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I recently had the opportunity to talk with Dianne Rishkof, a registered dietitian outside of Boston, about how it was going with Wellevate- Dianne was an early adopter of Wellevate, and uses it to augment her traditional in-office dispensary.

JC: What led you to give Wellevate a try?

DR: I was using Emerson to purchase all of the supplements for my practice and so when you guys introduced Wellevate, I thought it was such a great idea. I just liked the idea of having some of that taken off of my plate, all of the ordering, all of the inventory, all of the figuring out how much people owe me and how much sales tax, the whole thing seemed like it would be so much better if everyone went online and did it themselves.

Dianne is a perfect example of how a practitioner can successfully add Wellevate to a bustling in-office dispensary and can increase overall practice revenue by doing so. 

Dianne’s clinic functions as both in-office and virtual. In this way, she is able to reach clients with traditional face-to-face visits in her office and also has the opportunity to grow her platform and offer consultations via phone or video.  Her practice is really a model for the future, leveraging technology to allow followers to connect with her personally.

Dianne also uses a combined in-office and online dispensary model, which allows her to serve her patients based upon what they prefer.  Many patients walk out of the office with their first supplements, but order their refills online.

For Dianne, both are very profitable.

JC:  How do you think that the in-office and online Wellevate dispensary compare when it comes to ease of use, patient satisfaction, and revenue?

DR: It definitely saves me time and it does bring in revenue. It’s hard to say if it brings in more or less than my in-store dispensary but it’s so much easier. So it’s really wonderful.

I asked her what her patients thought about Wellevate as well, as that is such an important factor when it comes to making a decision to implement something new in practice. 

DR:  Some people have actually said that they love it and that it’s much easier than calling me and saying I need my refill. Sometimes people need refills in between appointments like I see people once a month and they need something at the three-week mark and they’d have to drive by and pick something up. Now everything just gets mailed to their door and they love it.

JC: Are there other benefits that the addition of your Wellevate dispensary added to your practice?

DR:  People, even after they stop coming to see me or we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve, they’re still refilling.

That’s extra revenue that would have probably gone to the health food store, or some other supplement retailer.

So, my final question for Dianne:

JC: What would you say to practitioners who have an in-office dispensary only today?  Any advice about whether to add Wellevate or tips on how to get started?

DR: People are hesitant to do things because it’s new and different but I would say definitely do it… you’ll be so happy that you did it, it’s just so much easier, so just sort of get over that hump.

Dianne Rishikof is founder and owner of Health Takes Guts (www.healthtakesguts.com), a in-person and virtual functional nutrition practice focused on digestive health.  Dianne just published her first eBook, also called “Health Takes Guts”, which is available through her website.