Intro

Welcome to another new blog from Scott Rattigan, the founder of Functional Lawyer and co-founder of Origins Incubator...

Today, I want to challenge a prevailing belief in the world of functional medicine: the idea that success hinges on finding the perfect niche. Not everything you learn from marketers is accurate, and I'm here to share my insights on why you don't need a niche to thrive in functional medicine. Let's dive into it and discover how you can build a successful practice without pigeonholing yourself.

The Generalist Advantage

Just like starting college without a predetermined major, I believe in beginning your functional medicine journey as a generalist. The key is to be a good provider and help those seeking your expertise. Operating as a generalist initially allows you to explore various avenues within functional medicine and practice with a diverse clientele.  Why would you start off by pigeonholing yourself? Instead, consider marketing your expertise...

Many education and business training programs purport to teach doctors and other health care professionals that they can expand their practice by practicing telemedicine across state lines, or even in other areas of the world, under the guise of calling yourself a “consultant” or “health coach” and by signing a fancy consultant agreement.

Planning to order tests, diagnose illnesses, treat ailments, and prescribe medication (whether taking insurance or not, or getting paid or not), without a license, is a clear violation of the law. License and medical boards, as well as prosecutors, see through this deception and will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law whether you harm someone or not. If you are participating in medical practices that a doctor is licensed to do, then you need a license to practice medicine. It’s simply not a good idea for you to call yourself a health consultant and practice medicine across state lines at the same time.

...

“Any physician that espouses the use of this should be reported to their State Medical Association.”  That is a direct quote from the Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of South Florida; his name is Dr. John Sinnott. Dr. Sinnott’s alarming words were quoted in an article by the Tampa Bay Times just last week, talking about Ivermectin and off-label use. In the article, we learn that both Merck and the CDC recommend against using Ivermectin for COVID-19 treatment. 

In Terms of Protecting Yourself...

I know there is some disagreement in the medical community, and I'm not here to take sides or to tell you to stop the use of Ivermectin or to start its use. I know that some of the doctors in my community who follow me believe very strongly in Ivermectin, whereas some, like Dr. Sinnott, very much do not believe in its use for COVID-19. I am here to answer what you need to do about this in terms of protecting yourself so that you're...

Today we're talking about two real life examples (and there's probably a million more) of how you can save thousands of dollars, relieve giant headaches, avoid viruses and computer hacks into your system, and tackle other problems by simply having the proper document in place. I am going to tell you what this document is, what needs to be in it, and how to use it.

The Dangers of Spam

We are going to be looking at copyright laws, specifically copyright laws on the internet. In my business and in my wife's practice, we routinely get a message through our contact page, or someone might email us out of the blue, saying that they have noticed we have a copyright infringement. Here is an example from a recent email I received,

"Hi, this is Melinda, and I'm a certified illustrator.

I was surprised, frankly speaking, when I came across my images at your web-site (sic). If you use a copyrighted image without my permission, you need to be aware that you could be sued by the copyright...

Today I am sharing with you the one tool that you need which will grow your practice to seven figures in three days!  Okay, obviously that's a bit of hyperbole, but I DO have a special tool to recommend for you, and it's absolutely free. It can make you wealthy. It can bring you peace of mind. It can make sure that your business is healthy. It can make your life happy. The tool I want to talk about today is your brain and your gut. Do you realize that you already have the power to do all the things that you need to do and to achieve success?

Shiny Object Syndrome 

I was talking to some providers recently, and it's a common thing, not just for providers but for entrepreneurs, to get distracted by the shiny new tool or this little software widget here and think, "Maybe if I just sign up for this, some of my problems will go away...or I'll have more money... or more time..." It's hard to resist all these tools, especially because they're doing a good job marketing. But...

Today we are covering: what is "standard of care," why it's important to you as a medical professional, and more importantly, how you can stay within your standard of care and make sure that you're not subject to any unwarranted liability. 

When Does Duty Call? 

Amongst physicians or lay people, they usually talk about malpractice in terms of being any unskilled, bad, or negligent treatment that causes injuries to the patient. That can be an action that you take, or an omission that you do not take, in your care of a patient. So, how do we determine if your actions or omissions are bad, unskilled, or negligent? We come up with a “standard of care.” Before we get to that definition, we have to go backwards and ask, “To win a lawsuit, what does the plaintiff have to prove in order to win?” 

In most states, the plaintiff has to establish that the professional owed a “standard of care” or a “duty of care” to that...

"What can health coaches do?" And, more specifically, "Can health coaches order lab tests and interpret them?"  These are some of the most frequent questions I get at Functional Lawyer, and today I'm going to give you my answer, some additional information, and what you can do about it if this is something you're planning to implement in your practice.

What Does a Health Coach do?

Before we jump into the details, we first need to define what health coaches actually do and what their job description is. Health coaches are part wellness-expert, part mentor-cheerleader, part accountability-buddy, and part psychological toolbox or life-hacks-giver who assist others to make better choices. Basically, health coaches support and act as behavior-change specialists, and they help bring people out of their ruts or encourage them to change certain habits. Health coaches can be helpful in that they respond in ways that are not judgmental or aggressively negative, especially...