Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/62026
RET AILING TODA Y No pain GETTING CHIROPRACTIC CARE AT THE JOINT IS AS EASY AS ENTERING A STORE By Dees Stribling N "The Joint borrows as much as it can from a retail way of doing things, offering a model of care delivery that's convenient and easy to understand," said John Leonesio, CEO of The Joint Corp., which franchises these chiroprac- tic clinics. "We aren't looking to change the way chiropractors per- form their service, just the way their service reaches the public." Perhaps the Joint is most un- like typical health care providers in the way its patients pay for services. There is a small selection of fixed prices for well-defined chiropractic services, and patients pay for what they receive when they receive it. In- surance is not accepted, thus elimi- nating a significantly irritating part of the process. The pricing structure is so straightforward, in fact, that the company posts it on the website. 64 SCT / MAY 2012 MORE LIKE A SPA THAN A CLINIC rors pricing common with most forms of health insurance. For the chiroprac- tors, there is none of the maddeningly labor-intensive bother or the irrational expense associated with billing an in- surance company. "It's a very simple setup: Each clinic has two or three doc- tors and a receptionist," said Leonesio. "There's less administrative headaches all around." Also unlike most health care pro- EVER MIND QUESTIONS ABOUT health insurance and co-pays. Forget about any long waits in a waiting room. And here is no sterile health care setting and this no typical visit to a health care facility, neither for patient nor for provider. Welcome to The Joint — The Chiropractic Place, where health care meets retail. For the patients, there is no question whether this or that insurance plan is accepted, and none of the hall-of-mir- viders, patients need no appointment. The clinics operate on evenings and weekends, borrowing yet another page from the retail playbook that stresses convenience. And patients who buy a membership can visit any Joint site without any referral or appointment. The clinics are designed to de-em- phasize the "clinical" look, Leonesio says. "It's almost a spa look, with one common area with several adjustment