As the CEO of TVG-Medulla, LLC, which acts as the brain stem behind 87 Chiro One wellness chiropractic clinics across the nation, Stuart Bernsen is passionate about equipping chiropractors with the tools they need for a thriving chiropractic practice.
Dr. Bernsen graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1992. Once he found the right people to support him, his practice took off. He was seeing 500-600 people a week with a very small team, but there was no documentation or standardization to the practice.
“We didn’t have written procedures or protocol, but we did the same thing over and over,” Dr. Bernsen explained.
That’s where COO Dr. Sam Wang came in. He worked with Dr. Bersen for a number of years, and in 2001 went out and duplicated what Dr. Bernsen built. By 2005, Dr. Bernsen had seven practices with two partners, and Dr. Wang had five practices with two partners.
In the middle of 2006, they sat down together and dreamed about building something bigger and better. And that’s how Chiro One was born.
Dr. Bernsen (left) and Dr. Wang (below right) wanted to create a place where chiropractors could work and learn how to be wildly successful, while leaving the business side of things to the professionals.
“We wanted to train chiropractors how to be unbelievable clinicians,” Dr. Bernsen said.
Chiro One is not a franchise, Dr. Wang clarified.
“You’re still an entrepreneur in this business model,” he said. “We are looking for doctors who are phenomenal clinicians. We’re not looking for well-rounded business people who have an interest in wearing multiple hats; we just want doctors who are great doctors.”
Learning how to run a business is not something that is taught in chiropractic college.
“They don’t realize how many hats they have to wear,” Dr. Bernsen said.
Accounting, finance, accounts payable and receivable, marketing, advertising, IT and being the CFO are just some of the things chiropractors have to juggle.
“We professionalize all of that,” Dr. Bernsen said. “We found the best of the best people to run each of those departments… Every department that supports the chiropractor is professional grade. They’re at the top of their game so that our chiropractors can be at the top of their game, delivering gold standard care.”
The staff at Medulla stays on top of the rapid changes that are coming in the chiropractic industry and are able to properly equip their clinics with the latest software, like Platinum. Medulla acts as the brainstem of the practice. It controls and coordinates all the vital functions behind the scenes. Chiro One wellness clinics use Platinum exclusively as their EHR provider. They also outfit the clinics with digital imaging, the right questionnaires and top quality adjusting tables.
“Doctors get to be incredibly proud and have all the resources to provide the best quality care for their patients,” Dr. Bernsen said.
It’s turn-key.
“We’ve been with Platinum for years,” Dr. Bernsen said. “We experimented with another EHR and it was a disaster, so we went back to our roots. [Platinum has] been by our side all along the way. It adds to our support of our clinicians. They’re able to focus on delivery of care and documenting what they’re doing, and they’re getting reimbursed. The care is standardized and it’s being documented.
Platinum has offered Chiro One clinics the opportunity to bill insurance efficiently and with documentation. The top practices see between 300-500 patients a day, and Platinum keeps the processes streamlined.
Compliance is a huge issue that Chiro One clinics are able to successfully maneuver.
“We just acquired four established practices on the West Coast,” Dr. Bernsen said as an example. “There was a compliance issue in one of the offices that flew out of control. It was much larger than it ever needed to be. Our team of administrators swept in, and although we’ve only been together six months in these practices, the founder of those practices said, ‘Thank God I have a team behind me, because I would not have been able to do what you guys did.’ We had general counsel, a PR team to get ahead of any negative response that might have taken place in the public, HR that handled the challenges that might occurred with the employees. It could have blown up and been a weeks or even months-long mess.”
Partnering with Chiro One is different than what has historically occurred in a practice. You either were an associate under someone, or you went out on our own.
“Our chiropractors in our model are some of the most wildly successful financially,” Dr. Wang said. “It’s a model version of psychic ownership of the practice… They see patients and focus on patient care, yet generate what they deserve. It’s a win-win.”
Dr. Bernsen and Dr. Wang have seen a huge shift among the mainstream population in the attitude towards chiropractic care. Just 10 years ago, they had to pitch the value of chiropractic care when they were raising money. Nowadays, that doesn’t even come up. They believe that will continue to trend in a positive direction, and they dream of one day having 1,000 practices as part of the Chiro One family.
To learn more, including about a fellowship program available to new and currently practicing chiropractors, watch Platinum’s webinar with Dr. Bernsen and Dr. Wang.