Practice Management (Telehealth) Platforms for Dietitians: how do I choose the right one?

Updated: January 2024

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Practice management platforms (also called EMR, EHR or telehealth platforms) have been one of the BEST innovations in the private practice healthcare space. No longer do dietitians or nutritionists have to try and piece together different platforms to create efficient systems in their practice, now it’s all in one place! 

 

What are telehealth platforms for dietitians (also called EMR or practice management platforms)?

These incredible telehealth platforms for dietitians allow you to keep all of your client work in one place, like onboarding your clients, booking appointments, collecting personal health information (like 24-hour recall data, client intake forms, etc.), signing forms and documents, processing payments, nutritional analysis of dietary information and even conducting virtual consults! 

Incredible right? 

We think so too. That’s why we wanted to write this blog post to help you compare some of the most popular EMR platforms on the market. This way you can make the best decision for you and your business. 

In this blog post, we compare the price, functionality and compliance of Practice Better vs. Healthie,  Nutrium, Kalix and Jane.app. 

 

What factors should you consider when choosing a platform?

Some factors that you may want to consider before choosing a platform: 

• How much are you willing to pay based on the # of clients that you have? 
• Which features are must-have vs. nice-to-have?

• • Direct billing
  • Built-in nutritional analysis software 
  • The ability to create packages and process payments 

• Is it compliant with the Personal Health Information (PHI) legislation in your jurisdiction? (HIPAA for the United States and PIPEDA for Canada)
  • Keep in mind that for certain Canadian provinces, different PHI legislation is enforced over PIPEDA. Find more information about that here. 

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Let’s look at some of the popular EMR platforms in more detail. 

 

 

Nutrium

 

Features:

Nutrium is a unique telehealth platform for dietitians in that it includes both the functionality of client management (booking, payment processing, storing client medical records, etc.), but it also acts as a meal planning and nutrient analysis tool as well. So instead of purchasing a separate app to analyze your client’s intake, you can do it all in one place. 

Plus, you can customize the program if you work with specific populations (like pediatrics or pregnancy) to reflect the nutrient needs of that group. Once you input the clients intake, it will let you know where their diet may be lacking depending on the specific life stage. Then, you can create meal plans for your client by choosing foods from 15 food composition databases and Nutrium will calculate the plan’s nutrient values. This is such an awesome feature given the fact that you don’t have to pay for a separate nutrition analysis software like Esha or Eat Love. 

Nutrium also allows you to develop a website and blog through their platform to keep absolutely everything in one place. This is another feature not offered by other platforms. Although Nutrium doesn’t have a built-in video calling platform, you can easily integrate your preferred platform, like Zoom, Skype or Google Hangouts to conduct virtual sessions.

 

Price (please note, Nutrium no longer lists their prices on their website, so the prices below might be outdated): 

*Prices are listed per month, but a yearly discounted rate is also available

• • 14 day free-trial 

• • 1 new client per month = Free 

• • Up to 10 = starting at $28 USD / the equivalent of about ~$35 CAD per month 

• • Up to 25 = starting at $44.80 USD / the equivalent of about ~$56 CAD per month 

• • Up to 75 = starting at $61.60 USD / the equivalent of about ~$77 CAD per month 

• • > 75 = starting at $78.40 USD / the equivalent of about ~$99 CAD per month 

 

Compliance: 

Nutrium is HIPAA compliant, so it is a great option for dietitians in the US. However, it is not yet compliant with PIPEDA in Canada, although this is something that they are working on, so should be available soon! 

 

Overall:

• • Appointment booking and scheduling

• • Client health record storage

• • Can create packages 

• • Nutritional analysis and meal planning

• • Smartphone app 

• • Payment processing capability

• • Video calling integration

• • Client communication

• • Free trial 

• • HIPAA compliance 

• • Affiliate program so you can earn a commission by sharing with colleagues

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Kalix

 

Features: 

Kalix is fairly comparable to Practice Better in terms of functionality. They offer appointments and scheduling, direct billing (similar to Healthie), telehealth, fullscript integration and client messaging. They also include a collection of templates for client forms that you can customize for your practice. 

 

Pricing: 

Kalix offers a 30-day free trial and their pricing is quite simple compared to some of the other platforms. 

*Prices are listed per month, but a yearly discounted rate is also available

• • Free 30 day trial 

• • Standard = $27 USD per month (unlimited clients but does not include telehealth) / the equivalent of about ~$34 CAD per month  

• • Virtual Practice = $47 USD per month (unlimited clients and telehealth) / the equivalent of about ~$59 CAD per month

 

Compliance:

Kalix is compliant with HIPAA for US dietitians and nutritionists, and PIPEDA for Canadian dietitians and nutritionists (check for provincial-specific compliance by Googling “[your provincial privacy legislation] Kalix compliance”). 

Overall: 

• • Appointment booking and scheduling

• • Client health record storage

• • Direct billing 

• • Smartphone app 

• • Payment processing capability

• • Video calling 

• • Client communication

• • Free trial 

• • HIPAA, PIPEDA compliance 

• • Templates of client forms 

• • Fullscript integration 

• • Affiliate program so you can earn a commission by sharing with colleagues

 

 

Jane.app

 

Function: 

Jane.app is quite comparable to Healthie. They have direct billing capability, online scheduling and booking, telehealth appointments and charting. However, it appears from their website as though they are moreso designed for larger clinics vs. solo practitioners as their base plan starts at $74 USD per month (which does not include direct billing). 

Another unique feature of Jane.app is that you can customize the look and feel of your booking page to match your business branding to allow for a streamlined user experience. 

 

Pricing: 

*Prices are listed per month, but a yearly discounted rate is also available

• • Base Plan = $79 USD per month (does not include direct billing) / the equivalent of about ~$93 CAD per month 

• • Insurance Plan = $109 USD per month / the equivalent of about ~$124 CAD per month 

 

Compliance:

Jane.app is compliant with HIPAA for US dietitians and nutritionists, and PIPEDA for Canadian dietitians and nutritionists (check for provincial-specific compliance by Googling “[your provincial privacy legislation] Jane.app compliance”). 

 

Overall: 

• • Appointment booking and scheduling

• • Client health record storage

• • Direct billing 

• • Smartphone app 

• • Payment processing capability

• • Video calling 

• • Client communication

• • HIPAA, PIPEDA compliance

 

 

Which platform is best based on where you’re at in your business? 

One of the bigger differentiators between the platforms is whether or not they offer direct billing capabilities. If you are a practitioner set up with direct billing and you want to save yourself the time, Healthie or Jane.app might be a better place to start. However, if you’re a solo practitioner just looking to get your business off the ground in a cost-effective way, likely Practice Better is a great place to start. 

 

 

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Dietitian Success Center helps dietitians excel in two ways:

1️⃣ Nutrition Membership – Access evidence-based client handouts, courses, and tools to save time and deliver exceptional client care. Learn more here. 

2️⃣ Business Project Lab – A year-long strategic coaching program to help you launch, grow, and streamline your business. Learn more here. 

 

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