Practice Management
Do you do a call after just a free or a paid initial consult?
Chris Kresser: Well, as I mentioned, we’ve only just started doing these calls in the last year, and I stopped...
Do you follow through on cancellation policy and charge no-shows or late cancels?
Chris Kresser: Yes, we do, but we typically give people a free pass for the first time. That’s not stated...
How does your phone system work? Does someone always answer? Do you correspond directly with patients outside of appointment times? If so, what method?
Chris Kresser: We use a VirtualPBX system. It’s called RingCentral. We’re going to be talking about this later in the...
I started asking yesterday about learning how to decipher science papers. I think that’s what you’ve honed from the beginning with the Healthy Skeptic view. I’m reading a lot of papers since ADAPT began. I need help in this area of discernment. I asked my sister and her husband, biology professors at an upstanding college, and they were not helpful or encouraging, unfortunately, about my ability to learn this skill. They say it takes a lot of work, deep knowledge of subjects, statistical analysis, experimental design, knowledge of bias, also to toss anything not peer-reviewed, and even then, major flaws can be missed. It sounds daunting and yet I’m determined with or without their encouragement. Any suggestions you’re going to teach us, or resources?
Dr. Amy Nett: I’m kind of disappointed to hear that they weren’t too encouraging because I would say you can,...
Have you ever seen any other practitioners run boron as a marker for thyroid health?
Dr. Amy Nett: No, I haven’t. I’ll dig into that a little bit more this weekend and see if I...
With the case review questionnaire, it seems like some of the sections are really small for someone’s responses, mostly on page 2. Do you find that to be true? Do you offer additional space elsewhere? In the personal opinion section, why do you ask them what they think about other practitioners’ failure if they have not expressed that they think there have been failures? Isn’t that making assumptions?
Chris Kresser: For the first question, I’d have to look to see. I can’t visualize exactly what section you’re referring...
I’m in the development phase of introducing functional medicine to my practice, and I’m very interested in having virtual support from a nutritionist versed in Paleo. Laura had mentioned a Paleo RD group that thinks along the lines of Kelsey and Laura. Can you suggest a scenario when a starting practitioner would enlist a Paleo RD? How does it work at CCFM? If it looks like a person needs a lot more help on the diet . I am trying to avoid fee-splitting issues. Or would they pay the RD directly and the RD can send a report to the referring practitioner? What, do you feel, would be an ideal set-up, and how do I post an interest to see if there’s a Paleo RD that can work with my patients?
Laura Schoenfeld: The way that Kelsey and I work with CCFM is that we are actually 100 percent independent. Chris...
Who do you have edit your written materials? I’m considering hiring someone I know, and she has excellent writing skills but doesn’t have anything to do with this type of business. She’s not in this field; she’s just a good writer. Do you think that’s good enough? This is for website content. Is it better to have someone in the business of marketing or health?
Chris Kresser: There are different categories here. When I wrote my book, which was published by a big New York...
Will you be furnishing a symptom checklist for us to have our patients fill out prior to appointments at some point during the course?
Chris Kresser: Absolutely. Pretty soon, if we haven’t already. I’m not sure where we are in the practice management section,...
While I have an integrative medicine practice since finishing residency, I still see patients who are more comfortable aligned with the conventional model. Stool, HPA axis, and genomic testing, among others, seems weird or confusing to them. Any thoughts on how to enhance education and introduction to this when I land in an appointment like this? Obviously aligning my overall practice toward functional medicine is the larger goal, but I feel it’s a moment to make an impact on someone who doesn’t know about functional medicine, yet finding the balance of doing this without (A) freaking someone out or (B) actually making them feel more helpless if they’re used to the conventional approach is a hard thing to do. Any words of wisdom appreciated.
Chris Kresser: Unfortunately, I’m not the best person to ask about this because I was never in your situation, Angelie,...
