Episode 25 - The 'Prescribing Risk' in functional medicine - how to overcome regulatory and negligence risks around prescribing and diagnosis
Confidence To Thrive - a podcast for ambitious healthcare practitioners and entrepreneurs
<p>Functional Medicine and Prescribing: Regulation, Roles and Risk in Multidisciplinary Practices</p>
<p>In this episode of Confidence to Thrive, Owlicity directors Christopher Cloke Browne and Roger Houston discuss how functional medicine practices can fall into regulatory and negligence risk around “prescribing” and diagnosis. </p>
<p>As supplements become increasingly specialised in the area of functional medicine, they may still be regulated as food supplements, but a doctor’s recommendation can be treated by the GMC as a prescription and judged against medical standards even without a written script. </p>
<p>The discussion also covers risks when non-clinicians - particularly nutritionists - interpret results or suggest conditions like diabetes outside a clinical hierarchy, and the accountability of doctor-led practices for team actions. </p>
<p>They highlight patient expectations, commercial pressures, and the need for robust policies, procedures, documentation, and roles such as health coaches/patient advocates to guide patients and support compliance and defensibility.</p>
<p>Episode time stamps</p>
<p>00:43 Prescribing challenges</p>
<p>02:47 Supplements become prescriptions</p>
<p>05:58 The shift in team roles and diagnosis</p>
<p>08:35 Complaints and commercial reality</p>
<p>10:15 Introducing the patient advocate model</p>
<p>14:02 Regulations vs practice</p>
<p>16:50 The value of audits and procedures</p>
<p>20:02 Scaling a compliant business</p>
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