I’m wrapping up a doctorate in clinical nutrition, and we were required to use the Living Matrix software for the clinical portion of our program. I wanted to share my thoughts after using the platform for three months, in case it’s helpful for others who might be considering it. For context, I’ve been a licensed nutritionist for 13 years, and I’ve just returned to part-time practice after a five-year break for kid-related reasons :). I almost exclusively work with clients virtually.
I am not associated with Living Matrix other than as a user, although as a student I did get a heavily discounted rate for the semesters we were required to use the platform, negotiated through the university.
What is Living Matrix?
Living Matrix is a “technology-based, clinician-designed functional medicine platform for practitioners to effectively evaluate patients, create personalized actionable care plans, and track superior health outcomes over time.”
Essentially, it’s an electronic form delivery/storage service, similar to but not exactly like an electronic medical record platform. Here’s the basic workflow:
The Good

Image by Bela Geletneky from Pixabay
What Didn’t Work Well for Me

Image by Michael Gaida from Pixabay
Living Matrix Review
the short version!
Pros
Cons
Conclusion:
This program may be useful for functional medicine practitioners who work with adults and have a largely in-person practice. The software is helpful and time-saving for those using a functional medicine approach in this context, particularly if time with the client is limited. Living Matrix fills a very specific role, and you'll need supporting platforms or programs to meet other needs in your practice such as scheduling, billing, and collecting informed consent/HIPAA forms.
For me, the cost ($129/month for a private practice or $1393 per year + $245 setup fee) and the limitations mentioned above mean that I do not plan to continue using Living Matrix in my own practice, as I need a more affordable and comprehensive software that offers secure video conferencing, customization of intake forms, and other practice management features.*
* In case you're wondering, I use Practice Better and love it. That's a referral link! You can also read my full review of Practice Better.
Thank you for this information! I’m starting my practice soon, and I would have greatly regretted this choice, as I plan on doing virtual coaching. Thank you also for the referral, because I was wondering what should I chose next? Looking into that now!
You’re very welcome! I’m glad it was helpful. I love Practice Better, but others that are popular include Healthie and Kalix. I hope you find something that’s a perfect fit.
Thank you for your review. I found the details of your review of the cons enlightening. Many times I thought to sign on with LM but for a number of reasons including the extremely lengthy and detailed patient data entry, I chose not to. It makes sense about the detail of day, month, year of past health events as it is needed to collect data for research. As well the standardization of questions. I agree that it is quite strange that there is no ht and wt question. With the other options of Nutrition Focused HIPAA compliant telehealth ready programs like HEALTHIE, KALIX, KAREO, chARM, SimplePractice and others, what led you to select Better Practice?
Thanks, this was very helpful