First things first. Accepting credit cards in your holistic practice is a must – you can read more on that here. That being said, there can be significant barriers to actually doing it. Assuming you can get a merchant account, setup fees can be several hundred dollars, then there’s a monthly fee to have the […]
In the end, you’?re only as good as the quality of the products and services you provide. Great marketing, financing and hard work will only take you so far unless what you offer is of sufficient quality. What defines a quality experience in an alternative health practice? Many consumers will equate quality with value. That […]
As your CAM practice grows, you’ll find your schedule filling in further and further out in the calendar. While this is generally good news, keep any eye out for the following side effects of long-term scheduling in alternative health practices: No-Shows Start scheduling past 3 months, and you’ll almost certainly see patients forget their appointments. […]
“I have some clients who miss appointments without calling. It’s very frustrating. Should I be charging them a fee?” This one has no clear answer. Ask around, and you’ll get different opinions. Compared with more mainstream medicine, my guess is CAM professionals are less likely to charge for no shows, simply because lack of insurance […]
No-shows tend to get more attention in alternative medicine practices, likely because of the irritation factor. When you look at it from a business perspective, though, cancellations and reschedules can be just as detrimental. The only difference is that you get more advance notice, so you may have time to fill the slot. Many of […]
A nice little PDF from Elizabeth Woodcock here on reducing no-show appointments. It’s written for MD’s, but equally applicable to any alternative medical business. A few other resources worth checking out there, too.
Here’s the dilemma, as submitted by a CAM doc: “I had a new patient call looking for an appointment as soon as possible. My new patient visits are an hour long, and even though I wasn’t even close to fully booked that week, I couldn’t see the patient until the following week. My book was […]
A doctor once told me this great piece of wisdom: “Don’t set any office hours you don’t want to keep forever.” It’s tempting when you start up to open weekends, nights, early mornings – anything that will get new patients in the door. Although offering this flexibility to your clients seems like a good idea, […]
It’s very common for alternative health care practitioners to work on a “cash or check” only basis. There are several compelling reasons to consider other options. The usual resistance to accepting Visa, Mastercard and the like is the cost. You pay a monthly fee for the account, plus a percentage of the transaction. For the […]
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