What if your in-office team could spend less time answering phones, managing paperwork, and staring at screens, and more time focused on the patients right in front of them? In this Chiropractic Deep Dive, we explore how chiropractic practices are using virtual assistants and AI to reduce administrative overwhelm, improve efficiency, lower operating costs, and create a better patient experience. From remote scheduling and recall calls to AI-powered training and digital systems, discover how the right technology and virtual team can help your practice grow without adding more chaos.
Your best team members should not be spending their day buried in administrative work.
In this episode of the Successful Chiro Podcast, we break down insights from a Five Star Management training led by Dr. Noel Lloyd on how chiropractic practices are integrating virtual assistants and AI into their daily operations.
You’ll discover how practices are moving computer-based tasks away from the physical front desk, allowing their in-office teams to concentrate on patient care, communication, and creating an exceptional clinic experience.
In This Episode You'll Learn:
The goal is not simply to outsource tasks.
It is to create an environment where your in-office team can focus on the things technology cannot replace: human connection, empathy, leadership, and excellent patient care.
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[00:00:00] Imagine you're like a master artisan, like a sculptor. Right. And you're about to make this one defining- Mm. -chisel strike on a total masterpiece. Right, right. You need complete focus. Exactly, complete focus. But right as you raise your hammer, someone taps you on the shoulder and asks if you filed the daily compliance reports.
Oh, man. And then the phone just starts ringing off the hook, and then two of your assistants start bickering over, I don't know, whose turn it is to order more clay. Your focus is totally gone. It's gone. The masterpiece is definitely gonna suffer. And honestly, looking at the notes you brought in for today's session, that is exactly what it feels like in so many chiropractic clinics right now.
It really is. It's a huge problem. So welcome to the Chiropractic Deep Dive. This is a part of the Successful Chiro podcast, and we are so glad you are here with us. Yes, welcome. We specifically designed this deep dive for you today based on some incredible source material. It was this really eye-opening Zoom call led by Dr.
Noel Lloyd. Yeah, that call was just [00:01:00] packed with insights. It really was. And, you know, as a dedicated member of the Five Star Management team, your premier chiropractic consulting company, I am just incredibly excited to unpack this with you. Same here. We have a lot of ground to cover. We do. So our mission today is to tackle this massive problem that chiropractors are facing literally every single day.
Mm-hmm. We're talking about a rapidly changing workforce, wasted money, clumsy processes, and just, well, staff drama. Yeah, the drama is real. Yeah. And it's draining. It is. But we're also gonna explore the ultimate solution that Dr. Noel Lloyd presented, which is integrating virtual assistants, or VAs, and AI into your practice.
Right, and it's such an urgent conversation to have. Yeah. Because the stakes here, they go way beyond just, you know, keeping up with new tech. Oh, for sure. When you really look at that Zoom call, you see this pervasive industry-wide issue. Payroll costs are escalating. The administrative processes are just so clunky.
Like, really clunky. Exactly. Yeah. [00:02:00] So the core issue you're facing isn't just about efficiency on a spreadsheet. It's about your highly trained in-office staff being totally bogged down by administrative overwhelm. Yeah, they're just staring at screens all day. Right. They're managing databases instead of focusing on the actual physical patients who are standing right in front of them in pain.
Okay, let's unpack this. Because to fix the problem of an overwhelmed staff, we really have to identify the mechanism that's slowing them down in the first place, right? Yeah. We have to find the bottleneck. And during Dr. Noel Lloyd's call, one of the participants dropped what I think should be the operating baseline for literally every clinic.
Oh, I know the quote you're talking about. It's so good. It's this simple rhyming mantra. They said, "If uses a mouse, get it out of the house." It's so catchy, but the underlying operational philosophy there is what makes it so powerful. Totally. I mean, think about the friction in your clinic. Any computer-based task that takes your in-office chiropractic assistants, [00:03:00] you know, your CAs away from face-to-face patient interaction, that's a direct liability.
It's hurting your growth. It's hurting growth and the patient experience. But by moving those screen-bound tasks to a VA, you aren't just outsourcing labor, you are fundamentally re-engineering the clinic's environment. Which is huge for the culture, right? Exactly. By removing all that constant administrative friction, clinics are seeing a drastic reduction in staff drama.
Wait, really? Mm. Just from moving tasks? Yeah, because that drama is almost always a byproduct of the environment. Think about it. Cramped physical spaces behind a desk, high ambient noise, and staff just being forced to aggressively multitask under pressure. Okay, that makes sense. Everyone is just stressed out.
Right. But a VA isn't physically in the office. They're completely insulated from that physical chaos. I mean, I hear that. It's like having a Michelin star chef chopping onions in the back room instead of actually plating the main course. That is a perfect analogy. But I do have to push back [00:04:00] just a little bit here.
Are we actually eliminating the drama, or are we just sort of relocating it? What do you mean? Well, say a remote worker halfway across the world messes up the schedule, or they file an insurance claim wrong. The on-site person is still the one who has to stand there and deal with the angry patient in the lobby.
That is a very valid concern, and it's exactly why Dr. Lloyd's call focused heavily on integrating AI alongside these specialized VAs. Oh, right, to stop the errors before they happen. Exactly. You aren't just handing a laptop to someone and saying, "Good luck." You are equipping them with enterprise-level tools.
Okay, what kind of tools are we talking about? Well, one participant on the call shared that they use AI tools like ChatGPT to handle really complex, high-stakes communication. Like what? Like writing firm emails to personal injury lawyers. Wow, okay. That's serious stuff. It is. And instead of a stressed-out front desk worker spending an hour agonizing over the exact legal phrasing while the phones are ringing, the [00:05:00] VA just prompts the AI.
They just give it the core facts. Right, and it instantly generates this flawless professional response. The error rate just plummets because the VA has the singular focus required to actually leverage the AI. While the in-house staff is just, you know, trying to survive the morning rush. Exactly. That completely flips the script.
You're giving the complex, high-focus work to the person who actually has a quiet room to do it in. Which just makes so much sense when you think about it. It really does. Okay, so insulating the clinic from friction makes sense in theory, but I'm trying to picture the actual execution of this on a daily basis.
Okay, let's get into the mechanics. Yeah, like when the physical staff arrives at the clinic at 7:00 AM What exactly has the VA already done? This is where the workflow details from the Zoom call get really fascinating. One clinic completely overhauled their daily operations by setting up two distinct VA shifts.
Oh, like a morning shift and an afternoon shift. Exactly. So the morning VA logs on at six thirty AM, whatever [00:06:00] time zone they happen to be in, and their explicit job is to remotely access the clinic's network and turn on all the digital infrastructure. Wait, so they're loading up the electronic health records, the EHR system, before anyone even gets there?
Yes. We're not- Before a single physical employee steps foot in the building. So they are completely eliminating that agonizing twenty-minute morning scramble. Ooh, you know the one. Yeah. Where the staff walks in, they turn on the lights, boot up the server, and then they're just clicking around waiting for software to update.
All-- While a patient is already waiting in the lobby, tapping their foot. Exactly. It's the worst way to start the day. But in this VA model, the office is virtually awake when the staff walks in. They just put their bags down and immediately start engaging with the patients. That's incredible. And then the afternoon VA handles the closing.
Right. The afternoon VA shuts it all down. They run the end-of-day reports, ensure the security protocols are met, and they verify all the data backups. Which means the physical staff [00:07:00] actually gets to clock out and go home to their families on time. Exactly. And that is a massive boost to long-term morale and retention.
Honestly, that alone seems worth the price of admission. It really is a game changer. But the operational hack that really caught my attention in the, the notes you shared was this, um, this bucket system. Oh, yeah. The bucket system is brilliant. It's so cool. So instead of the in-office staff meticulously scanning and then renaming and filing dozens of pieces of paperwork into all these individual patient charts, they just scan absolutely everything into one giant digital folder.
The bucket? Right, the bucket. Yeah. And then the VA goes into that folder, reads all the documents, separates them out, renames them, and drops them into the correct patient files in the EHR. It's such a smart division of labor because it separates the physical action from the cognitive action. But I do have to challenge this perfect division of labor a bit.
Okay, let's hear it. If your physical staff is still standing at a scanner all day feeding papers into this [00:08:00] digital bucket, haven't we just replaced typing with scanning? Like how is that actually saving them meaningful time? That’s a fair question, but it comes down to the psychology of task switching versus batch processing.
Okay, explain that. When an in-house CA has to scan a document, then open a file, then rename a PDF, find the right folder, and verify the upload, they are context switching. Or their brain is doing five different things. And it pulls their attention entirely away from the room. Oh, I see. But by just batch scanning everything into one bucket, which is just a purely physical repetitive motion that takes a few second, and they maintain their situational awareness of the clinic.
So they can still greet someone walking in the door. Exactly. The VA takes on all the cognitive load of categorizing and routing that data later. Okay, that makes total sense now. But they are doing way more advanced tasks than just digital filing. One of the most critical capabilities they discussed on the call was a VA actually marking X-rays.
Wait, really? [00:09:00] How is a VA in another country marking X-rays? It’s pretty amazing tech. Because they obviously aren’t looking at the physical films, and transferring massive high-res image files across the globe sounds like a nightmare, not to mention the security risks. Right, which brings us to the technical mechanism making this possible.
They aren’t downloading your files at all. They aren’t? No. They are using secure remote desktop protocol to log into a physical computer that is sitting right there in your clinic. Oh, wow, so the data never leaves the building. The data never leaves your clinic’s local server. Yeah. The VA is essentially just controlling the mouse on your local machine via an encrypted tunnel.
That is wild. The clinic staff can literally look at a monitor in the back room and see the cursor moving around, marking the X-rays in real time. It is fully secure, and it keeps all the heavy processing local. It’s literally like having a ghost in the machine doing your charting for you. A very productive ghost.
Yeah, no kidding. And they [00:10:00] apply this exact same secure, localized approach to patient communication too. Okay, how so? Well, VAs are taking over those crucial five, seven, and eleven-month patient recall calls. Like a lot of outbound calling. It is. But they are doing this using VoIP, Voiceover Internet Protocol, and it’s routed directly through the clinic system.
Oh, so it looks like a local call. Exactly. When the patient’s cell phone rings, it displays your clinic’s familiar local area code, not some random international number. Which naturally brings up the question of patient perception, right? No-- Yeah. That’s always a big concern for doctors. Because if a VA from, say, the Philippines or South Africa is calling a patient for a seven-month recall- Yeah
do the patients get suspicious of the accent? That’s a common worry. Right. Because your long-term patients, they know your front desk staff. If they hear a completely different voice with a foreign accent, doesn't that break the illusion of this local family practice? Dr. Lloyd's participants actually address [00:11:00] this head-on.
Okay, what do they say? Well, first, the reality is that most patients simply assume the clinic just hired a new local assistant. Oh, they don't even question it. Mostly no. And if a patient does ask, you know, "Who is this?" The VA is just trained to cheerfully respond, "Oh, I'm the new scheduling assistant. I work with the team."
Simple as that. But what's truly strategic is how some clinics are using this to their advantage. What do you mean? One participant shared a story where they deliberately sought out a VA from South Africa. Why South Africa specifically? Because they specifically wanted that British South African accent answering their phones.
Oh, wow. So instead of apologizing for a remote worker, they are framing them as like a premium specialized concierge. Precisely. They felt the accent elevated their brand. It matched the sophisticated high-end vibe they wanted for their practice. That is so smart. But the evolution of this strategy is even more interesting.
Okay, lay it on me. That same participant eventually went back to a specialized [00:12:00] agency in the Philippines because they found a candidate who completely blew them away. Oh, really? What made them so good? This VA had flawless English, a highly engaging personality, and here is the absolute kicker. She already had three years of prior experience working virtually for the joint chiropractic.
No way. So she already knew the industry inside and out. Exactly. She knew the specific industry terminology, the software, and the exact psychological goals of a chiropractic scheduling call. You're literally hiring seasoned industry veterans at that point. You aren't having to teach someone what a subluxation is from scratch.
Exactly. It's plug and play. Okay, so it is abundantly clear that the mechanics work. From secure X-ray marking to localized VoIP recalls to waking up the servers The tech is there. It's totally there. But as a business owner, you have to look at the bottom line. Always. Does this actually move the needle for the practice financially?
What's fascinating here is the numbers [00:13:00] they shared on the call. The financial impact is just staggering. I was looking at the notes. We're talking big savings here. Massive. Clinics reported saving between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand dollars a year just by switching to contracted VAs. Fifty to a hundred grand.
That is serious money. And they are ensuring this is all done above board through fully IPA-compliant agencies. Participants specifically called out companies like Sphere Rocket and Medva. Okay, so fifty to a hundred thousand saved on payroll, payroll taxes, physical equipment, benefits, all of that. Right.
But if we really analyze the outcomes, the savings are honestly just a secondary benefit. Wait, a hundred grand in savings is the secondary benefit? Yeah, because the primary benefit is the growth factor. Okay, you have to explain that. Let's look back at the participant who hired that superstar VA from the Philippines.
Right, the one from the joint. Once she was fully onboarded, he made a radical move. He completely removed the phones from the physical front desk. Like took the phones away entirely. Entirely. The in-house staff [00:14:00] simply does not answer the phone anymore. Wow. That's a bold move. It is. But as a direct result of that one operational change, he saw an average of fifteen additional new patients scheduled every single month.
Fifteen extra new patients a month. Just by having a remote person answer the phone instead of the local team- Yep ... every single month. But why does the in-house staff fail at this compared to the VA? I mean, you'd assume the person physically standing in the healing environment would be far better at selling the clinic to a prospective patient.
You would definitely assume that, but you have to look at the underlying psychology of the physical front desk. Okay. The in-house staff member is constantly playing defense. Yeah. Picture their environment. They have a patient handing them a credit card, a doctor's calling out for a file from the hallway, a delivery driver needs a signature at the door, and then the phone rings.
Oh, I see. To them, the phone call is just another interruption. Exactly. It's a barrier to clearing the lobby. So they often [00:15:00] end up having this passive educational chat with the caller just to be polite. They answer a quick question about insurance and then try to get off the phone. Right. They just hang up so they can get back to the chaos right in front of them.
They are just trying to survive the shift. They aren't trying to close a sale. Exactly. The VA, on the other hand, is playing offense. Because they aren't distracted. Right. They are sitting in a quiet room with a noise-canceling headset. They have zero physical distractions, and most importantly, they have a singular measurable goal: get the caller on the schedule.
That is their only job. It is. They do not treat the call as a casual informational chat. They are highly trained to view every single ring as a pure scheduling opportunity. So because they control their environment, they can actually control the conversation. Yes. They systematically guide the patient through objections and book the appointment.
Wow. It's the difference between a receptionist and a dedicated inside sales rep. That's exactly what it is. Okay. So as a listener, [00:16:00] you are probably tracking with all of this less drama, massive savings, fifteen new patients a month. It sounds like an absolute dream. It really does. But the reality of actually implementing this, like training someone halfway across the world to navigate your specific EHR, your specific insurance verification processes, all your quirks- It sounds daunting.
It sounds like a monumental, terrifying task. Yeah. How do you actually build this blueprint without burning out your current staff in the process? It absolutely requires a paradigm shift in how you document your business. Okay. How so? Well, the onboarding process discussed in the Zoom call realistically takes about two to four weeks to get a VA running smoothly.
Two to four weeks. Okay. And the first rule is you cannot just hand them a dusty three-ring binder full of outdated standard operating procedures. Right. The days of the giant plastic binder are officially over. Long over. You have to digitize your operations using modern asynchronous tools. And the training playbook they laid out in the notes relies [00:17:00] heavily on two specific highly integrated tools, right?
Trello and Loom. Yes. Trello and Loom are the game changers here. So Trello is this visual project management board. You can think of it as a highly organized digital operations manual. Every single task in your clinic gets its own specific card. Right. And then Loom is a screen recording software It's basically like creating a digital ghost of your best employee.
I love that description. Yeah, because you aren't just writing down what they do. You're motion capturing their exact workflow so a VA can mimic it perfectly. It's brilliant. So instead of a doctor sitting down for three hours typing out a manual on how to verify insurance, they just do the task normally.
They hit record on Loom, share their screen, and narrate their clicks. Just talking through what they're doing? Exactly. Saying like, "I click this tab, then I open this specific dropdown menu." And then they just drop that three-minute video directly into the Trello card for insurance verification. It is an [00:18:00] incredibly frictionless way to capture tribal knowledge.
You're documenting the reality of the job, not just the theory of the job. Which is so much more helpful. But what is truly vital about this implementation process is how the VAs are actually introduced to all this material. Oh, right. Because the experts on Dr. Lloyd's call talked about putting new VAs through what they call a dark period.
A dark period. That sounds a little intense. What does that actually look like in practice? It's a brilliant safety and compliance protocol, actually. For the first two to four weeks of employment, the VA is in the dark. Meaning what? Meaning they do not have access to live patient data, and they are strictly forbidden from speaking to real patients.
Oh, so they're totally isolated from the live clinic. Completely. They spend this entire period exclusively studying your Trello board, watching the Loom videos, and learning your specific systems. Okay, but how do they practice talking to people if they can't talk to patients? This is where the technology becomes truly cutting edge.
To practice their phone skills, they use [00:19:00] AI-generated fictitious patient calls. Wait, they're role-playing with an AI? Yes, an AI simulator. How does that even work? And how do you know if they're actually any good at it? Well, it's a fully interactive simulator. The AI acts as the patient, and it's actually programmed to throw specific objections at the VA.
Oh, like what kind of objections? Things like, "Your prices are too high," or, "I don't have time this week," or even, "I'm scared of getting adjusted." Wow, real-world scenarios. Exactly, and the VA has to verbally navigate these objections in real time. Mm. But the AI doesn't just role-play. It actually grades the VA's performance based on very specific metrics.
The AI is grading them? Yes. It analyzes the VA's tone of voice to ensure empathy and professionalism. That is wild. It tracks their script adherence to make sure they're hitting key clinic value propositions. It measures their time to conversion, and it grades how effectively they handled the specific objection.
That is next level training. [00:20:00] It really is. The VA has to prove their competency, passing these rigorous AI grading rubrics before they are ever allowed to interact with a real human being connected to your clinic. So what does this all mean for you and your practice? It means you aren't just hiring someone, crossing your fingers, and hoping they know what to say when the phone rings.
Right. You aren't guessing. You are getting empirical graded proof of their skills. And I want to emphasize a huge secondary benefit here. Building this Trello board with these Loom videos isn't just a chore you are doing for the virtual assistant. Not at all. It fundamentally future-proofs your entire clinic.
If your lead in-house CA decides to move to another state tomorrow, you don't lose the five years of knowledge that was stuck in their head. Exactly. The digital blueprint remains perfectly intact. And actually, your remote VAs can use that very same Trello board to help train your new in-house hires. It's a closed loop system of continuous training.
And if we pull [00:21:00] all of this together and synthesize the core message from Dr. Noel Lloyd's deep dive It really is a truly empowering vision for the future of chiropractic care. It really is. By fully embracing virtual assistants and AI integration, you are not just cutting operational costs or, you know, outsourcing cheap labor.
Right. It's bigger than that. Much bigger. You are fundamentally optimizing your practice's environment. You are finally freeing up your in-house team to focus entirely on human connection, deep empathy, and patient healing. The things only a human can do. Exactly. The critical things that only a physical human in the room can provide.
Meanwhile, a dedicated, highly efficient virtual team systematically handles all the operational friction behind the scenes. Which brings us right back to that master sculptor we talked about at the very beginning. The one getting tapped on the shoulder. Right. Imagine if you never had to worry about ordering clay, filing compliance reports, or answering a ringing phone ever again.
Pure focus. Pure [00:22:00] focus. So I wanna leave you with this final thought to just mull over. If a virtual assistant could flawlessly execute every single technical and administrative process in your clinic by tomorrow morning, what would you and your in-house team finally have the time and energy to build?
That changes the entire trajectory of what a clinic can achieve. It really does. Yeah. And you know, if you are ready to eliminate those administrative bottlenecks and actually answer that question for your own practice, we at Five Star Management are here to help you make it a reality. We absolutely are.
You can book a completely free call with Dr. George Birnbach, using the direct link provided right down in the show notes. It's a great opportunity to get some clarity. Definitely. And if you wanna take your clinic's growth, efficiency, and profitability to the absolute next level, you have to attend our live two-day event in Dallas, Texas.
It's gonna be huge. It is happening this November 14th and 15th. We are running two incredible events simultaneously under [00:23:00] one roof. We've got New Patient Edge, which is gonna teach you exactly how to get more new patients fast. Such a crucial skill. And then we have the Win Win Associates event- Mm-hmm
which is entirely focused on our Win Win Associate system for bringing on doctors to create more growth, more freedom, and more success for everyone involved. The energy at these live events is just unmatched. It's amazing. So the link to register for the Dallas event is also right there in the show notes.
Make sure you check that out. You don't wanna miss it. Finally, don't forget to subscribe to the Successful Chiro podcast so you never miss out on these cutting edge insights. Keep your mouse out of the house, and we will see you on the next deep dive.