Are You Listening?
Kathy Mills Chang
MCS-P, CCPC, CCCA
"I'm just the CA." We hear this all the time. Really, you are so much more than "just the CA." You're the Director of First Impressions! You're the first and often the last to interact with every person who walks through the door to the office. It's likely that within a short time of starting your career as a chiropractic assistant you have become a trusted confidant, financial advisor, relationship therapist, and marketer for the practice. Often you are the go-to person to assist the doctor with whatever is needed to ensure that high-quality healthcare is what the practice is known for. What an amazing opportunity to be of service!
As the practice's first point of contact, you are frequently the one that patients confide in. They will often tell you things that they do not, either intentionally or otherwise, tell the doctor. You hear that they are canceling their appointment because their child is sick or that they might be pregnant. They tell you that they hurt a little more after the adjustment last time and are worried that "it might not be working" for them. Patients confide in you about wanting to go on a diet, or that they are experiencing symptoms of other conditions that they do not automatically associate with chiropractic. "Oh, I thought it was just for back pain!"
Chiropractic Assistants often underestimate the very real impact they can have on the practice as well as the very real impact this can have on the healthcare patients receive. Your first patient arrives in the office today just not looking right. You may ask how she is doing today or some other pleasantry, and she innocently tells you that she has a terrible headache today. Because she has been seeing the doctor for treatment of lower back pain, she may never have
told the doctor of her headache. "I didn't know chiropractors can help with headaches!" is the common reply when you tell her to be sure to tell the doctor of her ailment today. Inside you are shaking your head and wondering why every patient doesn't know about all the amazing things chiropractic can do for people.
The next patient arrives a bit early. He tells you that he had to call off his tennis game because of a painful shoulder. He asks you who the orthopedist is that your doctor refers to. You find this so strange as he has been a patient in your office for years. Why would he not want to mention this to the doctor? "Really? Dr. Smith can help with shoulders, too?" Another opportunity to be of service almost lost.
Later that morning, a patient calls to cancel her appointment because she does not have anyone to watch her young child. "Bring her with you," you tell her. "We love having children in the office. I can make some extra time so that Dr. Smith can give your daughter a spinal checkup while you are here!" Your patient responds by tellingyou, "Oh, she doesn't have any back pain." Really? Why doesn't she understand that it's not just about back pain? Why don't more people realize that if you have a spine, you need to get checked?
One of your afternoon patients arrives while the doctor is seeing a new patient. This gives him a few minutes to chat. He asks, seemingly out of the blue, if chiropractic can help with carpal tunnel syndrome. You know that Dr. Smith loves treating carpal tunnel syndrome, and you have seen some incredible results from the care he has given others. You are also astute enough to realize that when patients
ask such a question, they are not doing so because it is their last dying wish to get this answer. Questions like these are asked because they or someone important to them is suffering from this condition. You ask the all-important question, "Is someone you know suffering with carpal tunnel syndrome?"
Maybe these missed or almost-missed opportunities are not the patients' fault? Too many doctors lose sight of the gift that chiropractic can be to alleviate so much suffering and to prevent others from suffering needlessly. Is it their fault? Maybe and maybe not. We all get caught up in our routines and taking care of back pain in a chiropractic office can be quite routine. That can allow too many of us to go through our day, our week, almost unconscious. We become unaware of the conversations that are going on and the opportunities to be of service that are around us every day.
Our doctors, and most everyone else on the practice team, have a thousand reasons to lose sight of these opportunities. Documentation requirements are ever increasing; billing and coding procedures always seem to be changing; the server crashed; reports need to be written; insurance denials need responses; and the list goes on and on.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to always listen. Listen to the spoken conversations. These are the conversations that you literally have with your patients as they enter or exit the office. Ask yourself if there is something more that can be done. How can we be of even greater service to every patient, every visit, every time? You would likely agree that this is the simpler task.
The not-so-simple tasks involve listening to the "unspoken" conversation. When we talk with our patients, are we listening to only what they are telling us, or are we also listening to what they are NOT telling us? By placing ourselves in their shoes, we can better appreciate why these scenarios come up and how better to address them so that we have a successful outcome. Treat the ordinary office visit as if it is extraordinary simply by truly listening.
Kathy Mills Chang is a certified medical compliance specialist (MCS-P), a certified chiropractic professional coder (CCPC), and certified clinical chiropractic assistant (CCCA). Since 1983, she has provided chiropractors with reimbursement and compliance training, advice, and tools to increase revenue and reduce risk. Kathy leads a team of 20 at KMC University and is considered one of our profession’sforemost experts on Medicare documentation and compliance. She or any of her team members can be reached at 855-832-6562 or [email protected].
