Dear Doctor:
One of the most misunderstood practice management averages is PVA, your Patient Visit Average. PVA measures your patients’ compliance with your recommendations, calculated by dividing your monthly visits by monthly new patients. There is no “good” or “bad” PVA – there is only a PVA that matches with your intention, or one that doesn’t.
Practices that focus on wellness care will tend toward a higher PVA than a general practice or one that specializes in acute care, as you might expect. But neither is correct or incorrect – it’s based on the desired outcome of your practice philosophy.
If your practice is more condition-based, your recommendations probably revolve around the resolution of your patients’ conditions. To see if your message is coming across, compare your average recommendations for a program of care to your actual PVA, and if it’s pretty close, then you’re doing a good job managing your cases.
If your practice is more wellness-based, or rehabilitation-based, and your clientele uses you not only for symptom relief but also for supportive health, fitness and personal development services, your PVA will probably be higher. To evaluate how well your message is coming across, think about your typical recommendations for wellness services, the frequency you usually recommend for your average patient. Your PVA should be about that number or more, since you probably will still have some people with conditions that require intensive programs of care.
To shape your PVA toward your ideal, apply PVA Skills, like the right entry procedure and report of findings, solid visit-by-visit patient education that guides patients to their optimal response, a re-exam and progress reporting process that encourages understanding and participation, and a recall system that keeps people connected to wellness practices and habits, whether they are under active care in your office or not.
We all believe we’re doing a good job educating our patients, but the PVA is a way to check ourselves and make sure we’re leading our patients effectively. Learn to monitor your results by analyzing your practice statistics – it will help you deliver on your promise of excellence, and refine and enhance your contribution to your community.
Dennis Perman DC, for The Masters Circle
PS Last chance to register for the California performance of “The Secrets of Exceptional Chiropractic Practices” – in addition to the inspiration of Guy Riekeman, national coding expert John Davila explains how to give carriers exactly what they need to pay you fairly, ethically and expediently – for more information on the California or metro-NY event, please call 800-451-4514, or go to www.themasterscircle.com
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