I wanted to share a snippet of my “churn” book with you because it is that time of the year when patient turnover happens. It’s that time of the year when they pick insurance plans or not. It’s that time of the year when they decide whether they want to keep paying you. Inflation is high. Oil and gas are expensive. We are in a recession. If you aren’t touching base and showing value to your patients, they may skip.
The following is in the intro to this book:
Why read a book about slowing the turnover of patients in your practice, or what is called churn, when you’re a newbie and just starting your practice? Well, the truth is that you don’t want to spend tremendous efforts getting patients to join just to have them leave you for reasons you CAN control. Turnover, or churn, has become one of the biggest issues in direct primary care, in my opinion. It takes so much time and so much personal investment to get patients onboard that you don’t want them slipping through your fingers by not doing everything you can do to keep them. And it’s hard not to take it personally because you get invested in their lives. You also feel that it’s a slight against you. You think, “Am I a bad doctor?” or “Will I ever keep patients?” or “Why didn’t I become a landscaper?”
I would say that the churn factor is the biggest bugaboos that I have in DPC. That and bear traps. Long story. Anyway, I don’t care how many years I’ve been practice, it’s been 23 and counting, it never gets easy for me. As much as I think I have thick skin there are many times where I am reminded that I don’t and it really brings me down. That’s when the ice cream comes out. And the candy. And the cake. What can I say? I’m human. We all are.
You would think that getting people to join the practice is the hardest part, and that is true in the beginning or when you first open up your DPC office. But at some point that part gets a lot easier. It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where he went to rent a car and the rental person stated that they have his reservation but don’t have the car he reserved. His argument was that anyone can take a reservation, it’s keeping the reservation that is the hard part. The same is true with retaining your patients in direct primary care. I hate to say that almost anybody can get patients, but it’s keeping patients that is crucial in making you successful.
Patients are going to leave. Some things you cannot control but many you CAN! That is why I spent a year researching it and writing the book. I studied what other industries are doing to retain their customers. For $25, you may save a whole family from leaving your practice. How good of an investment is that? I really feel Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) is actually my best DPC book. You be the judge.
Bought the book and read. Very good read. Recommend it. $25 on the book is cheaper than losing a patient.
Thank you.
I think it’s one of the best books for DPC, too. I read it before I opened and have had pretty good success at keeping the patients on board. It’s easy to implement many of the things when you are just starting out because you don’t have that many patients, and then it becomes a habit that is easy to maintain once your practice starts growing.
Thanks for the kind words!!
I agree, this book is so worth $25! I read it a few months into my DPC practice and the advice was and still is invaluable. He’s right, some churn is beyond our control and we need to accept this reality for peace of mind. However, advice like setting a time to reply to the dozens of messages DPC docs spend time answering was such an important piece of advice to ensure that you say what you want to say, and not accidentally type too quickly in a manner that can be read as insensitive by the patient. I appreciate the vulnerability that was demonstrated in the book in order to help others not repeat the same mistakes. This book is a must read for anyone at any stage of the DPC journey!
Thank you for such kind words