If you are still focused on delivering only one-on-one care to your patients, you are missing out on a massive opportunity to generate more income streams for your practice. Not only that, when you diversify your offering you are safeguarding your business from the ups and downs of our unstable economy (global pandemic anyone?). Best of all, you’ll be giving your patients access to health care that in is sync with their busy lives.
The Savvy Practitioner is a training series from Nutramedica, laser-focused on giving you the tools you need to fulfill your potential as a clinician entrepreneur. Join host E Brian Johnson and Dr Meghan Walker and learn how to develop your niche, showcase your unique offering, leverage your time more profitably, and deliver on your ultimate goal of maximizing your impact - and your income.
Key Takeaways
Drop the Assumptions
We have built an entire industry upon three assumptions: One, that the pathogenic model of care is the best way for us to deliver preventative health and build health into the future. Secondly, that this model is what consumers are looking for. The third assumption is that the only safe way to deliver care is if we do it one-on-one in an office.
Focus on Transformational Care
Move beyond the traditional transactional model of care, to one that is informed by how you can build long-term health for your patients, not just manage disease. Transformational health care focuses on a complete bio-psycho-social model of care.
Work Within the Quadrants of Care
As a reminder: Quadrants of Care refers to the journey patients go through from first encountering your practice online, to engaging with you through sharing their email in exchange for value-driven content, to one-on-one visits - either in person or through telehealth - to engaging them in an on-going relationship focused on their long term health.
Get creative and diversify your offerings within each quadrant. Move beyond newsletters to podcasts, videos, and webinars. Work with professionals to help get these right. You can monetize all of these, effectively diversifying your income and safeguarding your practice.
Make Care Accessible
The quadrants illustrate the states of readiness of patients, but also illustrate opportunities for you to address needs where people are willing to pay at each of those different stages. For example: Develop an online program or offer group care delivery. Create programs that allow patients to “graduate” before engaging with the next program. Develop a membership program. None of this is dependent on seeing you in one-on-one care.
Group Programming
Some practitioners are offering the delivery of group programming online or in their offices, diversifying their offerings. Some practitioners are so successful in delivering patient outcomes that they have created group programs that they own and monetize by making them available to other practitioners. This offers almost unlimited opportunities to scale your income.
Think Passive Income
Develop content where you are delivering a high degree of value. Once you understand the process of creating content then driving traffic to a page that enables you to build your list or sell memberships or even products, you will see how easy it is to develop passive income.
Put your unique offering out in the marketplace, send traffic to it, watch people buy it, and when they really like it you’ll 10X your healing impact.
Measure Success
Measure KPIs or key performance indicators in financials and marketing.
Be aware of your revenue and your expenses. Track them in a spreadsheet. Colour code three columns in red, yellow, and green. Green means something's growing. Yellow means it's staying the same, and red means that it's shrinking.
Next, measure your leads and your client retention. Leads are not new patients. Leads are new people on your mailing list. Leads are new people coming to your talk. Leads are potentially interested people that haven't committed yet. You need to know what your leads look like. You need to know what your new patient numbers look like. That will give you optics on the actual number of people who converted from a lead into a new patient.
Then tract retention. How well are you doing at keeping those patients coming back for more of your healing magic?
Key Quotes
“We actually need a model of care that is informed by the way we build health, not just manage disease. And, the way we build health is understanding this confluence of our psychology, of our environment, and of our physiology.” Dr Meghan Walker
"Consumers are much savvier today. They understand that there are lots of ways that they can interact with healthcare. It doesn't have to be one-on-one in a practitioner's office” Dr Meghan Walker
“Just imagine if there was a global pandemic and your whole business was built on seeing patients one-on-one in the office. And what if the government said patients can't go into your office anymore? What if consumers were suddenly fearful to interact with one-on-one practitioners? Could you imagine what would happen to your income? Well, many practitioners have found out the hard way.” Dr Meghan Walker
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The opinions expressed in this Nutramedica program are those of the guests and contributors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Nutritional Fundamentals For Health Inc.
This video is intended for licensed or registered health professionals and students of health professions only. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information contained in these programs is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.