The blog post Do most doctors practice like me? was first seen on American Chiropractors Blog
I believe that healthcare today has evolved into requiring a patient to have to choose between far more options of healthcare specialties and physicians to accomplish the simplest of healthcare needs.
In determining which type of healthcare professional to see and which actual physician to choose from within a particular health profession, the top priority must be to establish the most effective treatment for the fees being charged (essentially choosing the option that provides the most bang for the buck) when a patient is choosing a health care professional. This concept should also be kept in mind when a healthcare professional knows there is a more cost effective way to treat a specific health condition for a patient that comes to them for treatment, yet does not reccomend it in order to personally gain from eliminating other options.
Ultimately, we are talking about a lot of money being spent in healthcare that a patient is paying out of pocket for and/or an insurance company or employer is paying for its employees. Unfortunately, the majority of healthcare facilities and professionals will not step up to tell patients that their is a more effective way to treat their health condition other than their recommendation of services when a patient presents themselves to such facilities and doctors.
As a practicing doctor of chiropractic for over ten years, I have heard countless of stories of patients who have been given recommended plans of care involving exaggerated procedures and frequency of visits that cost ridiculous amounts of money and produce little to no results. What may be surprising to the general public is that these unethical recommendations are not just coming from other chiropractors, but from most pain management clinics and physical therapists along with certain MDs as well.
The point I am making here is that not all chiropractors, physical therapists, MDs, psychologists, and dentists are the same in the recommendations they give their patients when they come through the doors of their facilities'. It is important to note that all these specialists and primary care providers within our health care system are specifically educated, trained, and board certified experts in their specialties of healthcare; yet they are human beings that have different morals, lifestyles, motivations, and philosophies in their personal lives as well as their professional careers. For example, no one physical therapist has the exact same procedures and way of communicating to their patients as another physical therapist. To stereo-type an entire profession for being the same way, giving the same recommendations, and creating the same results is ignorant and results in patients having a limited scope of healthcare options and produces inefficient healthcare results.
My name is Dr. JJ Anthonijs. I am the owner and practicing chiropractor at Complete Family Healthcare in Alpharetta, GA. I am a board certified doctor of chiropractic that has been practicing for over ten years seeing hundreds of patients per week. The volume of patient evaluations, Xrays, treatments, and outcomes involving every type of demographic from babies to centurions that I've been responsible for treating in this action-packed ten year career of mine thus far has given me a one of a kind experience level. The kind of experience level to confidently diagnose, treat, and recommend my services or refer patients to the appropriate healthcare professional if need be in the most cost-effective and time efficient way. Under my care, you receive results immediately within 2 visits if your examination reveals that your condition is most likely to be most effectively treated through chiropractic care. If by the 3rd visit, you do not receive full relief or at least a respectable amount of improvement in regards to your condition, then you should not continue care with me and I will tell my patients that on their third visit if that ever happens. When a patient is satisfied with the results they have received from my chiropractic care after 2 visits, we sit down and decide together what the most appropriate frequency of care should be going forward for them. My recommendations for my patients are provided on a week to week basis with the majority of my patients deciding for themselves when they should receive treatment. I do not do treatment recommendations of longer than two weeks as I feel a patient's condition should change enough within a two week period that my recommendations would not be accurate past two weeks time.
Does your doctor practice like me? Are you surprised to hear of a chiropractor that practices this way? I assure you that I am not the only one, but there are not many like me out there. As the owner and practicing chiropractor within my business, your results are directly related to my success and I strive to be the most cost-effective healthcare provider I can be for my patients. My success in business comes from referrals which are given to me when I produce the results people are satisfied with. You will not see me advertising and selling things that other chiropractors in the area do because I am too busy seeing patients and producing results for my patients and the people that they refer to me every day to even do anything else...and isn't that the type of doctor you want to be a patient of?
from American Chiropractors Directory - Feed http://www.americanchiropractors.org/chiro/do-most-doctors-practice-like-me/
