18. Considering a Membership Model?

August 22, 2023

As summer winds down, it’s time to enjoy our last moments of rest before the busy season begins. A chance to consider new potential growth opportunities and innovation for our practices. Today we are going to be talking about membership programs: if your practice is a good candidate for this type of offer, what the commitment is, and how you can get started.

Let’s be clear – this is not a new concept. Doctors have been offering membership programs for YEARS. They’re called concierge programs and there are organizations and start-ups that are built to support medical professionals in delivering this type of care – like MDVIP and Signature MD. Concierge programs are not limited to physicians and I encourage you to leverage this language and mindset when considering a membership program for your practice.

We’ll cover:

Concierge [Membership] Model
Are you a good candidate to offer a Concierge Program?
6 Steps to Building Out Your Concierge Program

Concierge [Membership] Model

The Concierge Model, often synonymous with the “membership model” in many sectors, has its roots in healthcare. When we talk about a Concierge Model in the context of a private practice nutrition professional or healthcare setting, it embodies a unique blend of personalized care, continuous engagement, and a value-driven approach. Let’s explore its primary characteristics and the inherent value it offers both you and your patients.

Personalized and Enhanced Care:

At the heart of the Concierge Model is the promise of personalized attention. Unlike a traditional practice where a patient might come in for an appointment and then not interact with the practitioner until the next scheduled visit, the Concierge Model focuses on regular, often more intimate interactions.
This might translate into longer consultation sessions, immediate responses to queries, or bespoke nutrition plans tailored to individual needs.

Subscription-Based Payment Structure:

Instead of charging patients on a per-visit basis, the Concierge Model typically adopts a subscription-based payment system. Patients might pay a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee in exchange for continuous access to the nutrition professional’s services.
This not only provides the practitioner with a steady stream of revenue but also allows patients to better predict their healthcare expenses.

Continuous Engagement and Support:

One of the distinguishing features of this model is the continuous engagement between the practitioner and the patient. Whether it’s through regular check-ins, exclusive resources, virtual seminars, group counseling sessions, or Q&A sessions, the focus is on nurturing an ongoing relationship.
For patients, this means they feel more supported in their health journey. For practitioners, it fosters loyalty and deepens the bond with their patients.

Limited Patient Load for Enhanced Focus:

Many practitioners who adopt the Concierge Model choose to limit the number of patients they take on. This ensures each patient receives the time, attention, and care they’ve been promised.
This can lead to higher patient satisfaction and allows the practitioner to maintain a sustainable and manageable work-life balance.
If you are charging more for your Concierge program, your revenue might remain the same, but your patient load will lessen.

Exclusive Offerings:

A key value proposition of the Concierge Model is the offering of services or content that might not be available to non-members. This exclusivity can manifest in various ways – from special workshops, detailed monthly newsletters, and early access to new programs, to priority booking slots.

While the term “Concierge” might evoke images of luxury or exclusivity, in the healthcare context, it reflects a desire to pivot from volume-based care (seeing as many patients as possible) to value-based care (offering profound value to a select group of patients). In essence, this model promotes a paradigm shift from transactional, episodic patient interactions to a relationship-driven, continuous care approach. It’s about building trust, offering unparalleled value, and fostering a community where patients feel heard, supported, and empowered in their wellness journey. But is your practice ready for this shift?

Are you a good candidate to offer a Concierge Program?

Embarking on a journey to offer Concierge services in your practice is an exciting prospect. However, it’s essential to recognize that, while lucrative and relationship-enhancing, this model is not suited for every nutrition professional or practice. To determine if you’re in the right position to transition or integrate this service, let’s take a deeper look into some critical considerations.

A. Assessing Your Patient Base:

Loyal Clientele: One of the foundational pillars for a successful Concierge model is having a dedicated patient base. Ask yourself: Do I have patients who regularly seek my services? Is there a segment of them that has expressed a desire for a more consistent interaction or comprehensive support?
Willingness to Invest: While many clients value healthcare, the Concierge model often asks them to invest more in premium services. Gauge if your patients recognize the value of continuous, personalized care enough to allocate a higher budget for their health and wellness journey.

If you answered yes to these questions, you already have the foundation necessary to start building your concierge offer. If you don’t have this foundation in place, your time would be better spent building it. Utilize strategies that will support the growth of your patient base and find other ways to add value to your practice [such as getting advanced training in a particular area that would support the need for a concierge program – such as functional nutrition].

B. Evaluating Your Potential Service Offerings:

Exclusivity is Key: The Concierge service isn’t just about more interaction; it’s about providing differentiated and exclusive value. Reflect on what unique services or content you can offer. Could you conduct monthly webinars? Perhaps create tailored nutrition plans complemented with exclusive recipe books? Or maybe offer priority slots during peak consultation times?
Continuous Evolution: The healthcare and wellness industry is ever-evolving. With new research, tools, and strategies emerging regularly, are you prepared to consistently update and enhance your offerings to keep your Concierge members engaged and finding value?

C. Infrastructure and Support: If you have ever stayed at a 5-star resort, you know the level of service needs to match the level of investment in your stay. It’s no different with a Concierge program – the level of support you provide needs to be top-notch and this starts with the first interaction your clients have with you [your website] to the vehicle through which you will be delivering your services [maybe your EHR].

Operational Readiness: Managing a membership model is vastly different from handling ad-hoc appointments. You’ll need robust systems for scheduling, billing, content delivery, and more. Before diving in, assess whether your current infrastructure supports this transition. If not, are you willing to invest in the necessary tools or platforms?
Administrative Overhead: With memberships come administrative responsibilities — managing renewals, handling cancellations, updating member details, and addressing concerns. Ensure you have either the time or the staff support to manage these tasks seamlessly.

D. Commitment to Continuous Engagement: A Concierge model is far from a passive income one. It is not a set-it-and-forget-it situation. You will be committing to deliver recurring value and engagement for your patient’s recurring payments.

Deepened Interactions: The Concierge model demands a higher frequency and depth of interaction. It’s not merely about more consultations but about forging deeper relationships. This might mean sending out weekly newsletters, addressing concerns promptly, and even occasional check-ins just to see how a patient is doing.
Balancing Quantity and Quality: As you offer this premium service, there will be a temptation to enroll as many patients as possible. However, remember that the essence of this model is personalized care. Ensure you have a cap or limit in place, so the quality of care remains uncompromised. This limited enrollment can also serve you well as only those who are closer to taking action will enroll.

Are you ready?

While the Concierge model holds significant promise in deepening patient relationships and ensuring a steadier revenue stream for your practice, it requires a profound commitment, both operationally and in terms of patient engagement. Reflect on the above questions, assess your responses, and then decide if it’s the path you wish your practice to embark upon.

Let’s consider your possible options here – if your answer is…

Not Just Yet: It’s entirely okay if, after considering the above, you feel your practice isn’t ready to offer a Concierge service. Every practice evolves at its own pace. It might mean you first focus on building a more substantial client base or enhancing your service offerings. The key is to keep the idea on the horizon and reassess your readiness periodically.

Maybe: If you’re on the fence, consider piloting a Concierge service with a small group of dedicated patients. Their feedback can be invaluable, and it gives you a chance to refine the model before a full-scale roll-out.

I’m ready!!!! Okay, then. Let’s talk about what the next steps should be.

6 Steps to Building Out Your Concierge Program

1. Define Your Concierge Offerings:

Exclusive Services: Decide what unique services you’ll offer exclusively to your concierge members. This could include in-depth consultations, direct access to you for quick questions, or more comprehensive health assessments.
Additional Resources: Consider offering premium resources like specialized meal plans, digital courses, recipe collections, or therapeutic diet guides tailored to individual health concerns.
Access Levels: Decide if you’ll offer different membership tiers with varying access levels, from basic to VIP services.

Whatever you decide to include here, do yourself a favor and STANDARDIZE it. This helps set a pace for the delivery of content and it also supports patients in knowing what to expect. For example, if you decide to offer digital courses as part of your program, offer one per quarter. If you decide to include live events or group counseling sessions, set them to be delivered on specific days and times [like the first and third Thursday of each month]. You can also do this with content categories that you include in your program – perhaps you will regularly deliver information handouts and checklists, recipe packs, meal plans, cooking videos or demonstrations, and articles. Set the categories for every month and then fulfill them with content. This is, of course, made easier when you have access to content like the Living Plate Rx library. You are essentially building a framework that you and/or your team can fulfill at a particular pace.

2. Determine Pricing and Membership Tiers:

Cost Analysis: Once you have a rough outline of what will be included in your program, assess the overhead costs of delivering it—both time and resources. Ensure that the membership fee covers these expenses and allows for a healthy profit margin.
Market Research: Analyze what competitors or similar professionals are charging. This can provide insights into what the market deems fair value.
Value Proposition: Clearly define the value members will receive. Ensure that the benefits justify the cost, emphasizing the holistic and continuous nature of the care they’ll receive. Make sure you listen to Episodes #2, #4, and #5 as they can help you significantly with crafting an irresistible offer that attracts the right kind of people to your program.

3. Select and Implement Technology Tools:

Membership Management System: Choose a platform that allows easy registration, payment processing, and management of member details. EHR systems designed specifically for nutrition and wellness professionals might be a good fit.
Communication Tools: Decide on platforms for secure messaging, video consultations, and content sharing. Some of these functionalities may be included in your EHR. If you are using an outside service that is not included, it’s important to ensure HIPAA compliance.
Content Delivery Platforms: Again, your EHR may serve you well here for sharing resources like handouts, videos, or e-guides. For courses, some EHRs work well and you can also consider platforms like Kajabi, Teachable, or Thinkific to organize and distribute this type of content seamlessly.

4. Draft Legal and Operational Documents:

Membership Agreements: Clearly outline what members can expect and any commitments or rules and boundaries they need to adhere to. These documents may be an expansion of patient documents you already have in place.
Terms and Conditions: Include details on payment, renewals, confidentiality, and any other conditions of membership.
Cancelation and Renewal Policies: Establish transparent policies regarding ending or renewing memberships.

5. Develop a Marketing and Launch Plan:

Identifying Target Audience: Understand who your most likely members are and cater your marketing to address their specific needs and pain points. Episode #1 is perfect for supporting you here.
Promotion Strategies: Consider early bird discounts, referral bonuses, or a free month for current loyal clients to incentivize sign-ups.
Testimonials and Case Studies: Showcase the benefits of continuous, comprehensive care through real-life success stories of existing patients.
Build a Launch Plan: Episode #6 has what you need to consider here.

6. Staff Training and Onboarding:

Role Definitions: Ensure staff understands their roles in delivering the concierge experience. Often Concierge programs will have a Patient Experience Coordinator – someone to take them through enrollment and orientation while providing continuous support. This may be you or a virtual assistant initially – either way, make sure you have a well-defined experience so it can be duplicated for each member of your program.
Operational Training: Train staff on technology, communication guidelines, and any additional services exclusive to concierge members.
Member Interaction Etiquette: Emphasize the importance of maintaining a premium service level, addressing members promptly, and resolving issues efficiently.

Transitioning to or incorporating a Concierge Nutrition Program is an exciting venture that holds the potential to transform your practice. Offering such personalized, in-depth services can enhance patient satisfaction, improve your job satisfaction, foster deeper relationships, and provide a steady revenue stream. Like all significant changes, it demands preparation, research, and dedication. But for those ready to take this leap and do the work necessary, the rewards—both in terms of professional growth and patient outcomes—can be substantial.

Your Content Cure for This Week

Your Content Cure for this week includes two resources you’ll need when considering a Concierge Program. The first is a workbook that supports you with not only exploring if your practice is ready but also what the next steps could be with getting to that “readiness” stage. The second resource is a fillable checklist for building a Concierge Program.

>> DOWNLOAD YOUR RESOURCES HERE<<

Key Takeaway

Let’s summarize our conversation today about the considerations for building and offering a concierge program in your practice:

Introduction & Rise of Membership Models: a. The concept of membership models in healthcare, highlighting their growing prevalence and effectiveness.
Reframing as “Concierge Services”: a. How membership models are akin to “Concierge Services” in healthcare, emphasizing their emphasis on enhanced, personalized patient care and relationship-building.
Why Consider a Concierge Service?: a. The shift from transactional to relational patient care.b. The potential benefits, such as steady revenue and deeper patient engagement.
Defining Concierge Services: a. What sets apart concierge services: an emphasis on personalized care, exclusive services, and a more profound relationship between practitioner and patient.
Evaluating Your Suitability for a Concierge Service: a. Assessing the loyalty of your patient base and their willingness for more personalized services.b. Examining your current service offerings and their exclusivity. c. Reviewing necessary infrastructure, tools, and commitment level required for continuous engagement.
Next Steps for Setting Up a Concierge Nutrition Program: a. The 6 steps to get started with a concierge offering