Let Boggs Do It

A knowledge of symptoms, scalpels and pills is not enough to make a doctor successful. Ernest L. Boggs has discovered that fact, to his profit. Since 1925, short, dark, stocky, persuasive ex-Salesman Boggs (advertising, automobiles, insurance, candy) has been teaching his Detroit doctor clients how to earn a living. He charges retaining fees of $75 a month to $5,000 a year, depending on the doctor's earning power and the success of the treatment. He fails in one case out of twelve.

Average income increase under Boggs's care is 20%; a few doctors have doubled their incomes. This is done partly by increasing the number of patients, chiefly by improving collections of fees without lawsuits (Boggs does not believe in suing patients). Some Boggs ideas:

> A doctor should keep systematic records and send bills out on the first of every month. Fees should depend not only on a patient's economic status, but on length of illness, success of treatment (billing is often held up until a doctor is sure), age of patient (since an 80-year-old has not so long to live as a 40-year-old, he should not be charged so much).

> The doctor's clothes should be good (Boggs sometimes prescribes suits at $150 apiece), and pressed, his linen white, his hoes shined. The office should be bright not too bright, stocked with fresh magazines and flowers. Sometimes all a lagging practice needs is an interior-decorating job.

> A doctor should always let his office know where to find him. His office girl should not be snippy. In talking to patients, he should not use technical language nor discuss his personal and financial affairs. At the end of every consultation he should make sure that all his patient's questions are answered.

> Every doctor needs a month's vacation every year.

> A doctor should not get too busy or patients will think they are getting a brush-off. Sometimes a crowded practice can be remedied by adding treatment rooms. One doctor who put in more treatment rooms at Boggs's suggestion began to think he had fewer patients than before. Actually he was handling 20% more patients.

> Nothing should interfere with attendance at medical meetings and luncheon clubs (e.g., Lions, Rotary), where doctors make profitable social contacts.

> A doctor should limit his work to medicine. A well-conducted practice, Boggs believes, will bring in more than a practice and investment business carried on simultaneously and should enable a doctor to retire or begin tapering off at 55.

> Typical Boggs client is a doctor whose collections averaged around 50% of what was owed him and whose income, never over $5,000, had dropped to $3,600. Boggs found that the man did not even know the full names of many of his patients, nor what they owed him. He needed a rest, but did not dare take a two-week vacation for fear of losing income and patients. Boggs made him go away for a month, sent out handsome engraved announcements saying why the doctor had gone and when he would be back. On his return, the doctor found more patients in his waiting room than ever before. One day an office patient asked the doctor what he owed. Instead of answering "$3," the doctor looked in his neat files (straightened by Boggs), saw that the man's overdue bill was $65 and said, "Well, altogether you owe me $68." The patient took out a roll of bills and paid in full--a great day for Boggs. That year the doctor's business brought in $11,000.

There was a time when Boggs worked for 32 doctors' offices at once, but an analysis of his own business showed he was wearing himself out and spreading himself thin for little extra profit. Last week, at 48, he was coasting along easily on twelve practices. He does not worry about his ideas getting abroad and spoiling business. Often a doctor, after months of coaching in Boggs ideas, thinks he can run his own practice, fires Boggs only to come back later with a new problem. Some doctors have rehired him as many as three times.

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