the knowl­edge or expertise needed to build and maintain a successful practice. Their concerns became our primary focus. How could we help doctors get con­tinuing educational, license renewal and practice-building seminars without having to close their practices or incur a lot of expense? We also determined that the greatest expense in attending seminars was not the seminar registra­tion fees, but the associated travel, lodg- ing and food expenses. (See Seminar Expense Chart.) Our answer to these le­gitimate needs and concerns ($250,000 later) was to merge advanced technol­ogy with our professional practice building seminars; in other words, put our seminars online. From that, www.MBAChiropractic.com was born! Now doctors can put the majority of what it used to cost them to attend semi­nars back in their own pockets. They can also have their chiropractic assis­tants trained online—no more travel, lodging and food expenses. And, as the reader knows, attending seminars is not only costly financially, it can also put a strain on personal relationships and family matters. By taking our prac­tice-building and post-graduate educa­tion classes on line, the doctor's family will be happier, because the doctor doesn't have to leave home! That alone is revolutionary! We found that, not only is there a huge savings when attending seminar classes online, there is also a valuable comfort factor, as well. Think of the tre­mendous convenience for doctors by having expert classes video taped live at actual seminars available to them online—anywhere, anytime. An admitted "seminar junkie," 1 know that seminars typically mean wading through about 80 percent of what you're not interested in to get to the 20 per­cent that you truly need or want to hear. In offering video seminars "by the class", we have solved that problem. Now, doctors essentially customize their own practice building, post graduate and license renewal seminars by select­ing only those classes that interest them ...and, they get to stay home and save money, too. Our online video seminar classes also solved two other problems. Every week­end there are dozens of seminars avail­able on a smorgasbord of subjects. Most doctors want to attend a number of these great seminars, but just can't fit all of them into their schedules. At www.MBAchiropractic.com doctors can take all the classes they want (we currently offer over 145 classes on a wide range of subjects) and never have to leave home. TAC: Sounds great. What do you think the long-term implications are for chi­ropractic and chiropractors for utilizing this type of technology? Fernandez: What we have accom­plished is truly innovative and revolu­tionary. Our site will become the "ve­hicle" in which practice management consultants, license renewal firms, ven­dors and post-graduate educators will deliver their courses and seminars. Viewing seminars and classes online is the future of chiropractic education. Just as our profession evolved from manual, intensive labor to computer technology in their offices, so it will evolve from going to seminars to hav­ing seminars come to them via their home or office computer. This new advance will not only make it easier for doctors to enhance their knowledge of the philosophy, art and science of chiropractic as well as their management and practice-build­ing skills, but it will also save them 70-80 percent of the associated travel costs. As doctors increase their per­sonal skills and knowledge, their prac­tices will grow and so will the chiro­practic awareness within their com­munities. Our www.MBAchiropractic.com site also gives beginning doctors the business skills they will need to run and market their new practices. This site gives them affordable access to the "hows" of the best practice con­sultants, and allows them to start learning these vital principles months before they actually graduate from chiropractic college. The quicker a doc­tor can "come out of the shoot" with this knowledge, the less money he or she will lose through "trial and error." TAC: Anything else about MBAchiropractic.com you want to add? Fernandez: Our site includes the tal­ents and expert knowledge of accom­plished instructors who teach classes on technique, nutrition, rehab, X-ray, wellness, sports, personal injury, work­ers' compensation injury and a number of other subjects. Doctors throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, England, New Zealand, Ja­pan and any other country will now be able to tap into this enormous library of talent for pennies. (Doctors from these countries are already experienc­ing the benefits of using www.MBAchiropractic.com). I would like to make another impor­tant point. Many vendors have devel­oped great products that can help chi­ropractors in their practice. However, it is very difficult for doctors to sort through and find those new products that best serve their patients. And, be­fore www.MBAchiropractic.com, it was pretty much impossible for doctors to learn about those great products de­veloped outside of their own country. While some vendors exhibit their prod­ucts at seminars, they can only talk to one doctor at a time; and the amount of time a doctor can spend at one booth is also limited. Therefore, we are making our site available to companies wanting to demonstrate their products in video format so that doctors all over the world can become more inti­mately acquainted with them and be able to make better choices. Many products also re­quire instructions on how to use them. Vendors are us­ing our site to teach doctors how to effectively use their products. This service saves vendors millions of dollars, which results in lower prices for our doctors. Just imagine these sce­narios. Beginning doctors want to know the "A through Z's" on how to open a practice. Now they can sit on the couch, put their one-year-old in their arms, eat a hot dog and learn how to open their practices...all at the same time! An established doctor has an impor­tant deposition tomorrow, but his/her consulting firm doesn't teach that par­ticular subject for four months. All the doctor has to do is "click" on our depo­sition video before going to bed that night and he/she is prepared in the morning. Doctors are always hiring CA's, but few understand the intrica­cies of finding, hiring and training them. In growing a practice, most doctors will also need to eventually find, hire and train an associate. Colleges want and need to expand their post-graduate education programs to all chiropractors worldwide. All of this has been made possible through www.MBAchiropractic.com. The possibilities are unlimited!! Dr. Fernandez can be reached by email at [email protected] or, for more infor­mation, visit www.DrFernandez.com, or www.MBAChiropractic.com. Visit us Online! Find more articles on this topic from past issues. Great offers on products and more!