FON: The Business of Personalized Medicine

Leveraging Medical Savings Accounts for Integrative Health Products and Services

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.

Growing Value and Opportunity for Integrative Oncology in Hospital Settings

I was recently interviewed by Stacey Richter for the Relentless Health Value podcast on the topic of integrative oncology in hospital settings. During our spirited discussion we covered lots of ground, including the growing science supporting integrative oncology and the profound opportunity for hospitals and cancer centers to engage and educate their communities on true cancer prevention focused on smart lifestyle—read: beyond vaccines, colonoscopies, mammograms and early detection. ACCESS PODCAST

The Integrative Health Business: ‘Administrators’ Versus ‘Builders’

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

Arrow on 'Pricing' Target

Establishing Prices for Integrative Health Products and Services

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

Bag of soybeans illustrating a commodity

Is Functional Medicine Becoming a Commodity?

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

A Practical Guide to ‘Episodes of Care Clinical Programs’

Ensure patient adherence, high-quality clinical outcomes, and the fiscal health of your integrative health practice Content Quick Links IntroductionEpisodes of Care Programs for Integrative Health, Functional Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine PracticesInsurance V. Cash-Based Episodes of Care ProgramsContinuity is KeyDesigning an Episodes of Care Program for Insurance and Medicare ReimbursementDesigning Episodes of Care Programs with a Capitated Reimbursement ModelDesigning a Cash-Based Episodes of Care ProgramApproaches to Cash-Based ModelsConditions Most Appropriate for

Integrative Health Brand, image of blog title "Your Integrative Health Brand, and Platform - Invest or Fail" over a football field.

Your Integrative Health Brand and Platform: Invest or Fail

Whether you mainly trade on your personal brand or lead an organization, sustainable success is wholly dependent on relationships. It’s based on your reputation in the market, how your brand is differentiated, and how you make people feel. Your processes, sales-savvy, or technological prowess alone will not guarantee your success; if you solely rely on tools and process, your empty enterprise will ultimately fail. Don’t get me wrong: your systems

The Power of Effective Copywriting to Engage and Sell

Is your own copywriting hurting your integrative health brand? I write quite a bit: for this blog and my personal blog. I regularly craft comprehensive assessments and business development strategy documents for clients, and I’ve authored a memoir. Everyone looking to be a thought leader (aka key opinion leader or KOL) in the integrative health field—or wanting to be well-positioned within their local community—should write. I discuss this here and

Integrative Health Business Development: Assess First, then Strategize & Execute

The engagement process through which I lead companies, regardless of their size and type, is always the same: Assess, Strategize, Execute. This essential process need not be all that complicated when you carefully peel back the layers and conduct a review in an organized, comprehensive manner. The Assessment exercise is key, allowing transition from a disordered entity to a logical, clearly defined framework; often, in relatively short order. Whether you