Practices for functional medicine run into countless daily problems. Do customers keep calling you with questions? Does drawing up treatment plans take up a large part of your day?
And if you’re honest, do you sometimes forget to contact existing clients about follow-up appointments or prescriptions? These setbacks may have far-reaching consequences. You miss out on revenue, your clients are dissatisfied, and most importantly, you no longer enjoy your work.
No shame on you—many functional medicine practice owners have the same experience! These are the four most common issues in functional medicine practices. Fortunately, there is another way! In an organized, automated, and economically sound practice, one can rediscover the joy in their work.
In this blog post, we describe these four most common issues within functional medicine and provide suggestions for how to solve them.
Issue 1: Clients lack clarity about their treatment
Do clients continue to call and email you for information about their treatment? Then chances are good that uncertainties have arisen. Do your clients even remember how and when to take their supplements? If not, this may put the practice under a lot of pressure, leading to high overhead expenses, an increasing workload, superfluous internal communication, and dissatisfied clients.
Solution: Provide the client with a complete treatment plan that contains all of the necessary information. This eliminates the need for clients to call or email with additional questions. Automating this process through an online calendar provides even more clarity. By doing so, you free-up time to see additional clients.
Issue 2: Your practice is mostly still running on paper
We’ve all heard the jokes about doctors’ handwriting. Written notes are known for being illegible and prone to errors. Additionally, it takes extra time, notes are often lost, and many tasks have to be repeated. Sounds like a tiresome and frustrating job. Above all, this method is non-scalable, ruling out any chances of growth.
Solution: By using templates, which you can save digitally, all notes and treatment plans are easy to find.
Issue 3: Setting-up treatment plans is time-consuming
Every client is unique. Drawing up treatment plans is therefore absolutely a task that requires customization. This takes time, but it is also prone to errors. Information is forgotten, tasks have to be repeated and the cost overview is missing.
Solution: Drawing up treatment plans can largely be automated. By including all standard cases in templates, you are still able to personalize a treatment plan in a much shorter time frame.
Issue 4: Not following up with your clients
Do you fail to contact your existing clients about follow-up appointments or prescriptions? That is an opportunity lost. This not only causes dissatisfaction in your clients, but it also means you’ve missed out on opportunities for follow-up appointments and recurring prescriptions.
Solution: By using a system like Practiceflow, you maintain an overview of all your clients, who automatically receive follow-up messages and reminders. This keeps your clients involved, especially when used alongside the patient portal.
Make your practice future-proof
Are you experiencing the problems above? No need to worry; hope is certainly not lost. You can easily restore peace and quiet within your practice by implementing the right software. Practiceflow is a good example of a software solution that might help you further.
Are you curious about the options for your practice? Feel free to contact Practiceflow directly, or take a look at the free Practiceflow video demo.