Online Tools for Practitioners: Supplement Dispensaries – Part 3

Fullscript—a best-in-class, tech-based solution

For practitioners seeking to check off all the criteria above, Fullscript is the answer. A pioneer in the space, the company developed the first online dispensing platform for nutritional supplements and now offers hundreds of brands and thousands of products to power digital dispensing across the U.S. and Canada.

Online dispensing platforms like Fullscript can substantially improve both patient and practice outcomes. Here are some of the statistics on practice benchmarks from North American practitioners utilizing the Fullscript online dispensing platform:

• Improved patient adherence by at least 58%
• Increased supplement sales by 52% within six months and by more than 90% within 12 months
• Improved refill rates by as much as 40%

Fullscript is focused on solutions

Ultimately, an online dispensing platform can address many problems for practitioners and patients. Here are a few examples of how Fullscript solves common issues associated with supplement dispensing:

Problem: Practitioners need a cost-effective and convenient option to provide supplements for their patients throughout the entire treatment plan. Solution: While it is sometimes tough to convince patients that cheaper isn’t always better, this is less about cost and more about convenience for the patient. Online dispensing provides ways to purchase supplements online through a verified and trusted distributor. It doesn’t require the hard work of finding the right products at a reasonable price. Refill reminders and home delivery also contribute to patient adherence to the full treatment protocol, which can often be 90 days or more.

Problem: Creating revenue from supplement sales and refills is too much work. Solution: Two-thirds of practitioners are now seeking new revenue streams for their practice and for many holistic practitioners this revenue is essential. Fullscript handles all the details while providing a variety of revenue options. The platform offers a new evolution of dispensary management by tracking in-house orders, as well as online revenue and re-orders. For example, practitioners can utilize online ordering of supplements for patients as much or as little as needed. They can also evaluate new items at wholesale without committing to large quantities. Automatic refill reminders help improve revenue from patient re-orders. The system creates easy-to-understand sales and accounting reports to track the impact of this business on the practice. It even handles sales tax remittance, which can create a lot of work and headaches at tax time.

Problem: Online dispensaries are typically one-size-fits-all and are not HIPAA compliant. Solution: An online dispensary platform like Fullscript offers a highly customizable approach to dispensing. Practitioners can: Choose from two business models: A for-profit account allows practitioners to select the margin on products sales based on their practice and patient needs; or a non-profit account that offers patients a discount of up to 10%. Select the look and feel of the landing page, add a logo, and choose preferred verbiage (say patients versus clients, prescriptions versus recommendations, as preferred or as required by state certification board). Personalize patient messages by adding instructions for a meal plan, notes from the appointment or attaching a workout routine. And it’s all HIPAA compliant, so there’s no need to worry about the safety of personal patient medical records.

Problem: In-office dispensaries create inventory challenges. It can be near impossible to balance a complete inventory and deal with expiring stock. Solution: Many practitioners struggle with the logistics of dispensing. A good online supplement dispensary provides access to thousands of professional grade supplements and removes the need to carry extensive in-house inventory. Fullscript offers hundreds of the leading professional brands and thousands of their products. The platform makes it easy to find specific brands and products with an advanced search function that can filter products by type or condition, or more specifically by ingredients and categories, such as allergens, form, or excipient considerations. For practitioners who need a little help, the Fullscript medical team curates products to provide suggestions complete with manufacturer product support materials. Practitioners can then save favorites, so searching for the same products over and over again isn’t necessary. Fullscript also offers the ability to create a template for commonly used protocols, such as gut health or a prenatal first visit, and a new adherence feature to address occasional vendor backorders. In the case of a back-ordered or discontinued product, the system can offer a suitable solution giving practitioners the ability to choose the recommended alternative or select from a wider product group. Either way, the workflows and treatment plans are not interrupted.

Problem: Dealing with new technologies is more trouble than it’s worth. Solution: Yes, it does take time to learn a new technology, but electronic medical records are now an essential part of an efficient practice and effective patient care. An online dispensary that is capable of integrating with leading EMR platforms makes handling patient prescriptions easy and efficient; it can streamline workflows, communicate treatment plans and track patient protocols. Fullscript is on the cutting edge of functionality (designed and updated to ensure ease of use for both patient and practitioner). The system is simple to use and integrated with leading EMR platforms including CHARM, Practice Better, Power2Practice, and Cerbo. Prior to this integration, practitioners had to write a full protocol on their EMR and then duplicate that for patients to receive a prescription. Now, practitioners can do it all in one view—view and update the patient record, protocol, and supplement record, rather than jumping back and forth between platforms.

Why Fullscript is different

Fullscript is different from other online dispensaries because it was created with the input of a naturopathic physician, Dr. Alanna Dyment, and built from the ground up by a team of technical experts, including Alanna’s husband, Brad Dyment, and his friend and colleague Kyle Braatz. Together, they created a simple solution—a direct-to-patient model that connects top professional brands, practitioners, and patients together in one place and platform, changing the face of supplement dispensing. In order to turn this idea into a full-scale supplement dispensing platform that could assist practitioners across North America, Brad and Kyle brought in Chris Wise, who helped build the technical foundations of the concept.

From the beginning, the team was single-minded about creating simple software that focuses on the best supplement dispensing experience for practitioners and their patients. By designing seamless software in-house, providing the best customer support in the industry, and bridging (but never replacing) supplier-to-practitioner relationships, Fullscript has provided a quality practice tool that is changing the way health and wellness is prescribed.

In 2018, Fullscript took this to a new level by merging with Natural Partners Inc., a leading wholesale supplement distributor. The combined company brings the best wholesale and fulfillment network in the nutritional supplement industry together with the premier online dispensing platform to create a more efficient, effective and innovative solution for integrative practitioners and patients who seek holistic solutions for wellness.

Setting up Fullscript is a simple 3-step process:

1. Fullscript is 100% free and easy to use—practitioners simply need to verify their credentials (providing information on their license, certificate and/or degree depending on practitioner type) and add a few details for payment.
2. Set up a customized shop: Choose a landing page to align with their practice branding; build a custom catalog of all carefully selected products and filter products based on format, dietary restrictions, strength, and other criteria to help narrow searches.
3. Start prescribing. Fullscript ensures that patients can find and purchase the products their practitioner selects for them by writing a virtual prescription and sending it to them via email or text message; the order is then shipped directly to the patient’s home. The Fullscript platform calculates the timing for refill based on the dosage instructions inputted by the practitioner, and when it’s time to refill, sends the patient a personalized refill reminder so they can easily re-order.