Our second annual survey had 227 participants answer 11 questions about best practices of 2016. As opposed to our 2015 survey which only had 107 participants.
Once again this year the number one group in the survey were those who have been practicing between 6 and 10 years. 26% of participants in 2016 and 27% in 2015. Approximately 77% of everyone who is practicing upper cervical according to our survey have been in practice 20 years or less.
Once again this year it appears that the NUCCA technique is the most widely used upper cervical technique with approximately 27% of participating doctors utilizing the NUCCA technique primarily (39% in 2015).
The number one answer this year is Internet marketing with 37% of participating doctors saying that online marketing has been their most effective way to generate new patients through marketing in 2016. This is up 7% from the 2015 survey and appears to indicate that Internet marketing is a growing form of new patient generation for many upper cervical practices.
The most effective form of internal marketing doctors are finding success with is patient education in 2016. With approximately 58% of doctors saying that this was the most effective way to generate new patients inside their practice.
11 to 15 and 16 to 20 are a near tie for this question. With about 45% of doctors seeing between 11 and 20 new patients per month.
20% of the doctors in the survey see between 101 and 125 patient visits per week the number one answer.
Once again this year the number one answer was I do not have associates in my practice with 75% of doctors in solo practice. Last year it was nearly identical with approximately 75% of doctors saying they do not have associates in their practice. As we've expressed many times we feel that this is a major weakness of the profession.
Once again we had a near tie between one or two employees in the average upper cervical practice. Approximately 66% of all upper cervical practices have between 1 to 2 employees.
For the second year in the row the most popular answer to the question what have you found to be the most challenging part of your practice is obtaining new patients. With nearly 33% of survey participants indicating that getting new patients is the most difficult and most challenging part of their practice. In 2015 50% of the doctors in the survey said that obtaining new patients was their most challenging aspect of practice as well (last year there was only three options) as opposed to this year where we have seven different options.
Once again this year we see a clear 80/20 rule in upper cervical practice with 80% of doctors collecting $40,000 or less per month. The most popular answer was $16,000-$20,000 per month in collections at approximately 17%.
We see that upper cervical practices are continuing to grow with approximately 71% of doctors indicating that there collections were more in 2016 then they were in 2015. This is consistent with our 2015 study that indicated that approximately 64% of doctors had collected more in 2015 than in 2014. Certainly a positive sign for upper cervical practice growth as a whole.
Thank you for participating in the 2016 Upper Cervical Practice Survey. Look for the third annual survey in October 2017.
