[Gutenberg 60101] • Large Fees and How to Get Them: A book for the private use of physicians

Large Fees and how to get them

A book for the private use of physicians

Medicine as a Business. Why Medicine as Ordinarily Followed Is a Failure From the Business Standpoint—Physicians Themselves Mainly Responsible—Queer Ideas About Philanthropy—Poor Business Methods—Tactics that Pauperize One-half the Patients—Doctors Easy Prey for Sharpers—Evils of Medical Colleges—“Charitable” Hospitals Injure Regular Practitioners—Free Clinics and Dispensaries—The Medical “Tin God”—Absurdities of Ethics—How Some Physicians Get Notoriety—Freaks of the Profession—Things the Young Practitioner Should Avoid

The Physician Who Succeeds. Qualifications for a Big Fee-Getting Practitioner—The Kind of Men Who Make Money in the Practice of Medicine—Business Mistakes in the Profession—Why Many Doctors Fail—Old-Fashioned Ideas as to Set Fees—No Reason Why Physicians Should Not Use Judgment in Placing a Monetary Value on Their Services—Prompt Collection of Bills an Important Item—Attorneys, Architects, and Other Professional Men Afford Good Examples of Business Sense—The Beard and Its Dangers—Necessity for Scrupulous Cleanliness—An Experience in Iowa—Reasons Why Many Physicians Fail—Psychological Factor an Important One

The Bugbear of Ethics. Intimidation of Young Physicians—Overdoing the Ethical Proposition—Spying on the Beginners Illogical Advice—How Some Men Become Wealthy and Famous by Doing the Very Things They Denounce in Others—Clever Evasions of the Code—Schemes by Which Valuable Publicity Is Obtained—Actual Incidents Illustrating Methods Prevalent Among Physicians Who Keep Themselves Constantly Before the Public—Working the Newspapers—Employment of Press Agents—How They Get Free Write-ups for Their Principals—Fine Work by a Chicago Man in Popularizing a New Treatment—The Making of a Sensation—Newspaper Story that Made Certain Ethical Gentlemen Wealthy—Administration of Unknown Preparations by High Apostles of Ethics

Lawful to Advertise. Publicity Within Certain Lines Necessary and Legitimate—Progressive Physicians Ignore Old Rule—Courts Uphold Right of Doctors to Make Their Qualifications Known in the Public Press—Time Brings Radical Changes—Numerous Reasons Why a Competent Practitioner Should Advertise—Futility of “Ethical” Opposition—Severe Judicial Rebuke for Medical Society Leaders Who Attempt to Debar and Discredit Men Who Advertise—Finding in the Celebrated Dr. McCoy Case—Indecent and Obnoxious Advertising—The Proper Kind—How to Obtain Valuable Publicity in a Dignified Manner

Getting Country Patients. Making Connection With Prospective Patients—Again, the Intelligent Use of Newspapers—First Steps to Be Taken in the Location of Good Cases—Correspondence an Important Feature—The Kind of Letters that Inspire Confidence and Bring Patients to the Doctor’s Office—What a Physician Should and Should Not Say in His Correspondence—Specimen Letters—The Danger Line in Correspondence—Effect of the Right Kind of Letters—Humoring the Family Physician—Getting in Touch With the Latter—How to Make Him a Friendly Co-operator—Arranging for Country Trips—Proper Method of Procedure—Working on a Business Basis—Schedule for Receiving Callers—Reception of Stranger Doctors—Division of Fees to Secure Their Support—Treatment of Country Patients—How Big Fees Are Obtained

Reception of Office Patients.