Outskirts Press, INC.

John P. Hayes JR., DC, MS, DABCO

President, Perfect Practice Web

Living and Practicing…by design.



This story begins with my not so unique fascination of what makes things work, most especially human beings. In reality, mostly how we, as physicians and healthcare teams of all disciplines help fix them when they break. Why have I, and those who follow the systems we design and advocate the lifestyle choices we choose been so successful at this?



Because it’s not just healers knowledge, but also everything about us that patients sense, trust and embrace. Unspoken dialogues that let them know they are in the right place or not. There are great academicians in all the healing arts with terrible manners that repel patients. We all have had some of them as instructors. Now too many “review” insurance claims.



Now, as DCs our profession risks losing that position, because way too many are afraid to take a strong stand. Our forefathers who went to jail for practicing healthcare by these very same principles now weep at our softness.



But, as a caregiver, all of this can be extraordinarily stressful, and economically unfeasible without excellent systems.

You can lose yourself in the process, and wind up resenting your chosen path.



Or, you can focus on what’s most essential to you in life, and deliver services to your patients in ways that fully supports them. Live a phenomenally enviable lifestyle, while advancing humanity as the “beast” destroys itself.



And that’s what this book is about. These are my short takes on preserving the fine art of private healthcare practices, no matter what letters follow your name.

Going through the “changes”?

A new way of looking at the future.





Is their life after career? This admittedly, is one of the biggest issues facing today’s doctors, and other health care professionals. Let’s face it. Anybody who has been in a private practice or a healthcare career ten years or more especially will tell you, almost invariably, that their perception of practice and their personal role in its has changed dramatically over what it once was even a few short years ago.



Some of this naturally is just a shift in various attitudes as we age, but in my opinion some of this also is deeply rooted in the numerous challenges that we are faced with, with ever increasing frequency.



It wasn’t that long ago, that health care professionals, indeed most professionals, chose one career pathway, and simply stayed on that very same path for forty years or more. Some just retired from work entirely.



And no doubt, some of you reading this right now have never even thought about retirement or a life after work or practice. Perhaps you are new to this, and the concept of doing something totally different with your life seems very distant, not necessarily a priority. But, the fact of the matter is, that the vast majority of doctors and other health care professionals are 30 years old or more before they even start to glimpse financial security. Many of us, are now, or will be even older than 30 by time we reach that same point due to rising prices of education. Not to even mention those costs associated with starting a private practice. Next, for most of us the years spent from 30 to 45 or 50 are spent raising families, as well as paying down physical emotional and financial debt that’s left over from early in our careers.



Now add to this the unforeseen circumstances such as those associated with work, living the lifestyle you and your significant others imagined as students, the natural physical and emotional changes of getting older, a significant illness or disability of yourself, spouse or close family member, unforeseen divorce, the ever evolving practice landscape… I call this collection of life circumstances health care professionals face simply, the “changes”...