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Holistic Growth Podcast: Navigating Business in Natural Health and Functional Medicine

Welcome to the Holistic Growth Podcast, where we bridge the gap between technology and care for natural health and functional medicine professionals.

Join us as we dive into the latest business strategies, innovative tools, and real-world stories designed to help practitioners expand their influence, enhance client experiences, and grow their practice seamlessly.

Tune in to unlock insights that empower holistic practice growth, making advanced solutions accessible for every stage of your wellness journey.

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Holistic Growth Podcast: Navigating Business in Natural Health and Functional Medicine

Your EMR Isn't a CRM: The Missing System Behind Practice Growth

September 10, 2026 • GetHealthy.store • Season 3 • Episode 6

0:00 | 41:40

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Your EMR knows what happened during the appointment. But what happens to the relationship outside of it?

Many private practices use their EMR as the center of their entire operation—and then wonder why leads slip through the cracks, follow-up depends on staff memory, former patients disappear, and growth feels harder than it should.

In this episode of the Holistic Growth Podcast, Dr. Tracey Stroup sits down with private-practice strategist and entrepreneur Matt Schneider, founder of Profit Practice and Ignition Systems, to unpack the difference between an EMR and a CRM—and why understanding that distinction can change the way a practice grows.

They explore what happens before someone becomes a patient, what happens between appointments, and what happens after a patient leaves the active care cycle. Matt explains why practices need systems for tracking relationships and next steps—not only clinical records—and how better workflows, automation, and follow-up can help practitioners stay connected without creating more manual work for themselves or their teams.

In this episode:

The fundamental difference between an EMR/EHR and a CRM

Why using an EMR as a CRM can create operational blind spots
What happens to prospective patients before they ever enter the EMR
Why follow-up shouldn't depend on someone remembering to do it
How practices lose opportunities when leads and patients don't have a clear "next step"
The role of pipelines in understanding where people are in their journey
Where automation can reduce administrative burden without removing the human relationship
Why dormant or former patients shouldn't simply disappear from view
How better systems can support retention and re-engagement
Why practice growth isn't only about generating more leads
How practitioners can begin separating clinical workflows from business and relationship workflows
What scalable practices do differently operationally

Learn more about Matt Schneider:
ProfitPractice.com

Explore Ignition Systems:
IgnitionSystems.app

Learn more about GetHealthy:
GetHealthy.store

This podcast is provided for educational and informational purposes. Practices should evaluate technology, privacy, communication, and patient-data requirements based on their own workflows, applicable laws, and professional obligations.