The short answer? Yes.

Before you lose your mind, let me explain.

As you know, government aid patients generate lower amounts of profit. If you primarily attract these patients, it will be impossible for you to scale your business in the future. So why do we still want to cater to those patients? 

The answer doesn’t have anything to do with profits, rather it is a matter of ethics. As a doctor, you have taken up the Hippocratic Oath with society. This comes with a real weight of responsibility, and according to the text, accepting Medicaid or Medicare patients should be without question.

Read this sentence from the second to last paragraph of the oath: “Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free.”

That first phrase - “Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick…” - is the important piece here. 

In today’s time, you will probably not be entering your patients’ physical homes, however the underlying idea of that phrase still applies. As a dentist or chiropractor, you have an invaluable skill set that can save lives. Your skills inherently come with responsibility of helping your community members, regardless of their income brackets. 

It is your moral duty to apply the knowledge you have gathered to help everyone you can.

Now I’m NOT saying you shouldn’t be compensated appropriately. I get it. As a doctor, you busted your ass to get where you are, and the people who you help on a day to day basis probably don’t have 1/4th of the student loan debt you have.

The key is brand positioning. Let’s break it down.

Take a look at the majority of your local competitors. Go to their home websites, look at their Google business listings, visit their physical offices from the outside. Do any of them really stand out? 

The majority of dental or chiropractic clinics all look the same. Most offices are located in some hole in the wall location attached to a string of other local businesses. You go inside, there is a waiting lobby that normally is boring with maybe one T.V. on the wall and some magazines on a coffee table.

Normally, the front desk staff is one to two females, the in-house doctors don’t have any particularly outstanding accomplishments or awards (besides their doctorate of course), and even some of the equipment is outdated. 

(Side note: i’m not judging these people, I’m just painting a realistic picture of the average dental or chiropractic office.)

Your main priority is to stand out from these people. You do NOT want to blend in. Period. You need to clearly be a couple of degrees higher than your competition in quality of care, in-house technology, and most of all, customer experience.

“Customer experience?” you ask. Yes. Your patients are customers. They can see any other dental office or chiropractic office in their area. Why should they see you? What makes YOU their favorite?

Here are some effective ways to stand out. Some of these suggestions will require capital, others will not: 

Soon, your community will acknowledge your clinic as a superior care provider when compared to your local competition. 

People with your target insurance (that allows for higher compensation) will seek you out and tell their equally wealthy friends about you. At this point, when you advertise that you accept Medicaid and Medicare patients, people will perceive your business as a high quality clinic that just happens to accept government aid patients.

Your inclusivity will be appreciated a lot more. And as long as you treat your government aid patients with the same level of care as your other patients, people will spread the word about your excellent clinic.

This is the ideal position to be in. You’re being compensated by the higher end insurance plans, and you’ve also maintained your Hippocratic Oath with society.

Go celebrate with your team over a nice dinner and some wine, you've got the funds to do so (;

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