Profiles In Practice Success
The Bellins: Making Smart Choices
By Mark Farmer

Drs. David and Melissa Bellin attribute the success of their growing practice to intelligence – both educated and innate. The innate version led them to a gem of an office location.

"We’re structured people, but we found our new office through innate intelligence," David said.

Melissa was driving a friend around the metropolitan Atlanta area when she stumbled onto Post Riverside, a town center-style development. The Bellins looked at a space that had just become available, and in a mere two weeks they relocated from nearby Marietta.

"It just felt right," Melissa said.

The Post complex mixes residential and commercial space around a central square with an eye toward creating a small-town look. Fifteen hundred people spend part of their day in the close-knit community. The Bellins saw it as an ideal place to grow a practice, and their decision appears to have been the right one. In the first five months of occupancy, the couple provided care for as many patients as they had in four years at their previous office.

The couple quickly notes, however, that the previous incarnation of Bellin Chiropractic was a part-time operation, since both doctors had other commitments. David taught at Life University – where both received their D.C. degrees – and Melissa worked as a dancer and on-air personality in the flamboyant world of professional wrestling.

While innate may have led them to their new office, the practice is a product of thorough research. The Bellins use traditional methods of gathering information, such as word of mouth, trade publications and continuing education, but they have come to rely on Internet Web sites with free classified ads as an valuable resource.

The couple is convinced that too many new doctors, fresh out of chiropractic school, fall into outdated notions of how to establish a practice and don’t do their homework. They advise looking beyond popular choices and being candid with vendors about starting a career.

"A key for new doctors in practice is to never be afraid to say, ‘I’m just getting started in practice.’ Let people know, and they will be more willing to help and give you information that they might not otherwise give," Melissa pointed out.

Nearly every facet of their practice seems to have an accompanying tale of how they did exhaustive research to find the best value.

For instance, when they began to outfit their office with equipment, they shopped around and found quality, refurbished gear from little known dealers. They paid substantially less for some items – new, or even used – than they would have paid to popular dealers.

"We really took our time and found the good deals," Melissa noted. "We didn’t go out and get everything brand new and lease it and put ourselves in extreme debt."

They have made Access Equipment Solutions a prime source for their chiropractic gear, because the company allowed the doctors to test equipment in their office before purchasing.

The Bellins also point out that established chiropractors sometimes donate their surplus equipment to new doctors.

"If you are an honest, genuine chiropractor when you graduate, a lot of times when you go into the community and you get in touch with other chiropractors, they will give you equipment," David said.

He explains that new doctors often believe they have to start a practice with $40,00 to 50,000, but that, by working to find the best deals, they can open an office with X-ray equipment for about $20,000-25,000 and without X-ray equipment for about $10-12,000.

He adds that although these estimates are valid for the Atlanta area, where used equipment is fairly easy to get, they may not apply to other areas of the country.

The bonus, he notes, is that keeping overhead low lets the doctors focus on their patients rather than on finances. Bellin Chiropractic & Associates allows an independent contractor to work out of the office three days each week. With their practice firmly established and growing, the Bellins are now carefully considering their next big step – hiring a front desk administrator.

To help run their business, the couple uses a computer with the ubiquitous Microsoft Office software, and for practice management functions, they installed the MediSoft system, a $99 program that generates insurance claims reports, tracks billing and even remembers patients’ birthdays.

To succeed in practice, the couple had to educate themselves about insurance. Allstate, which insures their home and car, also covers the business. The Bellins say that business insurance costs are similar, so it pays to be attentive to the coverage given. For malpractice insurance, they chose Chiropractic Benefit Services, which offers several measures designed to reduce liability and premiums and supports subluxation-based chiropractic research.

To help with the often-dizzying maze of insurance billing codes, the couple turns to the <I>ChiroCode DeskBook<I>, which concisely explains how to navigate the tricky waters of working with insurance companies.

Besides the benefits of their choice office location, the Bellins’ association with the Post company assists their marketing efforts. They write a column about health for Post Riverside’s monthly newsletter, and they also advertise in the company’s magazine, <I>Post Notes<I>, which is distributed to 18,000 Atlanta-area residents.

In addition, Melissa teaches a yoga class at Post Riverside.

"People call and say, ‘I’ve been to your yoga class, and I’m interested in finding out about chiropractic.’ It’s been a great way to introduce myself to the community. They see me in a different perspective, and they feel more comfortable," she said.

The Bellins believe proper marketing demands an emphasis on health, not on pain. Indeed, their forthcoming Yellow Pages ad includes a health-related teaser and points the reader to their soon-to-be-posted Web site, www.bellinchiropractic.com.

"If you’re going to chase ambulances and low back pain, which is maybe five or ten percent of the population, then there’s competition in that because there’s only a small number of those kind of people. There’s no competition in getting sick people well, because that’s a hundred percent of the community," David said.

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