How Contour Health Built a More Personal Telehealth Experience
Melissa Musso kept hearing the same message from patients who had struggled with weight management for years: they weren't disciplined enough, they weren’t trying hard enough, and their weight was their fault.
As a family nurse practitioner, Melissa believed that explanation overlooked the hormonal, genetic, and metabolic factors that can influence an individual patient’s experience.
That conviction became part of the foundation of Contour Health, the telehealth practice she co-founded with her husband, Wessley Musso.
“My passion for what I do has really come from talking with patients and really getting to know them and understand them.” — Melissa Musso, FNP
Behind Contour Health’s patient conversations are defined clinical and business responsibilities, education before and after appointments, and a pharmacy relationship that supports the practice as it grows.
Watch: Inside Contour Health
Hear Melissa describe building a telehealth practice with Wessley, staying connected with patients, and what she values in a pharmacy partner.
How Melissa and Wessley Divide Clinical and Business Leadership
Melissa oversees Contour Health’s clinical operations. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Ohio State University and practices as a family nurse practitioner. Her experience includes family practice, fertility, and dermatology through telemedicine.
That dermatology experience helped shape Contour Health’s approach to delivering care online. Her aesthetics patients began asking about medications focused on weight management goals, prompting her to research them and add weight management to her practice.
Wessley oversees business operations and planning. With a background in consulting and finance and an MBA from Harvard Business School, he brought a different set of skills to the practice.
He created the website, selected the electronic health record system, and connected the systems supporting the patient process. When appointment requests began coming in, that infrastructure was already in place.
“I do the medicine, he runs all of the systems and processes and business.” — Melissa Musso, FNP
The couple, who have three children, hadn’t expected to become business partners. Melissa attributes their working relationship to distinct responsibilities and respect for each other’s expertise.
The Team Behind the Telehealth Practice
Contour Health’s patient visits take place online, but the team supporting them includes nurse practitioners, registered nurses, licensing support, front-desk support, and an office manager.
Some team members work remotely. Others share office space where they can collaborate in person. Melissa also describes working daily with Whitney, a fellow nurse practitioner and her sister-in-law, including discussing responses to patient questions.
Connecting the Consultation, Pharmacy, and Follow-Up
The patient conversation continues after the video visit. In one consultation, Melissa explains that she’ll send a patient portal message and personalized injection instructions, then send the prescription directly to the pharmacy. The pharmacy then compounds and ships the personalized medication to the patient and provides text updates as the order progresses.
She also gives that patient a specific next step: message her after two weeks on the starting dose of the medication so they can reassess the plan.
Across the practice, communication after the initial video visit primarily takes place through asynchronous messaging. Patients can send questions on their own schedule, and the team works toward a defined response goal.
“They message us on their own timeline. We respond in a business day—that's really our goal.” — Melissa Musso, FNP
Why Practice Growth Changed What Contour Health Needed From a Pharmacy
When Melissa first began prescribing compounded weight management medications, she worked with a small compounding pharmacy. As the practice grew, she began looking at other scalable options.
“I outgrew them pretty quickly.” — Melissa Musso, FNP
Melissa says she evaluated around six or seven compounding pharmacies. Contour Health maintains another pharmacy relationship, but she points to the level of service to both the practice and its patients as the reason most of its prescriptions go through Strive.
As Contour Health grew, Melissa needed a pharmacy partner built for the demands of modern telehealth.
For Melissa, that means being able to reach someone when an individual order needs attention. She describes sending a Slack message to get help locating a patient’s order.
“I can get in touch with somebody at Strive, they will help find any given specific order.” — Melissa Musso, FNP
Providers who work with Strive have an account team that knows their practice. When something comes up, there's a person to call.
For clinic owners evaluating a pharmacy relationship, Melissa’s experience offers a specific question to ask: when a patient needs an order update, how does the practice get help?
Extending Patient Education Beyond Appointments
Melissa’s educational work also reaches people outside Contour Health. She began posting online while providing Botox and filler services, and education remained part of her approach as the practice developed.
Instagram brings patients to Contour Health, she says. But she also hears from followers who receive care elsewhere and say her content encouraged them to seek help.
“It allows us to help more people, even if we’re not helping them directly.” — Melissa Musso, FNP
Melissa describes supporting people who find another way to access care, including through their insurance. Becoming a Contour Health patient isn’t the only outcome she values from those conversations.
At a recent company meeting, the team named patient advocacy as a core value.
“We are fierce patient advocates. And helping people is the lifeblood of what we do.” — Melissa Musso, FNP
Your Pharmacy Is Part of the Patient Experience
Contour Health’s story gives clinic owners a practical view of what a personal telehealth experience is built on: defined leadership responsibilities, a team supporting patient communication, education around the appointment, and a way to get help when pharmacy questions arise.
As Melissa’s practice grew, the ability to reach someone about a specific order became an important part of the pharmacy relationship.
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The views expressed by Contour Health are their own and do not represent the views of Strive Pharmacy nor reflect Strive’s products, services, or offerings.
Compounded medications carry potential risks that vary by formulation and by individual patients. This material does not contain a complete list of risks, warnings, contraindications, or drug interactions. Providers should consult full prescribing considerations and use their clinical judgment, and patients should consult their prescribing healthcare provider.
Compounded medications are not FDA-approved and are specially prepared for identified individual patient needs based on a valid prescription from a prescribing healthcare practitioner. Clinical decisions remain the responsibility of the prescriber at the discretion of their independent professional judgment. Availability, prescription requirements, and permissible compounding practices vary by state law.
