Image: thejoint.com
Global brand executive John B. Richards is a principal and director of the New England Consulting Group and, over the course of his career, has helped brands like Starbucks and the Four Seasons hotel chain grow their brands. Most recently, John B. Richards served as the CEO of The Joint Corp., a chiropractic business that grew from 150 clinics to 350 during his four years there. The company now employs more than 700 chiropractors across the U.S.
Over the last several years, the U.S. health care industry has shown a need for more service-oriented forms of holistic health care. Back and neck pain are very common concerns for many people in the U.S., and lower back pain is the number-one disability preventing people from working all over the world. Between 2004 and 2012, the number of people who went to their doctors complaining of back pain rose from 44 million to 52 million. The chiropractic industry is valued at around $85 billion.
The Joint Corp. chiropractic practice provides a model of health care designed to be generally more convenient and more affordable than traditional medical care. Patients can visit one of the company’s more than 370 locations across the country and see a licensed practitioner right away. Sessions can be purchased through flexible plans that look more like gym memberships than doctor’s appointments. Through this model, the company estimates that it takes in 1,600 visits each month, which is three times that of a traditional chiropractor.
John B. Richards 