I’ve just begun a discussion about Chinese medicine and the economy over at my other blog, Deepest Health. It’s an issue on many of our minds lately, so worthy of a robust conversation. Here on Natural Medicine Business Success, I want to look at a slightly different angle. It seems that many people still see “alternative medicine” therapy as an expense that fits into the “disposable income” category of their budget. In my money management software, it fits most neatly under “Spa” activities, which are in the same place as haircuts and bikini waxes. I’ve recently gone to great lengths to alter this so I can place it in the same place as “Dentist visits” and “Pharmacy.” That’s where it belongs.
Now, there are many issues involved in this discussion. It’s important not to obscure the conversation by leaving them all mixed up together. One important distinction involves insurance. Many people still do not have insurance to cover acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. In an economically depressed time, people will most likely stop using any healthcare that does not get at least mostly reimbursed by their insurance. Likewise, uninsured people are quite likely to stop getting healthcare services altogether when their finances get tight. The whole question of insurance is a separate, but embedded, concern in this conversation.
All things being equal, I still feel that many people would preferentially choose Western medical treatment over any “complementary or alternative” healthcare treatment during tight economic times. I feel that this is the fault of “complementary and alternative” healthcare practitioners, for the most part. We are absolutely responsible for being an educational force in the world. When we have fewer patients, we should be doing double education duty out in the community. Giving talks, getting articles in the paper, writing to our blogs, working on our books and journal articles, teaching cheap and free classes in our clinics – all of these things can help continue to educate the general public about the great benefits of what we do.
If people are more educated about the benefits of Chinese medicine (or whatever modality you practice) they are less likely to see it as “disposable” and thus more likely to continue visiting you during difficult economic times.
Personally, I believe that this sort of socio-economic climate makes Chinese medicine therapy more important for people than ever. This is also true of most alternative medical modalities. Why? I can think of three major reasons, all of which would make worthy talk/article topics for your renewed public education efforts:
- Stress relief : Nearly all alternative medical therapies are well-suited to help patients manage stress. When economic pressures are high, people get tense, and the damaging health and relationship effects of stress are well-documented. While it’s hard to keep a long-range view when short-range difficulties are so present, being aware of stress’ effects will pay off. Even from a more short-term perspective, the improvement in daily functioning, work performance and sense of resilience should more than justify the relatively small costs associated with acupuncture (or other) treatment.
- Avoiding major illness : When your belt is tightened, the last thing you need is to miss work because of a terrible cold – much worse to have a flare up of your lupus symptoms, need to increase your pain medication, or end up in the emergency room because of some serious health concern. Keeping one’s body in balance with Chinese medicine or other complementary medical therapy just makes good economic sense from the perspective of avoiding a paycheck draining visit to the MD or ER. I have seen many patients stay strong through cold season (thus no visit to the MD, plus no loss of work time) when normally they would have had to take sick days. I’ve also seen patients have the opportunity to decrease pain and other medication (thus reducing costs) because of acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatment. Think about it!
- For some conditions – natural medicine therapy is just cheaper! Let’s face it – Western medicine doesn’t have great solutions for a variety of medical conditions. Consider Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Western medical intervention is both expensive and largely ineffective for the majority of CFS sufferers. Why pay exorbitant office visit fees (even if you only have to pay a co-pay) and fill your body full of expensive pharmaceuticals (that rarely get to the root of the problem)? While I’m legally obligated to avoid saying that Chinese medicine can “cure” CFS, I can say that I’ve seen CFS sufferers have energy and optimism for the first time in many years after a fairly cheap course of Chinese medicine therapy. Even a fairly expensive practitioner should be able to make good progress with a CFS suffer for under $1000. This is a seriously debilitating condition for people who experience it – $1000 is a small price to pay for the ability to go to work, have satisfying relationships and get on with one’s life.
I’m interested to hear others’ perceptions about how economic downturns impact natural health practices. Please leave your thoughts in the comments!
Eric
Tags: Business, talks, The economy, downturn, natural medicine business, articles
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I happened upon this site when looking for information about the Pericardium. Something I’m having trouble with because of some difficult business changes I need to make – fortunately because of a growing practice. What a great find!
So here’s my comment about the economic downturn and how it is effecting TCM. I am definitely more busy now than ever. So many patients are coming in with asthma, allergies, anxiety etc. and are saying” Im spending this money that I feel I don’t have right now but I know that it works and it’s a cheaper way to keep myself healthy than the emergency room visits, my inhaler, my anti-depressants, pain-killers, that I just feel I need to make this investment. I really can’t afford to miss work right now.”
I’m seeing more patients that haven’t been in in a long time returning because stress has set off their sx again and they know that our methods of treatment are nurturing and cost effective in these tough times.
I really believe that if you can provide a a comforting, healing oasis in these troubled times you will not only survive this hard economic time but you will be planting the seeds for more business in the future . Even more important: you can feel great about your contribution to advancing true healthcare (as opposed to disease management).
Saying “Western medical intervention is both expensive and largely ineffective for the majority of CFS sufferers.” simply isn’t true. There are many safe and effective medications for CFS/ME like low dose naltrexone, we’d just need more doctors who are open-minded enough to prescribe them. And some medications, like antiviral drugs, can even be curative.
I’m not saying TCM is useless for this purpose, far from that, but conventional medicine can also produce very good results, if the doctor is an expert or at least very open to new therapies.