You are sitting in your virtual boardroom, clinical space, or manufacturing plant, contemplating the future. In addition to us all doing our personal and professional best to lift our communities above crisis, we attend online sessions, keep up with a torrent of emails, and consider the troubling question about our economic future. Solely on that subject, one thing is clear: out of crises profound business opportunity is often born. This
As an Integrative health organization that has invested significant time and resources building audiences on social media, you are now faced with a stark reality: You do not own your profiles… nor your followers, likes, and subscribers; you simply rent them. The rules of engagement are beyond your control. The social media ‘organic reach’ free ride is officially over. It has been for a while—ever since Facebook pulled in the
When COVID hit, many practices and practitioners were already stuck in a routine; the pandemic simply amplified it. Businesses were abruptly turned on their heads because of their reliance on a care delivery and practice business model that was no longer viable. What followed was a rapid transition to telemedicine to ensure continuity of care—and continuity of income—and the realization that not many practices were nimble enough or otherwise positioned
You started your practice with a mix of capital, sweat, excitement, and risk. You knew you were a skilled clinician and placed faith in your business acumen and those advising you. You believed you would soon be serving patients and earning enough to make a comfortable living that would also support a good life/work balance contributing to a good quality of life—and, one day, a comfortable retirement. As you operated
Whether your business is a medical practice, supplement company, pharmacy, technology platform, nonprofit organization, or provider of other goods or services, one thing holds true: there is no single, magic bullet formula to grow your integrative or functional medicine enterprise. Word-of-mouth referrals and the activation of fanatical brand-ambassadors remain the holy grail of any organization. The above is absolute for integrative and functional medicine enterprises. But how does this low-spend,
You possess a powerful tool to enhance your business and expand your influence and goodwill for the good of your patients and customers. It’s called a medical savings account. Are you leveraging this tax-deferred tool? I have always wondered why integrative healthcare practices and businesses aren’t savvier at promoting the economic attributes of health savings accounts (HSA) and flexible savings accounts (FSA) to their current, and prospective, patients and customers.
I often see integrative and functional medicine business and organization leaders smothered from the weight of managing day-to-day operations: process and repetitive tasks allow neither adequate time nor sufficient resources to deal with strategic business development and execution. Rare are the super-competent administrators or business owners who are as savvy and productive in the areas of business development and growth as they are at keeping the ship moving… from a
As an integrative functional medicine business owner or executive, you may serve a local, national, international clientele, or a group of constituents comprised of varying demographics and psychographics. So how do you best decide fair market value for what you offer? Determining Pricing for Products and Services If you are a physician who has opted out of commercial insurance and Medicare, you may charge for each patient encounter; or offer
A commodity is defined as any “basic” good or service that is produced to meet a marketplace demand. Commodities are, well, commonplace—interchangeable, and indistinguishable from other products or services of the same type. Functional medicine should never be considered indistinguishable; widely accessible? Yes. Indistinguishable? No. I am deeply concerned that certain functional medicine enterprises are in danger of becoming a commodity. Let me be clear: I am a staunch proponent
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The Rise of Integrative Health & Medicine
By Glenn Sabin and Taylor Walsh
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