Let’s meet Dr. Danite Haller, ND
If there’s one thing Dr. Danite Haller knows without a single doubt…it’s her mission in life.
She’s here to be a doctor, to help patients reach optimal health, and serve her community. That much is clear. She tells it best herself –
“This is who I am. This is what I do. This is my passion. And I have to find a way to make it work. I don’t have a backup. This is my calling in life.”
Dr. Danite Haller and her husband/business partner Dr. Eric Udell have been in practice together for over ten years. They have dedicated their lives to building Arizona Natural Health Center. They’re proud of the quality of patient care they provide and impact they have had on their community. They’ve got a great team that’s all committed to the bigger mission.
There was just one persistent little problem.
They weren’t making any money. No matter what they tried.
For over a decade, Dr. Haller and Arizona Natural Health Center ran the standard fee-for-service business model. They had a menu of services like most practices. Patients would pay for one visit, one treatment, and one supplement at a time. It was a business model they naturally fell into. Everyone else was doing it. Why wouldn’t they?
Turns out, just because everyone else is doing something… doesn’t make it right.
What they soon discovered, was that by using a Fee-For-Service model they were playing a rigged game. They could work harder, putting in more hours to provide better service for their patients, but they could only do so while struggling financially. OR, they could make a little more money by moving patients in and out as quickly as possible, increases volume, and running their practice like an assembly line.
One option was unsustainable, the other unthinkable.
With a Fee-For-Service model, they couldn’t accomplish both goals – provide excellent patient care AND make money. The scales were impossible to balance.
Dr. Haller and her husband spent years banging their heads against the wall, committing themselves more and more to their business, pouring in hours, years of their lives, without seeing any return. They knew the Fee-For-Service model was not working, but they didn’t know what to do about it.
“We were helping people, and our results were good! But we weren’t making money and we were burning out. I knew I had to find a way to make it work. I needed to find a way to also make it provide for my family, and it wasn’t.
To try and fix the problem, we hired 3-4 business coaches and consultants and we paid them lots of money and it never worked. It never amounted to a change and to a more lucrative practice. We got burned on hiring coaches and consultants. It was a waste of money in my opinion. It didn’t work.”
Dr. Haller knew that she and her husband wouldn’t be able to help anyone if they burned out completely. Working themselves to the bone simply wasn’t the answer. And at the end of the day, they were running a business. That business had to be profitable. People depended on it. Patients depended on it.
They started putting in more hours.
They saw more patients.
They shortened appointments.
They raised prices.
They brought in more doctors.
They let go of doctors who couldn’t keep up.
They sought outside help.
Still, they couldn’t drag themselves out of the hole.
The practice was at a breaking point, and Dr. Haller knew, in her gut, that Fee-For-Service was the problem. It was obsolete. It simply didn’t work.
For the good of herself, her practice, and her patients, something needed to change.
Instinctively, she knew she wanted to shift to a model that offered a long-term wellness program or a package or bundle of services. It made sense to her that a model like that would work. The problem was, she did not know how to implement such a model. Her mind was full of obstacles and questions.
How would she convert her practice? How would she set price points? How should she create and organize her packages? How would she onboard patients and get them excited about the change? What about training her staff and the other doctors? How would patient care be affected by the change?
Dr. Haller spent years paralyzed by these problems.
Then, A Colleague of Hers Started Getting The Results that She Wanted…
One of Dr. Haller’s close friends had been working with FPC for just about a year, and his practice was thriving. Of course, this was no coincidence. Dr. Haller and her friend talked often, and more he discussed his experience with FPC, the more intrigued Dr. Haller became. She’d been burned by consultants and business coaches before though, and she just couldn’t overcome her skepticism.
“Ya ya, okay, I’m not doing that anymore, I thought. I have spent so much money on coaches. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t help.
So I didn’t do anything about for a year.
Finally, I was so desperate. I was desperate and he was having success. He was having lots of success so I started asking more questions.
‘Tell me about this solution?’
‘What are you doing here?’
‘How did you solve that problem?’I liked the answers he was giving. They made sense to me. So I decided to give FPC a try. “
She was at her wit’s end, and knew she had to try something different. So, she decided to give FPC a shot.
How Freedom Practice Coaching showed Dr. Haller An Alternative to Fee-For-Service
It didn’t take long for the 100’s of questions that Dr. Haller had about creating packages to start getting answered. And these were answers that Dr. Haller liked.
“From the beginning, I was amazed by how detailed the coaching was. They were saying things like, “Do you own a job, or do you own a business?’ They were teaching me how to walk, how to talk. Providing me with a formula to determine my mark ups. Offering me data tracking that gave me power as a business person”
The biggest step came as the team of coaches and specialists at FPC hand-held Dr. Danite, Dr. Udell, and their staff through the 3-phases required to create their practice’s first all-inclusive wellness program.
Phase 1 – Develop Standard Packages for new patients
Dr. Haller identified the 3 types of patients who would join their practice and created 3 primary packages to meet the needs of each group. With these 3 packages in place, any new prospective patient who walked through the door, their staff was ready with a package that would deliver a superior experience. It didn’t matter if the new patient had a mild, moderate or severe case- they were ready.
The packages created for Arizona Natural Health Center were large and multifaceted. Services included classes and group education, patient visits with the doctor, labs and diagnostic tests, case review time, professional-grade supplements, specialty treatments, and access to other practitioners who Dr. Danite determined would be a good fit to support a particular patient.
Phase 2 – Customize Packages for Individual Patients
Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all health solution. The Packaging Specialist from FPC trained Dr. Danite and her team to customize their core packages in order to better accommodate the health needs of individual patients. This ensured that each patient would always receive the highest level of individual care, giving them the best chance to meet, and exceed, their health goals.
Phase 3 – Use the ‘Perfect 1st Visit’ Model To Enroll New Prospective Patients Into a Package
Buying into a wellness package is an investment on the part of the patient. In help the patient make the right decision, they need to understand how a program like this will impact their life.
One of the FPC team members, a Patient Enrollment Specialist helped Dr. Haller and her team create the ‘Perfect 1st Visit’ experience to help Danite understand a process that enrolls patients into multi-month packages.
Dr. Danite learned how to:
· Help the patient develop a clear and inspiring health goal, so they see the package as an investment in their future.
· Establish the patient-practitioner relationship as a partnership where the practitioner commits to the patient and the patient commits to making lifestyle changes.
· Address any questions, objections, concerns or perceived problems, putting the patient at ease.
“The new model provided me a space and a conversation to onboard patients through – I could excite them. We find patients who are a better fit. The way you set up your relationships with patients in this model, sets them up for better success.”
With the support of FPC, Dr. Haller and her team were soon enrolling over 70% of their first-time patients into long-term packages.
How did packaging services impact revenue?
Dr. Danite joined FPC in late November 2016, she spend much of December developing her packages and setting everything up.
Previously, under a Fee-For-Service model, her practice would oscillate between $32,000-$37,000 in revenue.
By January, they’d developed their packages, and became offering them to new patients.
In this first month offering packages, she increased the revenue by 74% from the month before. (This set a new practice revenue record.)
In February, the practice added $6K from the month before, setting another record.
In March– she set another record.
In April and May, the revenue decreased (even though it was still higher than any month in 2016). Dr. Danite wasn’t sure why this had happened so she got on the phone with her coaches and they looked at her stats, and gave her advice to course correct.
By June, she was back on track to set a new revenue record, and at this point she’d officially doubled the size of her practice.
In just 6 quick months, Dr. Haller had more than double her monthly revenue. (So much for Fee-For-Service)
And The Happiest Surprise Of All Was…
“When I started packaging my services, I expected to make more money, and even work less. What I didn’t expect is that I would get even better patient results.”
Dr. Haller’s words reflect a common feeling that doctors have after they switch from a Fee-For-Service model.
The packaged service model is so transformative for the modern because it is built around creating the optimal patient experience. The result is that the patients get much better results.
With a traditional Fee-For-Service model, patients end up picking and choosing services. They consider value on an a la carte basis, only paying for supplements, tests, and visits if they think it’s worth it. Sticker-shock, confusion, and misunderstanding lead to patients frequently skipping out on treatments, services, and supplements that they need to get better. Rather than seeing their treatment plan as a comprehensive program with each piece being necessary, they see a mess of disconnected costs that they simply don’t understand.
Further, commitment under a Fee-For-Service model always varies from appointment to appointment. Drop off is incredibly common, which is a disaster. When a patient drops off and their health starts to decline (even a little), they often blame the doctor.
The packaged service model is designed to deliver the ‘Perfect Patient Experience.’ It provides patients with a structure and a roadmap. It allows them to visualize their path to better health. It also lets the doctor stay in control as they create the perfect custom package to meet their patients most ambitious health goals.
Under the packaged service model, patients understand that they receive comprehensive care, and they have to play their part by changing their health habits. Results improve dramatically because they’re more committed and they receive the full range of treatments they need!
Instead of viewing their doctor as a salesperson that pushes something new every time they walk through the door… they see their doctor as a partner. Someone committed to their health and happiness. For Dr. Haller, this lead to better patient results across the board.
The patients perceived a higher level of value with the package, which meant that they were willing to invest more, and had a higher compliance rate.
Her and her husband Eric are fulfilling their mission to impact lives. Only now, they don’t have to sacrifice their own well-being and livelihood to do it.
Dr. Haller’s Amazing “Post Fee-For-Service” Life
In short… her life is totally different. In all the best ways possible. Dr. Haller has cut back from working overtime each week to just 40 hours. After spending years working 12 hour days, her new 9-5 schedule feels like a breeze. Finally, she has been able to spend more quality time with patients, which is what she really cares about.
“I no longer feel like I am constantly in a panic. I feel empowered around my business. I have help. I have coaches. I have a group of people working for me.
FPC has provided us with so many answers. The nature of the coaching and the consulting is so thorough. I feel like FPC is committed to my success as a business owner and they won’t stop until I am successful. They have done an amazing job in breaking down all the different parts of what’s important to make a practice work in this model. The nature of their coaching is just so helpful.
I would say don’t hesitate. It is an amazing switch for your business. It works. It creates a much higher quality of life. I work less. I make more money. I have better patients”
