The current economy requires that individuals seek out alternative sources of income. Medical practitioners were among some of the highest paid professionals a while back, and though the field still earns a great deal of money, the current economical standard is such that even doctors and physicians are seeking out alternative streams of revenue.

For a doctor, earning an extra amount of money requires that you put in a lot more effort and time than most people realize. Another revenue stream that demands you to put in a lot of time and effort will put a strain on your job as a practitioner and limit your effectiveness. So most practitioners choose to opt out and struggle with their salaries which in most cases, after loan deductions and expenditure, is barely enough to survive on. However, there are alternatives that don't involve straining your normal work hours and affecting your ethical commitment to your clients. Some of the best revenue streams for practitioners with limited time include:

Writing

Currently, one of the highest trending topics according to search engine statistics, is health and wellness. With the growth of the internet and its extreme ease of access, internet sites such as Google and WebMD are usually the first stop for anyone who thinks they may have a medical condition. What most of the people don't know is that the information supplied to medical blogs and websites comes from trained practitioners. Writing for these blogs and websites, or even for your own blog and/or website, is one of the easiest and best ways to earn a little extra money. Similarly, the writing of medical books and ebooks or for medical journals and handbooks which are then sold either online or offline, is yet another revenue stream for practitioners. The best part is its flexibility in that it does not eat into your normal working hours and you can do it at your own convenience.

Motivational and educational speaking

Often times when there are private and even public sector conferences or health fairs, there are sessions where practitioners speak to the audience. It could either be to motivate the audience or to educate the audience. A practitioner can make an extra amount of money by attending these events as a speaker. The best part of this is that these events are usually arranged in such a way that they do not interfere with the practitioner's schedule.

Retail sales for products and services

A lot of doctors are earning money through this revenue stream. Basically, the doctor provides healthcare products such as supplements, to individuals that require them. The advantage of this to a practitioner with a tight schedule is that you do not have to run the store (physical or online) yourself. You could hire someone with a background in nutrition to run the store for you, or one of your existing staff can handle it. Most of your patients are likely already buying supplements online or at places like Walmart or CVS. The quality of the supplement brands at these types of places is generally poor, so it makes sense for you to create a private label brand of your own that you know and trust.
Medical examinations for private companies

Companies, such as insurance firms, require a medical examiner from time to time. If you sign a contract with such companies, you get to do their medical examinations for them. For instance, if someone applies for medical insurance, the insurance firm has to conduct its own examination to determine the health of the individual. Practitioners are usually the ones contracted to do such work. The convenience is that the individual is referred to you so it is a lot like doing your normal day job, in your normal work hours but for extra money.

Conclusion

As a medical practitioner, working for long hours a day limits your reach when it comes to earning extra money. However, adding these additional revenue streams allows you to earn the extra cash without compromising your regular job.

While there is probably no way to fully automate many holistic practice offices due to individuality and specialty, there are many things that can be done to make things move more smoothly and to make sure that things get done the way they should.

One of the best ways I have found to do this is to simply have what we call a travel sheet. A travel sheet is simply a sheet of options that the physician fills out to hand to his staff or if he's by himself to use himself as a reminder so that he remembers what they need to do. This can include things like when you want the patient to return, what CPT codes you want to charge, and what other tests you want to run.

Other ways to automate include using medical record software billing and software and inventory tracking software. In my office we use QuickBooks to track inventory and cash payments and we use a program called software to track medical records and to do insurance billing. There are some medical record software programs that will allow you to do inventory in them as well which might be more convenient for some people.

Make all your marketing passive. You shouldn't be going to health food stores or doing talks in public places. Do your marketing by making videos and posting the videos on Youtube or Facebook.

Spend $10 and boost your Facebook posts and get customers that way. It's a much more efficient use of time.

Do group educational programs for your patients and have them bring friends.

Consider group office visits or group acupuncture.

Take a careful look at your protocols and how you do everything and figure out ways to do it in less time or with less effort and with less mistakes. Write down this system. Analyze what you do, break it down to what the goals are and figure out ways to do it better especially using a system.  It is OPTIMAL do to this with other people like your partner/spouse, a friend, or other doctors. Many minds together will accomplish what one by itself can not.

If you have staff,  use your staff to do some of the tasks that you currently do.

Have written protocols for them. This makes everything more efficient and automatic and you don't have to remember everything.

If you don't have staff, come up with the protocol as to when you'll answer the phone, when you return calls and things like that.

Use a good answering service that will use the name of your office when they answer the phone and will schedule appointments for you

Phase Two

1. Come up with VISUAL ways to show patients their improvement.Conventional and Alternative Labs: Applied Kinesiology, Meridian/Voll/EAV (I am looking into inexpensive ways to do this), Live Blood Analysis, Urinalysis, In-house labs that you do at each visit such as pH, Glucose, Biological Terrain Assessment, Body Fat, Nutritional Physicals.

   In office tests are great. Give them a VISUAL reason to come back. It shows them how what you have given them has helped. Do in-house testing whenever possible and charge small amounts for it.  Make something off cash labs (such as Doctors Choice) if you are comfortable with this. Patients love tests.  Many times they trust tests more than their own symptoms.

2. ALWAYS schedule a follow-up visit! No matter what.
   Always have a reason for them to come back.
3. Prescribe maintenance products or replace whatever they were taking previously once they run out with higher quality products. If they were taking Vitamin C, I give them our Bio C with tons of flavonoids and antioxidants. If they were taking a multi, I give them our multi with methylfolate. If they were taking a non-stabilized probiotic, I give them our stabilized formula.

Phase Three

1. Come up with in office therapies:
   Auricular Therapy (using seeds or needles)
   Oxygen Therapy
   Sauna Therapy
   Acupuncture Therapy
   Group Acupuncture
   Group Detox

    

   Use therapies you can train your staff to do.  Use therapies that can be done on 3-4 patients or more in an hour. For some therapies, you may be able to bill insurance (not for the therapy which usually isn’t covered), but for the short visit.  Have your staff prep the patient so you don’t need to spend time doing that.  If they ask about their condition just say, "I haven’t reviewed your chart, but let’s schedule a time and we can discuss that."  Then tell your staff when you check them out to do so.

   If you are working alone, have cheat sheets with check boxes that will prompt and remind you what to do.  Have a good answering service that will use your clinics name when answering the phone and that can schedule appointments for you.  Use more handouts to explain things (that your staff normally would do), keep things simple.  There was one point when I had two offices and only staff in one, where we would ship all products to patients the next day, since I didn’t stock product at the satellite office.

2. Ask them at EVERY visit what they are taking and how much. I print out their treatment plan from the previous visit and go over it with them and ask them exactly how much and what they are taking. Then you can reinforce how important this is if they have not been compliant, congratulate them if they have been, or figure out the issues if there are any.

Phase Four

Free Marketing

Facebook: Start discussions, write a little about a topic and boost the post.

Google and Yelp: Use google plus. Again, copy the articles from Facebook and post them.  Get reviews on both.  Just ask for them.  Most won’t but some will.

WHY?  Because people who use phones (know anyone who doesn’t?) find reviews on them for everything.  Either via google or yelp.

Network with other doctors especially MDs and Chiropractors who have high volumes of patients. Teach them about how you can help their patients. Come up with a written article about yourself with bullets giving them what kinds of conditions you have expertise in.  Keep it to only a few conditions, you don’t want to appear to be a know-it-all or a jack of all trades.  Pick a specialty or two and market those.

Get up to 25-35 new patients a month

Keep them coming back.  Give them a reason to come back at every visit.  Example: I want to see you in 3 Weeks to:  Rerun labs, test for parasites, check your urine for infection, do a physical, run nutritional testing, check your thyroid function, do a BIA, do a tongue diagnosis, pulse diagnosis.     Make a list of possible reasons and consult it frequently.

Tell them exactly why they need to come back and what you will do the next visit so they know.

Prep your charts before they come in.  Decide on WHY you will need to see them again, or make a list of possible “Whys” so that when they are in in front of you, you don’t stumble.

Market Product

Product/supplements are your bread and butter.  They are repeat sales that all your patients need and should be taking.   If you can convince them that what you are giving them is better than what they get at Costco or online (and it is) and you can encourage them to stay on what you recommend, you will have a. Healthier and Happier patients, b. You will establish a residual income and have income even if you aren’t working, and c. They will refer their friends and family to buy from you as well, even if they are not patients.

Just make sure they know that this is ok.  I have many patients think that only active patients can buy product.

Does this work?

It certainly does!

But I think the real question YOU have is, will it work for me!

The doctors I have shared this with have noticed growth in:

1. New patients
2. Return patients
3. Patient retention
4. Supplement sales volume
5. Retention of patient supplement sales volume
6. Growth of non patient sales
7. More passive income.
8. More income with less hours of work.

Go to Private Labeling with no minimums and drop shipping for more information on how to get started with private labeling products!

I realized that I could help more people if I practiced medicine a LITTLE BIT more like a business.  Not to lose the heart and soul and become a greedy business person, but to have a balance of common sense, WIN-WIN business practices as well as the heart of a healer.

Just taking what I do best (helping patients), be a little bit more organized about it, figure out the BEST way to help people, the BEST way to educate them, the BEST way to increase compliance, the BEST way to increase the number of people I can help.

We all have realized that giving it all away doesn't bring people in.  People value something (your time) a lot more if YOU value it. They also want a good deal, but do realize that a low price often means low quality.  So there are methods to express QUALITY as well as VALUE. I work more efficiently, using more handouts and forms so that I can see many more people in a day and yet still give them incredible care where I take the time to really listen and think about what they need. I also pace myself and don’t try to fix everything in one visit.  Don’t forget we get approached with multiple conditions in a visit most times, whereas MDs only have to treat one.   Trying to treat 3-6 conditions at a time though is overwhelming financially, emotionally and time wise.  I find it’s best to treat 1-2 conditions at a time, letting them know this is what you are going to do, pick the core conditions.

So, being more efficient, giving them better services and great products, keeping them motivated and engaged, saves you time and helps them more.

Phase One:

1. With my help, Develop your own Brand of products.
2. Use MOSTLY (not necessarily all) supplements/natural medicines that:
   1. Are exclusive (patients can’t get elsewhere).
   2. Are unique.
   3. You make a good markup on.

      THIS is ESPECIALLY important for maintenance supplements.  Supplements like fish oil, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and probiotics (or whatever supplements you would consider to be maintenance). Don’t forget however that it is important that THEY also believe they are, or they will go and buy what THEY think (unless you educate them).  Remember you are competing with TV and magazines who are trying to sell your patients on many of these types of supplements. And it is much better that they get a good, safe, clean source.  And even better that YOU make the profit from them, rather than some huge corporation who heavily market to these people.

      Specific formulas for specific conditions are not as much an issue as they may not be on these for long periods of time.

3. Market your brand to your patients, and indirectly to their friends and families.

4. Create membership programs. People LOVE to belong. Think Costco, BJs etc.

   You can include things that you already give away. We have been doing this for many years.  People buy our plans because they want the deals.  Then they buy from us because they want to take advantage of their plans.  Almost ALL my patients are on plans.  And they give you an opportunity to market programs that you offer.

   Example:
   Premium Access Program:  Includes Priority Scheduling, Email access to the doctor & Extended scheduling hours.

   20% off Supplements* (estimated savings $200/year)
   20% off Detox Programs (estimated savings $750/year)
   20% off Yearly Prevention Screenings (estimated savings $50/year)
   20% off Therapies (estimated savings $200/year)
   20% off (Cash Pay) Office Visits (estimated savings $200/year)

   What we do is, when checking out the patient, add up the cost, then explain the plan, explain that it is optional but that it will save them in the long run.  Have a membership brochure. Make the cost for the plan reasonable, but make sure it is easy to see how they can save.  Show the savings.

5. Offer a different membership plan to help retain old patients. You have to give patients that gradually become healthier an incentive to keep buying from you for their maintenance needs. This could be a special offer you give to patients once they are stable and you push your follow-ups to every 6 months or every year depending on how you practice.