Clinical Equipment

Evaluate what equipment you will need for the clinical area of your practice — and decide whether you should purchase or lease the equipment.

Posted in Equipment Financing & Loans on Thursday, December 15, 2016

How to Evaluate Your Practice's Needs

The equipment you need will primarily depend on how you intend to practice.

You'll want to answer questions such as:

• Do you want to see a high or low volume of patients?
• What type of adjusting technique will you be using?
• Do you want an open layout or private rooms?
• Will you be administering physio therapies; if so, what types?
• Will you be taking X-rays?
• How will records and files be stored?

Answering questions such as these and knowing your facility’s floor plan will help you take the first steps to determine what equipment you’ll need.

What Equipment is Necessary?

If you’re on a tight budget or are just starting into practice, you'll especially want to choose equipment wisely. 

You can keep your overhead low by starting with the basics. Then, when your budget permits, you can purchase additional equipment or upgrade existing equipment.

Make sure that a break-even point analysis is done to justify the acquisition of any new equipment,

For a start-up doctor, purchasing well-cared-for used equipment may make good financial sense. Remember to perform due diligence on the equipment and the vendor.

Choosing the Brand of Equipment

Once you have decided what equipment will be necessary (and is essential from a cost-benefit analysis), it’s time to shop. But how do you know which brand is best? And who are the vendors in your area that sell and service these types of equipment?

Begin by contacting other D.C.s to find out about the reputation of the equipment and that of the vendor (availability and accessibility to service the equipment). Another doctor who has had experience in working with a vendor will be the best resource you can find. 

Check out the Chiropractic Economics website, www.chiroeco.com for an annual review of chiropractic equipment including information about vendors, types of equipment and contact information.

You can also ask your state chiropractic association/society for a list of reputable vendors. Your association/society may have “endorsed” a vendor, which typically means they have done the due diligence and deemed the vendor to be of high quality and reliability. (The Congress of Chiropractic State Associations' web site provides links to all the state chiropractic associations -- www.cocsa.org.