Health and Nutrition Counselling; Is This A Service You Could Provide?

Many years ago, as part of my duties as the Director of Marketing for a regional chain, I ran across a unique device that had the ability to conveniently measure a person’s body fat percentage.  Working with the manufacturer we adopted a program where I went to our stores and used the device to provide a free body fat composition screening in our pharmacies. 

The free service was well received and it encouraged a fair number of new people to visit our pharmacies.  Some of them were new to us and transferred their prescriptions.  It was a great promotional service.

The body fat composition program caused me to wonder; could this service be expanded and turned into a formal program that consumers would pay for, much like they pay to join Weight Watchers.  After all I reasoned, what do these commercial diet services provide that could not be better performed in a private section of the pharmacy. 

I recently participated in a Take Charge webinar that answered that question- yes you can do this!!!!

Terry Forshee, R.Ph., and the folks at Take Charge have built a successful program, currently being used by hundreds of pharmacies, that proves that nutritional counseling and lifestyle coaching can be profitably provided in a retail pharmacy. 

Forshee says the backbone of his program is a sophisticated technology that allows a patient to get a total body composition read out, even including their basal metabolic rate.  Take Charge has coupled this unique technology with specially designed software, a complete training program, marketing materials and a variety of nutritional support products.  And, they have proven the service to be well received, effective and profitable.

When patients pay for and enroll in a six-month program, the pharmacists sits with them and conducts a total nutritional review.  As the patient provides information the pharmacist enters the information into the Take Charge software which then produces a customized health improvement plan.  This includes recommendations for diet, exercise, nutritional and other lifestyle changes.

Central to the program’s success is weekly visits with the pharmacist who reviews, counsels and encourages the patient.  This type of accountability with a trusted health care provider makes the program much more successful than other commercially available plans.  

Forshee says the program has been successfully used by several pharmacists who collaborate with a local physician and have billed insurance for the services through the physician’s office.  All made possible by the ability of the Take Charge program to provide a treatment plan with benchmarks.  And, his program provides all the appropriate billing codes to support the service.

But, Forshee says the bigger immediate opportunity is for independent pharmacies to realize people will pay out-of-pocket for this type of service. One of the big selling features is the ability of the pharmacy to document that the initial patient cost of going on the program can be totally offset by substituting grocery store and restaurant food bills for the program’s proprietary shakes and bars.  

Forshee says that the long-term goal of the program is to get people to eat healthier foods purchased at the grocery store, but, in the initial phase the program does provide specially formulated foods to help “jump start” a person’s weight loss. 

If you have an interest in learning more you can check them out at:

www.takechargerx.com

To read more of Kneeland’s Notes, checkout our blog at:

https://kneelandsnotes.blogspot.com/