Haven’t you heard ever since Chiropractic school that Chiro should be the dominant healthcare system? I know that I have. Chiropractic allows the body to naturally heal itself, awakening the potential of our own nervous systems. With this power, why isn’t Chiropractic at the forefront of every healthcare journal, study, and the primary choice of care for the majority of patients? It should be. That is why today I want to talk about what it would take to actually make Chiropractic the dominant health care system in our country and what we can do to help because it is about time.
Should Chiropractic be the Dominant Health Care System?
Studies show that there is a tipping point in any movement. If you can get a certain percentage of the population to embrace an idea, from there it spreads organically. That tipping point is 20%. For us, this means that once 20% of the population embraces Chiro as a first choice for healthcare, the rest of the population will follow. The question is, how do we reach that tipping point?
We only have approximately 50,000 licensed Chiropractors in the U.S. and not all of these are even in active practice. In order for this number of doctors to see 20% of the population, each one would have to see more than 1,000 patients every week. Is this possible? Maybe it is for some DC’s in high-volume practices but not all Chiropractors would want to complete that many patient visits each week.
This means that we do not have enough Chiropractors in practice in our country to hit that goal of making Chiro the healthcare system that the majority of patients choose first. Without more students choosing to become Doctors of Chiropractic instead of medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. Chiropractic cannot become the dominant system in this country.
That brings us back to the same problem we have talked about in the past, the problem of making a career as a Chiropractor an attractive choice for these students. We have to show them that Chiropractic is not only a vital profession but can also provide them and their families the lifestyle they need and desire.
To choose to be a Chiropractor, they can’t live in fear that they won’t be able to run a successful practice, see enough patients, or make enough money. They have to know that the time and money they invest in school will pay off in the future.
There is only one way we can do this. Each of us as Chiropractors has to make our own practice successful. We have to use every tool available to us to improve the experience of our patients, bring in more patients, and create a thriving business.
Every Doctor out there who is a success, who cares for patients every day, and who is spreading the message of the power of Chiropractic is showing those future students that it can be done, that Chiropractic is great career choice. We need those students, those future Chiropractors. We need more Chiropractors to see more patients. That is the only way we will ever reach that 20% tipping point and it is the way to finally make Chiropractic the dominant healthcare system. It is about time that we all work together to reach that goal.
One Response
I agree totally with where you are coming from. I am a Chiro Kid. I don’t know what it is like to go to any other Doctor than my dad. The big question is how do we get back to our true philosophy without being scared of the other side? I have no issues stating my opinion, explaining to patients that true health is realizing our bodies are naturally healing organisms. I have been in practice now for 16 years. When I chose a college I chose TCC because at that time Parker was going through some changes and it wasn’t apparent which way they were going. Plus TCC was where my father went. Unfortunately at the time it seemed we were trained more about the medical profession and not our own. I figured out that if I would have gone to a school in the north I would have gotten a heavier dose of our true philosophy. Luckily for me I grew up in it. The challenge I see with increasing our numbers is increasing our overall reputation of being great doctors. So many of us fail to see this and are willing to just look at the patient as a dollar sign. No exam, no X-ray just come on in and lay down here. I hear that a lot, and it’s a scary thing. To think that just the few can kill the mass when stuff like that happens. I believe that we do need to increase our fold but they need to feel proud and not embarrassed by the leadership of our profession. Yes if I feel this way I should speak up to a higher level, so I am calling myself out first. I appreciate your opinions and you being vocal. Nice to read and see that not everything is about competition or money but about what our profession is supposed to be.