Starman Chiropractic Center
Alpharetta, Georgia
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Member Since: October 2011
June 2012
I have been participating in the AIPIP boot camp for about 2 months now. The personalized attention has been very helpful in many ways. The first month is dedicated to getting down to the basics and evaluating documentation and case management of several closed PI case files. Pinpointing weak areas in past cases has helped eliminate them on current cases. The additional coaching has put me on track to implement in office rehab (which is now up and running). I know this will not only lead to better patient outcomes but will also add value to all my cases. Along the way, I found the additional coaching helpful in answering all the questions I realized I had when I began setting up attorney meetings and sorting through who might be a good fit for a referral relationship. With the coaching I received regarding attorneys, I have increased the number of meetings dramatically. In fact, I have 3 meetings scheduled next week alone!
I know my boot camp experience has been brief, but it has already been very beneficial to my practice. I feel I have set in place some building blocks to explode my PI practice.
September 2012
Over the past 6 months my personal injury practice has continued to grow with the help of AIPIP. Attorneys are thrilled with the detailed medical files and documentation I am giving them when their clients are released from care and my attorney referrals have increased dramatically. In addition, I am making their lives easier when I include copies of medical records from all other medical providers and organize their files for them. One attorney thanked me because she said I saved her about a month turn around time in sending out her demand letter by getting the other medical records, and I saved money for her clients. I am continuing to do the training webinars in addition to one on one boot camp. I am still learning ways to fine tune my personal injury case management and to grow my PI practice. The one on one training has been particularly helpful in addressing potential hiccups with some open cases in real time regarding case management, referrals, and attorney relations.
February 2013
I have been thrilled with the settlement outcomes of the last 2 PI cases I turned over to an attorney I have been working with. One was settled for policy limits ($25,000) where total medical bills were about $6,000. One is in the process of settling where the attorney has been told she will be given a check for policy limits ($100,000) and where she anticipates she will also recover an additional $25,000 in UIM. In both cases I am being paid my fees in full, no question. But that has been the rule, not the exception, with the vast majority of cases I have settled since joining AIPIP. In fact, in 2 recent cases where the patients settled their own cases, without an attorney, I was paid the amount, IN FULL. Furthermore, I got the checks sent to me directly from the insurance companies.
It all comes back to thorough documentation and appropriate and timely referrals. This raises the value of the cases and allows the attorneys to collect full and fair value. My training with AIPIP has been invaluable!
May 2013
I have recently finished my bootcamp training with AIPIP. I would highly recommend the additional training for doctors wanting to take their PI practice to the next level. The accountability and one on one attention really helped me focus in on the weak areas of my documentation and case management. Another thing that helped tremendously was that during my web conferences with Dr. Scott Tauber, I could take the time to ask specific questions about current cases, or attorney meetings. It was great to have a sounding board to make sure in real time that I was handling everything appropriately, as far as case management, referrals, etc. Occasionally I would run into a snag with a case and it was reassuring to have Dr. Tauber’s experience to fall back on. I kind of thought of the process as a “safety net” early on in my membership that would allow me to take on more complicated cases while I built up my knowledge base.
The transformation to the PI portion of my practice has been remarkable. I used to have a handful of PI cases, probably averaged about 1 per month, on a yearly basis. Now I have a desk where I keep all my active PI files so I can constantly go in and out to review the paperwork, exam sheets, etc. I average anywhere from 5 to 10 open files on a daily basis, and close out about 1-2 cases per week. I would like to double that in 3-6 months. Previously, I got ZERO attorney referrals. None. Now, about 70% of my cases are attorney referrals. I have one attorney who tries to route nearly all of her cases to me. She thanks me on a regular basis for making her job easier, and tells me she almost always gets what she asks for in her demand, and the adjusters never slash the bills or claim “overtreatment.” She is thrilled, and keeps sending more patients. I am meeting with about 2 attorneys/month and I know that the networking and showing them sample paperwork will eventually turn into more referrals. The response I normally get when showing attorneys redacted files is “Wow! this is great!” I can tell they are genuinely impressed with the thoroughness of my documentation.
As far as financial benefits…First there is the increased case volume that I see, which is a huge increase. Then there is the added benefit that with the attorneys having the documentation that they need to get the settlement that I want, I very rarely get asked to cut my bill. Before AIPIP, I always was asked to cut my bill. Every time. Now, it is downright unusual. Of course there will be the occasional case where for whatever reason everyone will have to cut a little bit, but it’s not the norm. It’s nice to get a phone call from an attorney saying ” the case settled, we have your check” not, “so here’s where we are, and I need you to come down.” Both of the last 2 cases I managed were settled for policy limits. One at $100,000 and one at $25,000. It was nice to know I not only got the patient well, but provided the documentation necessary to get all of the patient’s injuries taken care of and helped get them a full and fair settlement. And of course, I continue to get referrals from those attorneys!
In all, joining AIPIP has been one of the best decisions I have made for my practice. It has not only been financially rewarding, but I feel it has made me a better doctor overall. Thank you to Doctors Scott and Sheldon Tauber for making their knowledge of PI work available to our profession!
Dr. Shannan Starman
