Our healthcare system is broken. Unfortunately, it is currently heavily influenced by pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers, and insurance providers. This is most obvious in Primary Care clinics. To be profitable, these clinics must generate a substantial sales volume and number of appointments to survive. However, there is a way for medical practices to be patient-focused, professionally managed, efficient, and profitable.
The business of medicine is a mess. Our current system wastes 30ȼ of every dollar it receives. Healthcare must be affordable. We do not have a healthcare system that educates, informs, and inspires people to live a healthy lifestyle. The medical industry has done little to further preventative healthcare or to provide the resources to help keep us healthy. If our system better incorporates preventative healthcare practices, the chances of getting sick or contracting a disease could be reduced. Less need for acute or chronic medical care translates to lower medical costs.
Is Health Insurance Necessary?
Yes and no. Yes, we need it for treatment of chronic and acute conditions, diseases, surgeries, and catastrophic care. No, we do not need it for family care, urgent care, and preventative healthcare. For this to occur, these most important pillars of our healthcare must be paid directly by the patient.
Primary care, preventive care, and urgent care needs to be carved away from health insurance and paid for via a combination of membership and fee for services. It is not something that we, as consumers should be paying insurance companies for. Hopefully, insurance companies will be open to this change.
If we all were participants in patient paid clinics that provide all basic care up to and including EKG’s and blood panels, the quality of care would improve, and practices would be profitable. This would require that we pay a monthly fee for access to our physician. The cost to us would be less than what we are currently paying for health insurance.
Primary care physicians should be the true gatekeeper of our healthcare that refers patients to specialists when there is a need. These same physicians would have more time to listen to our health concerns and be more involved with providing care that encourages and inspires us to live a healthy lifestyle. Care such as this will help us achieve optimal health. We will need to have an HSA and a high deductible catastrophic care insurance policy for specialists, chronic conditions, acute conditions, surgeries, and hospital care when we need it.
Medical, Health, Wellness, Fitness, and Beauty Businesses Can Peacefully Co-exist.
A Wellness Village is a facility which allows you to focus on health care, relationships, and results, where patients experience a supportive healing community. In Wellness Villages, physicians, health practitioners, and spa owners provide an integrated approach to health care in an environment where the business operates efficiently and profitably.
Marketing and promotion occur jointly. Tenants in the village become immediate referral sources. Participants may include Acupuncturists, Naturopathic Doctors, Primary Care / Urgent Care Physicians, Psychologists, BIHT, Life Coaches, Internal Medicine, Pain Management, Structural and Functional Medicine, Aestheticians, Dermatologists, Yoga Teachers, Physical Therapists, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, Fitness Trainers, and Cosmetic Surgeons.
A Wellness Village is an efficiently designed facility that appears as a single practice. Operating within a collaborative, integrative healthcare clinic can significantly lower the operating and overhead expenses of each individual practice or business. Many of these expenses are shared among village tenants. The Wellness Capital Village model works as either a real estate purchase or master lease.
Health and wellness programs are provided in which all tenants participate. Village tenants provide services and programs within an integrated program that promotes preventive health care and optimum health. These are customized for each specific community, and services could also be grouped by medical or wellness specialty. These facilities require practitioners with a common care philosophy, and hospitality orientation. Practitioners can do what they are passionate about. The operational and financial management of tenant’s business is provided as a service to all village tenants.
Let’s Build Villages.
Villages provide affordable accessible quality healthcare by inspired practitioners who own and operate profitable practices. All businesses are looking for opportunities for growth. Medical practices that provide evidenced-based services and marry them successfully with a business that is built on relaxation and skincare services have the best of both worlds. Spas have an established and loyal clientele and profitability. Successful spas have a positive and supportive culture. They provide a hospitable and healing environment. Medical practices should aspire to provide a similar culture. If a doctor or wellness business owner is willing to be open and creative, a village will provide cash paid services and reduce business risk.
Our model for Wellness Villages provides accessible, affordable, preventive healthcare and lifestyle services. This creates an integrative healthcare clinic where its tenants are profitable and paid directly by their clientele. Villages provide medical, lifestyle, wellness, and spa services to a mainstream clientele in neighborhood locations. This is one way of fixing the business and economics of medicine. A Wellness Village allows us to change the trajectory of medicine and provide better quality healthcare.
If you are the owner of a successful medical practice, wellness business, or spa; developing a Wellness Village not only helps you grow, but it also allows you to operate more profitably. If you are a team-oriented practitioner and want to be a part of a progressive and positive environment where healing, health, and prevention is supported, then consider developing a Wellness Village. Wellness Capital Management is here to guide you.
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