As the field of Functional Medicine continues to grow in the healthcare industry, we get a lot of questions from providers who want to start pursuing a career in the field.
From combating conventional medicine burnout to working in a more rewarding environment, there are various reasons that health care professionals are considering a career in Functional Medicine—curious how to build yours? You’re in the right place.
Related: How to Build Your Wellness Brand
Acquire the Right Education/Certification
The first step to building a career in Functional Medicine is finding the proper education for what you want to do. There are various Functional Medicine training programs and certifications to look into—you just need to find the one that resonates with you and suits your specific needs.
While The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) is one of the most comprehensive, well-recognized organizations that offer Functional Medicine training and certification, you can view some other programs here.
Each organization on that list provides quality education in Functional Medicine to help providers empower their patients to achieve optimal health.
Work With a Strategic Advisor and Mentor
Starting and building a career in Functional Medicine isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. Once you’ve gone through the rigorous training and certification processes, what do you do next?
Find a functional career advisor—like MindBody Talent—to help you connect with the right organizations, save you time, and find the perfect fit.
You won’t find the start of your Functional Medicine career on a job board like Indeed. Whether you want to start your own practice or find the right one to join, we can help you by:
- Helping you land the best role in the right practice
- Offering our Functional Medicine consulting services
- Implementing the technologies to enable your practice to run more efficiently
- Providing you with the best wellness branding and marketing
Branding Yourself in the Field of Functional Medicine
Marketing and branding yourself is the key to building a career in Functional Medicine and growing your practice.
And at MindBody Talent, we know all about branding and marketing in the health care and Functional Medicine field. Here are some of our tips for building your Functional Medicine career:
Social Media
Potential patients frequently visit the social media profiles of providers, practices, and hospitals to get an inside look of how they work. When branding yourself as a Functional Medicine doctor, you would be wise to use these platforms.
Here’s how providers can get more engagement on social media:
- Promote your accounts to current patients—and encourage them to leave you feedback.
- Share valuable content like health care advice and what’s new in your practice.
- Monitor your pages regularly, post comments, and respond to replies..
Related: How to Build a Great Web Presence
Referrals
Getting referrals from other doctors in your community is one of the best ways to build your career in Functional Medicine—it’s an excellent strategy to bring in new patients and develop relationships in the industry.
Follow these tips to get started:
- Reach out to nearby physicians, whether in-office, over the phone, or through email.
- Advertise your practice in a positive way that gets the attention of other physicians—not just patients.
- Consider investing in a CRM to manage patient inflow and referrals.
Digital Marketing
Designing and executing a solid digital marketing strategy is essential to building a career in Functional Medicine. It can help you attract new patients, collect reviews, share examples of your success, and demonstrate your knowledge and expertise.
Here’s where to start:
- Know your audience—don’t cast too wide of a net: Focus on the patients you want to see in your practice.
- Focus on local—patients are rarely willing to travel far to see a provider. Google My Business profiles are free to set up and can help more local people find you.
- Optimize your website—It should be easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and optimized for search engines.
Profitability Factors for Functional Medicine Practices
When building a career in Functional Medicine, profitability is a big concern. And while we could list endless ways to help your medical practice make more money, let’s focus on a few Functional Medicine-specific tips:
Stop Running Tests One at a Time
There’s one fact of Functional Medicine: The cases never get easier. One way that you and your patients can both benefit is by running comprehensive lab tests together when you first start seeing each other instead of one individual test after another.
You’ll see better clinical outcomes and be able to tell who the most committed patients are, improving your practice’s effectiveness and profitability.
Create Personalized Care Plans
You should provide each new patient with a personalized plan of care—specify the tests you plan to run, an estimated number of visits, supplement costs, and other factors that might play into reaching their goals.
With these plans, you can give your patients a rough estimate of the costs and time they’ll need to put in while — this helps ensure that the patients you take on will work well with you.
Implement Functional Medicine Fees
As a practitioner of Functional Medicine, a lot of your work is done when the patient isn’t in the room. And yes, you should be charging for that time. These fees help you pay for the time you spend doing things like:
- Answering questions over the phone or by email
- Reviewing complex test results
- Creating comprehensive care plans
- Learning new concepts and attending training seminars
In addition, you can offer your patients wellness packages that include a set number of visits. If you go this route, transparency is important — explain to your patients exactly what the package includes and what they’ll receive for the cost.
Consider Starting Group Visits
One way to increase your patient volume, open up valuable time slots, and make a little more profit each week is by offering group visits (or shared medical appointments). During these events, you can hold small classes to discuss common questions shared by your patients, i.e., stress, diet, general health, wellness, etc.
Build Your Career in Functional Medicine With MindBody Talent
If you want to build a successful career in Functional Medicine, the key is working with an organization that can help you get started the right way.
You put all the hard work into your Functional Medicine certification—ensure you start out your career on the right foot.
Looking to build your Functional Medicine career and implement better health and wellness solutions for your patients? Join the health care revolution and see how we can help you navigate to your ideal role.
Related: How We’re Fueling the Wellness Revolution
