An Interview with Dr. Jeff Langmaid
When I was a chiropractic student, I interviewed one hundred chiropractors for the DC2Be Revolution YouTube channel and podcast. This article is about the insights I gained from Dr. Jeff Langmaid. He is the creator of the Evidence-Based Chiropractor and author of “Marketing Chiropractic to Medical Doctors.”
- Run a chiropractic business like a startup.
Dr. Langmaid: I go to more tech conferences than chiropractic conferences. I go to plenty of chiropractic conferences, but I’ve always been into good design. I’ve always been into entrepreneurship and how to build and grow a chiropractic practice. I’ve have a deep interest in marketing and communication.
I’ve always been really into technology, but I never had an affinity for engineering. When I first came out of school I was working as an associate and seeing 120 patients a week. The clinic owner went to go climb Mount Everest. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did the best I could. I remember thinking to myself “I don’t want to be bent over a table in my entire life.” There’s an opportunity here to meld my passions of being a chiropractor and of modernizing what we do; whether it’s communication; whether it’s patient acquisition; whether its coverage work.
- Evidence based chiropractic is the modern chiropractic.
Dr. Langmaid: My personal mission within chiropractic is three things
1) increased chiropractic utilization
2) be a facilitator for higher quality jobs for chiropractors
3) direct a nationwide conservative care program.
Those are my three personal goals. The breadth and depth of research has never been better; so I saw a huge opportunity for interdisciplinary communication. Statistically few chiropractors have good relationships with other providers. The evidence-based chiropractor is about a modern connection system built upon chiropractic science and chiropractic research. Then you can used that research and systems that have been proven to work in order to make it happen.
You don’t need to have 20 years of experience or this massively charismatic personality. Sometimes it’s tough to build your clinical confidence and certainty as you go, but when you have some nice research that sits behind you it just makes it a lot easier to facilitate the conversation.
- Use social networking, video content, and email marketing.
Dr. Langmaid: The unfortunate truth is that the healthcare system is 10 to 15 years behind everything else. The healthcare communication technology is still catching up to what is viable with our smartphones. Promoting through Facebook video is great for patients, but it plays a backseat when you’re speaking to other physicians. The three legs of the referral stool as I call it is:
1) monthly research
2) sending accurate case notes and
3) going through in-person meetings.
These three things are not tech driven, but they’re tried-and-true. All of your communication is beautifully designed, efficient, and accessible. That’s where the technology comes in. Develop Facebook live videos, social media graphics, office handouts, and reception area videos. Create patient education for the next generation. That is how we can share the information on the science that backs up the care and make it engaging.
To watch the entire interview, you can go here. https://youtu.be/wuqFDjZCqbc
Noah Volz, DC is the author the The Master Student: Book 1: Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Success, Enjoyment and Productivity as a Chiropractic College Student.