Gaining practice efficiency is essential to engaging patients, building relationships and, ultimately, creating successful health outcomes.
Betty Murray, CN, IFMCP, CHC, is the Founder and CEO of a busy Functional Medicine practice, The Living Well Health and Wellness Center, in Dallas, Texas. The center started on a foundation of Functional Nutrition, and over the years has evolved into a multi-disciplinary center with physicians, nutritionists, counselors and health coaches all working together. The practice has two fully certified functional medicine practitioners, Betty Murray and Suzanne Mack, MD, and provides a unique and comprehensive approach for patients with continuity of care regardless of which practitioner they see first.
“Our patients love the high-value care and the consistency in message, engagement and experience that they receive, and this has resulted in very high levels of patient retention and engagement.” – Betty Murray, CN, IFMCP, CHC
Challenges experienced by the practice include:
- Significant time spent gathering patient intake information and organizing into a paper timeline and matrix to get accurate, complete patient narratives and difficulty getting the patient intake information from paper into the EMR
- Long wait lists for patients getting in to see the two certified functional medicine practitioners
- Fast growth with a need for new practitioners and non-clinical staff to get quickly educated on the principals of functional medicine, as well as gaining familiarity with the functional medicine timeline and matrix