Chinese medicine and the troubled economy
It’s a natural thing for all of us to be thinking about the economy right now. While I think that people often pay too much attention to the news, allowing their Shen to get seriously disturbed, there’s really no question that we’re in a bit of an economic downturn. I have seen that our school clinic seems to be drawing relatively fewer patients, and my practitioner friends have also seen an overall reduction in patient visits. Some students in my class, facing immanent graduation, are getting a little nervous.
Deepest Health reader Jason suggested that I write an article about this topic, which spurred me to action. He writes:
“With the economy in a very precarious situation, what does that mean for practitioners of Chinese medicine, or indeed any CAM therapist? What would be some good strategies for weathering an economic downturn (or heaven forbid, an economic meltdown)? And for people like me, is this even a good time to invest the time and money for an education is Chinese medicine? In my perfect world, I’d do it anyway, and then I would treat anyone regardless of what they can pay. Just can’t ignore the money though, can you?”
Indeed.
There are a number of issues embedded in Jason’s statement. Before I offer my observations, I’d love to pose the two main questions to Deepest Health readers - post your responses in the comments. I look forward to a lively discussion!
1. From a practitioner perspective, what are some good business strategies for weathering an economic downturn?
2. From a student perspective, is this a good time to pursue education in Chinese medicine?
If you like what you read here, you may want to keep updated by using my RSS feed. Want to know more about RSS/feeds? - read more here. Thanks for visiting!
Tags: Business, economy, graduate school, money
Related posts
Comments
17 Responses to “Chinese medicine and the troubled economy”
Leave a Reply
-
-
What am I up to?
-
Subscribe to Deepest Health
The best strategy is simple: get results.
I think Abdallah has hit the nail on the head!
However, redoubling the efforts of making sure that you are really attuned to what your patients need is helpful. If they talk about a physical problem their spouse or friend or coworker is having, be sure to jump in there and talk about how you can help. Our office offers a free 15 minute consultation, which is really just some talking time for potential patients to come in and talk to us about what to expect.
The hardest and the best thing is to remember that small business fluctuates. Don’t get over stressed when you don’t have a full week. Just keep getting the word out there.
I want to add another facet to this question: if, as it is looking like might happen, Obama gets in and we get nationalized healthcare, how will that change our practices–consider that Britain and most other countries with national healthcare don’t cover complementary therapies.
I’ll take this one. An impending Obama administration is probably the best thing we could possibly hope for, and I’m kind of surprised CM practitioners aren’t absolutely abuzz with this. Here’s why: every time Obama discusses his healthcare plan the primary points he addresses are 1) tighter accountability and regulation of the insurance companies, 2) coverage for pre-existing conditions, 3) increased focus on preventative and alternative medicine. All of that plays directly into our hands and as long as we don’t drop the ball through lack of results or dumb practices we’re sitting right on the brink of the CM explosion we’ve been waiting for.
We also have the ability to greatly adjust our fee schedule to accommodate the times since, let’s face it, we don’t have a whole lot of overhead (unless you’re one of these knuckleheads buying $10,000 machines to simulate results you should be able to get with $.05 worth of needles). As Dr. Stickley says, results will pave the way for you.
I am just starting up my practise so it is hard to tell how the crunch is going to hit me. Recently business has been building. Slowly but surely.
Because shiatsu is a massage/body work practise I am lucky in that I can be flexible in how I sell myself. I have a couple of days in local fitness suites so can offer short chill out sessions as well as my 60/90 minute “medical” treatments.
But before I started this I was an IT guy in a credit card company specialising in sub-prime loans. I would rather be starting my own business now than sitting at my old desk wondering what the future holds for me.
Studying shiatsu and Chinese medicine is another skill to add to my personal resume. I count myself lucky to have so many skill options that I can put to use in these uncertain times.
That is one thing I never do is watch the news. They make things seem so bad. Believe the saying. “Bad news sells” Out of all the stress reducers I have done, this by far is the main one.
[...] may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!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 [...]
From a student perspective, is this a good time to pursue education in Chinese medicine
As a bodyworker, I have found that it is best to target your advertising efforts to medical results. That over ‘relaxing’ although if folks don’t relax, their health is going down the toilet!
If someone is interested in pursuing a career in Chinese Medicine and can afford to do it, I say YES, Go for it! Don’t let these bad times stop you, weather it out, it will get better.
Thanks for making this discussion happen, Eric. I’ve been constantly feeding my determination to study CM for at least a good half year now, so there was really little chance I was going to scrap it just because of all the doom and gloom on the news about our economy. But it did make me pause to remember that I am probably deciding that this practice is going to be the main way I make a living in the future, so I am going to have to be particularly conscious of how to make my ideals work in harmony with my financial goals.
And thanks to Abdallah for his simple advice. If I didn’t already have a ton of intrinsic reasons to fully commit to the study of this medicine, I could certainly add quite a few extrinsic reasons now in light of this topic.
Thanks to everyone for participating in this discussion - it’s one that will need to continue in various ways. Jason, I’m glad it could be helpful for you and strengthen your resolve to study this medicine!
e
i’ve got a couple of things to add:
1) CM is one of the cheapest, most effective modalities in the healing realm. as it continues to make itself known via good practitioners, its benefits will become more apparent and its use and popularity will increase, simply because it is cost-effective.
2) when the economy is down, that is the best time to be in school: government tends to cut interest rates for school loans to encourage people to re-train.
Health care at its best–aligning individuals with their true nature– is an investment in a more fulfilling and productive economy. Of course, the economic and political reality is currently based on insanity, and we could lose sight of our purposes in order to appear relevant to this insanity. Better to do what we do, and as Abdallah said, do it well.
Well, this economic downturn after all only hastens my plans to be like Don Elijio Panti from the book Sastun. And as Julie said, aligning an individual with her true nature is the highest form of results.
Hi Abdallah, I hadn’t heard of the book, Sastun; Look forward to reading it now. Thanks.
Sastun happens to be one of those books I’ve had a few copies of and eventually give away. It’s a fun, inspiring read. I hope you enjoy it.
In a down economy people still needs their health care needs met. I don’t look at Chinese Medicine at a high ticket or discretionary item. Alternative Medicine will always be in demand because Western Medicine just cannot solve people’s health care needs and those who are looking to heal will seek out alternatives like Chinese Medicine.
Those are just my opinions.. anyone agree?
On the point of not watching the news - I think I was reading Dr. Weil when he suggested not watching or reading the news any more - this was about a year ago, and for the most part, I have stopped. I don’t even have cable TV any more which helps. I think my happiness and outlook have really improved and I don’t feel quite so anxious about things any more. I really mean that. News is toxic.