As you look for additional areas to increase the revenue for your practice, look to include retail sales of nutritional supplements to your existing patients.  When you prescribe (recommend) nutritional support to your patients, you can make it convenient for your patients by stocking vitamins and other dietary supplements right in your office.  Alternative healthcare providers have been doing this for years to increase their revenue and to ensure that their patients take home the appropriate nutritional supplements.  Whether they actually take the supplements is another matter, but at least you’ve done what you can as their doctor.

As the healthcare climate in America continues to change, it becomes more important for the private practitioner to increase revenue streams for their office or clinic.  One very important revenue stream that every practitioner can incorporate into their practice is dietary consulting and providing nutritional products for their patients.  The manner in which the private practice healthcare provider includes nutritional advice into their practice will determine the success of expanding into the nutritional field.

The sad fact of the matter is that most medical schools, and consequently most medical doctors, place very little importance on nutrition and healthy eating.  To complicate the matter is the government’s inadequate attempt to educate private citizens on nutritional matters through the food pyramid and now the new ‘my plate’ guidelines.  I don’t intend to make this article a nutritional seminar, but the government’s guidelines only concern macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, calories, and fiber; and have no information about nutrition. Most Americans think that as long as they follow these guidelines they are eating healthy.  This is far from the truth.  This is a great opportunity for the private practitioner to become a ‘doctor’-“teacher” in Latin, and not just a physician.

I have written several articles concerning incorporating alternative healthcare practitioners into your practice to increase revenue and patient referrals.  This trend is increasing nationwide and is gaining momentum.  This looks like a fad that is here to stay just like that internet thing.

I strongly urge you, as a leader in the healthcare field,  to learn about and include alternative healthcare practitioners in your team of healthcare providers.  You can distinguish yourself from your competition by giving your patients the option of alternative healthcare.  Most medical doctors still do not include these options in their healthcare treatment. According to a new report by QuantiaMD, more than one-third (37 percent) of physicians reported they rarely or never ask patients about their use of complementary or alternative medicine, and 39 percent of physicians said they rarely ask about their spiritual beliefs.