Shopify for dermatology practices and med spas

Why dermatology practices run Shopify

A dermatology or aesthetic practice sells more than visits. Medical-grade skin care, sunscreen, aftercare kits, gift cards and treatment packages are sold at the desk, after a visit and online.

Shopify is where many practices put that store. It handles the catalog, checkout, shipping, tax and payouts. It's good at it.

The clinic runs on something else: the EMR, the schedule, the phones and the stock in the treatment rooms. Without a connection, the two run as separate businesses with separate counts.

The HIPAA line

Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy says the platform doesn't support "uploading Protected Health Information subject to HIPAA" (Shopify).

So the store can't hold the clinical side. A diagnosis, a treatment note, a before-and-after photo, or a product recommended for a patient's condition doesn't belong in Shopify. Treat anything that ties a product to a patient's care as health data, and keep it in a system that signs a Business Associate Agreement. Confirm the details for your practice with your counsel.

How Caesar connects to Shopify

Shopify runs the store. Caesar runs the clinic. The two share stock and orders, never health data.

• One stock count. Each Shopify product maps to an item in Caesar Inventory. A sale in the store draws down the same stock the treatment rooms use, at the location you choose for online orders.
• Packages and gift cards become bookings. A treatment package or gift card bought in the store becomes a credit in Caesar. The patient books against it, and the SMS Agent or Phone Agent can book it for them.
• Recommendations stay in the chart. After a visit, the provider's product recommendation is recorded in Caesar. The patient gets a link to the products in your store. The reason for the recommendation never leaves Caesar.
• Patient matching happens in Caesar. When a store order belongs to a patient, Caesar links it on its side. Shopify only sees a customer and an order.
• Prescription products stay off the store. Anything that needs a prescriber is dispensed and recorded through the clinic, not sold through Shopify.

What Shopify never receives from Caesar: diagnoses, notes, photos, treatment history, appointment reasons or anything else from the chart.

What this looks like in a practice

A patient comes in for a laser treatment. The provider recommends an aftercare routine and records it in the visit.

The patient gets a text with a link to those products in the practice's Shopify store and buys them that evening. The sale comes out of the same inventory the treatment room draws from. Back stock gets a reorder suggestion when it drops below its minimum.

Three months later the patient buys a neurotoxin package online. It shows up in Caesar as a credit, and the patient books the appointment by text.

Where it fits with your EMR

Caesar works alongside dermatology and aesthetic EMRs, including EZDerm, ModMed and Nextech. The chart stays in the EMR. Caesar adds inventory, the Shopify connection, phones, texting, intake and notes around it. See all integrations.

For the rest of the practice's day, see dermatology and med spa software.