We know how discouraging it is for practitioners when their patients aren’t achieving the outcomes they want or expect and suspect it’s a result of non-adherence to the recommended treatment plans.
The numbers tell us non-adherence is an important challenge to solve: 60% of U.S. adults live with at least one chronic disease, and it’s estimated that anywhere from 30 to 69% of hospital admissions are due to medication non-adherence.
Treatment adherence simplified
As indicated in our new report, Treatment Adherence in Integrative Medicine, there are hundreds of different factors that can lead to a patient disengaging from their treatment plan. While the issue is undoubtedly complex, there are common barriers that can be proactively addressed, increasing the likelihood that your treatment plans will stick.
With help from each Fullscript team, our platform becomes more than a supplement dispensary — finding new ways to help practitioners keep their patients engaged, motivated, and adherent to their wellness plans.
We strive to help people get better.
Although we started as, and continue to be, the industry’s leading virtual supplement dispensary and wholesale provider, we’ve identified additional ways to help people get better. With a free account, practitioners and patients not only get 24/7 access to more than 300 of the best-quality supplement brands, but they can also utilize clinical protocols, educational content, and automated tools to keep wellness journeys simple and sustainable.
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8 adherence boosting tools on Fullscript
In our quest to support practitioners and help people get better, we’re doubling down on our efforts to identify barriers and offer practical solutions to adherence. Here are our top seven features that practitioners can use for free to keep patients focused on their overall wellness goals.
1. NEW! Adherence surveys
Fullscript’s new Adherence surveys are part of the latest round of upgrades to our Insights dashboard. These surveys are sent automatically to gather essential data from patients who have been non-adherent for more than one week. 
Here’s how they work:
- Patients who haven’t ordered from your treatment plan will receive an automated email with a short survey after seven days.
- The survey asks them why they haven’t ordered yet, and if they still plan to.
- That feedback is sent to you to decide if, when, and how to intervene or identify trends that can help you adjust future recommendations.
Find Adherence surveys in the Insights dashboard today and leverage quantitative and qualitative data to improve treatment adherence. Learn more about how Adherence surveys help you make impactful adjustments to your patients’ treatment plans.
2. Educational wellness content
Another Fullscript-run program that boosts adherence is wellness content for patients. Educational content can help increase patient engagement with a treatment plan, which can further improve adherence.
As a Fullscript practitioner, your patients will get this free education program unless you opt out. We’ll send them bi-weekly emails containing practical, trustworthy content that’s carefully researched, created, and reviewed by our Integrative Medical Advisory Team.
This content complements practitioner recommendations, offering a more holistic integrative health experience that places value on knowledge.
We focus on general health and wellness topics and never include anything that would undermine a practitioner protocol, talk about how to treat specific health conditions or recommend specific products, treatment plans, or a practitioner type. The wellness content program has proven to boost orders and reorders from patients who tend to order less frequently on average.
Recent topics include how to eat more seasonally, the benefits of meditation, natural ways to improve indoor air quality, and nutrients to promote longevity. And not to worry, patients can easily unsubscribe from these emails — although most don’t!
3. Insights dashboard
One of our newest adherence features is an insights dashboard for practitioners. This recently released view in the practitioner account shows overall metrics for treatment adherence in the past 30 days, including:
- Patients that have yet to activate their Fullscript account
- Treatment plans that haven’t been filled
- Refills that are outstanding
Practitioners can click on each metric to filter and see the patients who fall within each category — those who haven’t yet engaged with their treatment plan, or who haven’t stayed on track. 
Once practitioners have filtered to see specific treatment plans, they can choose to send a text reminder to the patient from the app, or easily copy the link to the treatment plan and send it in an email. Practitioners can also search a specific patient before an appointment to check on their adherence, helping to inform the conversation.
Note: These are early days for the dashboard, which is meant to give practitioners high-level visibility into their overall adherence rates as well as specific patient behavior so they can take simple steps to keep patients on track. We have big plans to iterate on this tool, adding new functionality and data in the coming months. Stay tuned!
4. Autoship
Patients can also enable autoship, allowing for regular deliveries of their supplements on a shipping schedule of their choosing. It’s a free service for patients, who simply upload their payment information and select items from their previously ordered products or their practitioner’s catalog.
This added convenience takes the work out of remembering to refill recommended products, removing a barrier to adherence.
5. On-site Rx — A complete treatment plan tool for on-site dispensing
Many of the tools on this list provide easy ways for integrative practitioners who use Fullscript as a virtual dispensary to boost patient adherence. But what about those who prefer to dispense supplements in-office? Now, these practitioners can transform Fullscript from a comprehensive catalog to a complete treatment plan and adherence tool with On-site Rx!
A practitioner can hand their patient’s first bottle over in-office and capture future refills online to maximize refills. On-site Rx tracks their recommendations while letting them take advantage of Fullscript’s adherence features, use the platform to gather adherence insights, and keep patients on track between appointments.
Practitioners receive a notification when a proPractitioners who dispense some or all products on-site can upload their patient list, and when recommending supplements in-office, write an accompanying Fullscript treatment plan with the products listed. Before sending it off, they simply click the On-site Rx toggle to indicate that it was filled on-site!
No disruption to your workflow when using On-site Rx!
6. Product swapping
The Fullscript product swapping feature has many use cases, but arguably one of the top benefits is how it supports adherence.
Practitioners receive a notification when a product found in at least one treatment plan is considered at-risk. “At-risk” means the item has been removed from the catalog, has low stock, or is on a long-term backorder.
For all of these reasons, patients may not be able to order or reorder the product. This could cause the patient to disengage from their protocol entirely, ultimately leading to a cascading impact on other aspects of their treatment plan.
Practitioners can choose to do a custom swap on the product, finding a replacement in the catalog and recommending it to the patient. Alternatively, they can choose a “similar product” from the curated list provided within the platform.
The Fullscript Integrative Medical Advisory Team always carefully selects similar products, matched by ingredients and ranked by popularity. Once a practitioner has selected the product to swap, they can do a mass swap for all instances where that item is currently recommended or individual swaps for each patient based on their unique needs and preferences.
Practitioners also have the option to enable patient notifications and Fullscript will automatically send the patient an email explaining the change. The option to swap back also exists if and when the original product becomes available.
7. Patient promotions
Cost is often identified as a barrier to treatment adherence. Fullscript practitioners have the option of using their margin — up to 35% off MSRP in the United States — to give patients discounts on top-quality products.
Several times a year, Fullscript runs patient promotions offering an added discount for a limited time. Practitioners simply upload their patient lists, opt in to the sale, and select the discount they’d like to temporarily give to patients during the promotion.
Fullscript takes care of everything else, including marketing, enabling and disabling the promotion, communicating with patients and answering their questions, as well as shipping the products right to their door. We also provide practitioners with marketing materials they can use to promote the sale to their patients.
The Fullscript team takes care of everything from pre-sale toolkits to practitioners to reminder emails on the sale’s last day.
8. Patient refill reminders
Fullscript has an automated refill reminder system that notifies patients by email when their supply is getting low. The platform uses their specific dosage instructions, calculating the best time to send them a reminder so they can proactively reorder without ever running out of product.
If there are multiple products included in their treatment plan, the platform sends a refill reminder for all products when the first item reaches its low-supply threshold. We know consistency is key, and this automated tool helps patients maintain good habits — without the practitioner ever lifting a finger.
These promotions have some impressive results when it comes to engaging patients and driving treatment adherence.* On average, practitioners who participate in patient promotions see:
- A 128% increase in first orders from new patients.
- Improved adherence for new ordering patients — on average, practitioners experience a 92% increase in new ordering patients who continue ordering after the sale.
- A 205% lift in the number of existing patients who place their first order of the year during a sale.
And, for those who use their supplement dispensary as an important revenue stream, participating practitioners see, on average, a 156% increase in payouts during a patient promotion.
*Results are based on all historical Fullscript patient promotions, with increases based on actual results compared to expected results.
Putting these adherence tools into practice
Whether you recommend supplements virtually, in-office, or a bit of both, Fullscript has a suite of features that allow practitioners to engage with patients beyond the point of care.
Fullscript is a great communication tool and also offers patient support and resources that extend beyond supplements, creating a community that will help them stay on-track with their wider treatment plans. A true treatment adherence partner for both patients and practitioners.
Did you know?
Coming soon! Fullscript is testing a membership adherence program, Treatment+ Get access to exclusive, adherence-boosting services so that when you send a treatment plan, it sticks. Learn more about the pilot program, and apply for early access!
Quality supplement plans in less than a minute
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