2627 North 3rd Street Ste. 201, Phoenix, AZ 85004 | 14418 West Meeker Blvd. Bldg B, Ste 102, Sun City West, AZ 85375
MAY 2019
602-277-4327 | www.azhear.com
Comprehensive, Collaborative, Compassionate Care A Better Way to Treat Hearing Loss
As strange as it may sound, I knew I wanted to become a neurotologist/ otologist during my childhood. I didn’t know the terms for the profession, but I knew I wanted to be an “ear doctor.” When I was growing up, one of my brothers was diagnosed with a brain tumor in his teenage years. He began to suffer hearing loss as one of the side effects of his treatment. That affected his quality of life more dramatically than any other symptom. At the time, I already knew I wanted to pursue a career in medicine. Seeing my brother’s struggle narrowed the path I would take. The simplest things, like playing team sports, taking notes in class, listening to music, or just having a laugh with his friends, would often be stalled or interrupted due to his hearing limitations. my medical degree from Jefferson Medical College, I spent my ENT residency at Tripler Regional Medical Center and did ear-specific fellowship training at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles. After leaving school, I knew I had found my calling because I could see the joy and life-changing impact of hearing care. People's lives were being transformed for the better. Over time, I came to realize that how we treat hearing loss is far from ideal. Once a surgery was complete, some patients needed hearing technology. I would tell these patients to get well-fitting After completing my undergraduate studies at Boston College and receiving
hearing aids. All too often, I’d follow up with the patient and learn they never ended up with hearing aids. It wasn’t because the patient lacked diligence; instead, it was due to the disparate care system patients with hearing issues have to navigate to get their needs met. suffering from hearing loss were handled in two different universes. Patients would receive surgical care from me and then seek hearing aids from an audiologist or hearing aid dispenser. Often, they would feel like they were being “sold to” and didn’t have the same confidence in their hearing aids. A Consumer Report article indicated that two-thirds of hearing aids do not meet the prescriptive need of the patient. Even when patients obtain hearing aids, most are not fitted well! It can be difficult for patients to know if their rehabilitation worked when their hearing aid is not working properly. Patients simply do not have confidence that their hearing loss was well treated. Plus, they'd have a logistical minefield to navigate. All of these factors can result in people denying themselves valuable, life-altering care. There’s no better proof that the system is broken than the numbers surrounding the treatment of hearing problems. In the 70s, roughly 20 percent of people with hearing loss received treatment. Today, that number is no greater that it was four decades ago. It's hard to believe. In my eyes, we have to look In the traditional system, the medical and technological needs of people
at our profession and how it works in order to start raising that number.
That’s why I hit upon a comprehensive hearing care model that bridges the gap between surgical and technological solutions. If we see a patient who needs hearing aids, we can refer them to an in-house audiologist that we know, and we can trust them to deliver exceptional hearing care. The same goes for patients in need of surgical options. Creating this consistent, collaborative, and compassionate approach is essential to ensuring patients’ needs are met. If someone knows they need hearing aids, there should be nothing deterring them from feeling confident about the person providing the hearing technology for them. It’s our responsibility as care providers to question conventional treatment routes when they fail our patients. There's definitely a failure in the system when we live in a world where 80 percent of people aren't getting something that would greatly benefit their lives. It’s my mission to bring all the treatment options for hearing loss under one roof. I
hope you’ll join me in offering patients a better alternative.
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THE GOOD KIND OF GOSSIP How to Cultivate Valuable Customer Reviews
THE WORLD’S BEST EXERCISE
Not all exercises are created equal. In fact, there is one form of exercise that is better than many others: walking. Harvard Medical School took a look at various exercises and concluded that walking is up there with swimming and tai chi in terms of health benefits. Regular walking can help maintain good cholesterol and blood pressure levels and keep your bones strong and healthy. One study showed that 40 minutes of walking every day helped people reduce blood pressure from hypertension to prehypertension, and then eventually to normal over several months. Walking can even keep many different kinds of diseases at bay, such as diabetes and heart disease. In addition to these physical benefits, walking daily can improve your mood and overall mental health. As simple and straightforward as walking is, it can be difficult for many people to find the time. Most experts agree that you need 30–60 minutes of physical activity per day, but the good news is that you can split those minutes up throughout your day. For example, you can take a brisk 20-minute walk in the morning before work, followed by another one at lunch and one more after dinner. Those 60 minutes also don’t have to be strenuous; they just need to happen. However, the more time you invest in walking, the more you will get out of it. If you slowly increase your distance and speed, you’ll end up burning more calories and strengthening your legs over time. The great thing about walking is that it’s not particularly taxing on the knees, and you can move at your own pace. It doesn’t get any better than that! To get the most out of walking, schedule your walks for after mealtimes, especially the ones that come later in the day, like lunch and dinner. It’s a great way to aid digestion and burn calories — which can’t hurt your waistline!
When you’re thinking about buying a new product or service, what’s the first step you take? If you turn to the world wide web in search of reviews, then you’re in good company. According to a survey conducted by BrightLocal, 85 percent of consumers regard the customer review to be the single most credible and trustworthy source of advertising. That same survey found that 68 percent of customers surveyed were willing to provide feedback for a company. So, how do you get your customers to write the glowing reviews that help close deals? Don’t rely on customers to go to your website to leave reviews. There are numerous websites you can utilize that make leaving feedback more convenient for your clients. What’s more is that these other platforms are highly trafficked. BrightLocal found that Facebook and Yelp were consumers’ most trusted source of user reviews in the U.S., but you can also use Google My Business or the Better Business Bureau. Most importantly, be sure you are active on all the platforms you use. DIVERSIFY YOUR PLATFORMS
OFFER INCENTIVES
Give your clients a reason to write reviews. Consider offering incentives like a discount or coupon code, coffee gift card, or an entry to win a contest for an even bigger prize.
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Think of the review process as a conversation rather than a request to be met, and use open-ended questions to start. Before you even request a review, you can ask customers questions like “How was your recent experience with us?” or “How are you liking your product?” That way, you can gauge their satisfaction before they leave any feedback.
RESPOND, RESPOND, RESPOND
The last thing you want to see is a scathing one-star review. But no matter how hard you work, they are still bound to happen. When you receive one, take the time to respond thoughtfully — without being defensive — and try to come up with a possible solution to the complaint. And be sure to respond to your positive reviews as well. When you show that you engage with all of your customers, prospective ones will be more likely to give you a shot.
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602-277-4327 | www.azhear.com
Amid an Epidemic, PT Helps Curb Opioid Abuse Why Exercise Therapy Should Be the First Step in Recovery
HAVE A Laugh Today, a startling number of Americans suffer from opioid addiction. According to a report published in the Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, more than 4 percent of U.S. adults misused prescription opioids in 2018. Prescription drugs can lead to enough tragic overdoses on their own, but as the physical aspects of addiction set in and prescriptions dry out, addicts desperately turn to more serious drugs like heroin and fentanyl. Opioid addiction is indiscriminate; it can strike anyone of any social class, race, gender, or economic standing. This is one reason the overprescription of opioids over the last two decades, coupled with a more recent flood of street opioids, led to more than 70,000 deaths in 2017. Many also don't appreciate the many lesser known long term health risks associated with opioid abuse. Did you know, for example, hearing loss can be associated with opioid abuse? In an effort to stem the tide of opioid-related deaths, the CDC issued a set of new recommendations to doctors in 2016. They questioned the effectiveness of opioids for the management of chronic pain and encouraged physicians to instead focus on physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other nonopioid pharmacologic options for long-term intervention. Studies show that physical therapy may have the potential to dramatically reduce opioid reliance, abuse, and overdose. In one 2017 study published in the Journal of the American
Board of Family Medicine, researchers discovered that, in cases where doctors referred patients suffering from low back pain to a PT as a first-line treatment, the odds that the patient ended up needing an opioid prescription decreased significantly. Other studies have also reinforced the same trend for treatment post-surgery: When physical therapy is the first recommendation, patients tend to use fewer opioids and actually spend less on treatment in the long run. The evidence seems clear: If patients follow the recommendations of the CDC and consider physical therapy before taking pills, they substantially lower their risk of dependence on and abuse of prescription drugs. Of course, you should always follow the advice of your doctor, but consider requesting a referral to PT first — it’s just a safer, more consistent, and less expensive option. And who knows? It might just save your life!
PUZZLE
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PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
602-277-4327 | www.azhear.com 2627 N Third Street, Ste. 100 Phoenix, AZ 85004
Inside This Edition
1.
The Road to Better Treatment
2.
What Is the World’s Best Exercise?
The Value of User Reviews and How to Cultivate Them
3.
PT Helps Curb Opioid Abuse
Have a Laugh
4.
Using Chatbots in Small Business
‘How Can I Help You?’ How to Incorporate Chatbots Into Your Business People have long been curious about what robots could do for humans. Historians have even traced robotic inventions all the way back to 400 B.C.! Since then, the field of robotics has come a long way and brought modern society inventions that change how people live, learn, and even run their businesses. One such robotic innovation that has increased in popularity in recent years is the chatbot. According to Entrepreneur.com, Facebook found that over 2 billion conversations were held between customers and the 100,000 chatbots on its messenger platform in 2017. But though chatbots have only become mainstream in the last few years, they’ve been around for decades. Chatbots go all the way back to 1966, when Joseph Weizenbaum’s ELIZA terrified and mystified the masses. ELIZA was the first chatbot to master short, human-like conversations until various improvements were made in the following decades, including ALICE in 1995. ALICE’s capabilities were so profound that she paved the way for today’s widely used artificial intelligence inventions. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, IBM’s Watson, and the Google Home are all forms of AI chatbots that utilize human-like linguistics, but according to Murray Newlands, CEO of chatbot company Chatty People, bots can also take on scripted forms. These bots are ideal for answering common, simple questions from customers. Today, implementing a chatbot for your
business is more convenient than ever. According to Newlands, you can even create your own bot on Facebook Messenger without having to design a code. To dip your toes into the chatbot world, start by establishing a part-time bot during a busy season, or use one to ease the number of common and simple questions your employees have to answer. This delegation of inquiries will allow your employees to focus on more pressing tasks. Additionally, your chatbots can bridge language barriers and assist clients who struggle with verbal communication. While chatbot technology has various benefits, it also has various limits. Before you dive right in, make sure you’re aware of how much your chatbot can do for your customer before a human customer service representative has to step in. Many inquiries require human interaction, so monitor your chatbot’s responses, program your chatbot to direct customers to you or your team, and let customers know your bots are only designed for certain tasks. Your bot has to be easy to understand, or no one will use it. A lot has changed since 400 B.C. Technology is advancing fast, and when businesses don’t keep up with the times, they fail. If you use it effectively, chatbot customer service is a phenomenon that will surely keep your business a bot above the rest.
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602-277-4327 | www.azhear.com
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