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Why the Lotus Seminars?

“It was my 1st Lotus seminar and I left the seminar feeling inspired and motivated again. It is great to see how passionate Bob is about our medicine! I took Tan's seminar a while back and am guilty of mixing his technique with straight acupuncture. Since Bob's seminar, I used more of Tan's technique with good results. If Bob does any more seminars on other topics I would definitely go. He has great wisdom to share.” S.L.

COMMITMENT TO CARE:
PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE

By Robert Doane, L.Ac.

In the West almost everyone, except for the Chinese community, is completely and deeply, in effect, brainwashed into Western medicine. Despite all the complaining and all the criticism that Western medicine receives, not only from the press but from patients, when most people have a medical problem that worries them, they will still see their western doctor first - even if that doctor has treated them poorly for the last five years. Frankly speaking, hardly anyone in this country would first turn to Chinese Medicine when they find themselves with a medical problem. Consequently, most western doctors do not have to worry about their patients being committed to care. It happens automatically. All our lives we are told, from every source we are exposed to, to check with our doctors before we do anything or if we have any medical concern. This is undoubtedly why few medical doctors actually have to spend much time "building" a practice. The entire population of this country is being driven to them by an enormous amount of free advertising. This means, as Chinese Medical Practitioners, we have to be constantly building our practices and reminding patients about the importance of following through with their treatment plan as well as coming in for regular checkups. If all medical visits were added up in this country across all medical modalities, Chinese Medicine treats the smallest portion of this group.

We have solved the above problem in our clinic, which currently sees 475 patients a week, by first explaining to the patient, either on their first or second visit, exactly what Chinese Medicine is, what it is trying to accomplish, and how the medicine has developed over the years. We emphasize that Chinese Medicine is really about vitality, energy, longevity and total health. It can relieve pain very effectively, but the heart of the medicine lies in its ability to generate a superlative state of health. We present 3 programs to each patient. The first is a simple band-aid treatment for their problem. The second is band-aid treatment plus follow through so the band-aid holds. The third program we offer is a complete health program involving one year of visits designed to create a greatly improved state of health for the patient. These three programs are explained thoroughly to each patient and on their fourth visit we simply ask each patient which program they would like. As it turns out, eighty percent of the patients choose the one-year health program. Based on their choice we customize a treatment plan for these patients, including herbs, acupuncture, shiatsu, weight loss, and exercise. Their commitment to care is secured by having the patient pre-pay for their entire program. We find that once the patient pays, especially the men, the patient will not miss a visit. In exchange for this pre-payment, we offer a refund if the patient drops out of care, an enormous discount off of our normal rates, and if the patient needs more treatments than we originally thought, we give these additional treatments pro-bono. This approach dramatically increased the patient visits and the effectiveness of care as well. This increase in effectiveness is because a patient that is committed to care will always do better than someone who is dabbling in the medicine. For those of you who wants to help as many people as possible, I strongly urge you to consider this approach. We see the miracle of it every day in our clinic.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Doane, M.S., L.Ac.

Robert Doane holds a Master of Oriental Medicine, is NCCAOM certified in both Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine, and is licensed to practice Acupuncture in the State of Washington. He has lectured extensively on health throughout India, Europe, and the United States. He and his wife, Anne, started the Acupuncture & Wellness Center, P.S. in Poulsbo, WA, in 1998. The clinic rapidly became the largest private Chinese medical clinic in the State of Washington.

To learn more about practice management and practical treating techniques, Robert Doane is speaking on the following topic for Lotus Institute. This class is approved for 8 CEUs/PDAs by the California Acupuncture Board and NCCAOM.

CLASS BY THE AUTHOR

How to See 60 Patients A Day: Integrative Approach, Great Results

5/31/08 Denver, CO