Wellness Businesses For Healthcare Professionals
Fact: Healthcare professionals see the value of preventive care every day. However, frustrated by treating patients whose problems could have been avoided, many feel that managed care ties their hands. Starting a wellness-related business offers a financially and personally appealing alternative.
Financially, wellness businesses offer the best of both worlds - clients who will happily pay out-of-pocket for beneficial services, and insurance reimbursement for physician-prescribed services and programs. Personally and professionally, these businesses make a difference in the lives of individuals without the compromises often required in traditional healthcare environments.
Our view: We believe that wellness businesses run by healthcare professionals have a special advantage in the eyes of consumers. Consumers often perceive healthcare professionals as more credible than fitness professionals. These businesses are also most likely to capitalize on the interesting new technologies targeted for the consumer market by the medical technology industry. They are better-positioned to reach special populations largely overlooked by general-purpose wellness centers or traditional health clubs.
Existing networks of other healthcare professionals give them a running start in building a customer base. Scientific knowledge about managing the effects of aging continues to grow, and these businesses are also well-placed to authoritatively blend new findings into their products and services.
Action: Starting a customer-focused business presents new challenges for professionals accustomed to dealing with patients.
1) Decide on your overall business approach. One approach is to offer an integrated program that solves a specific problem or targets a specific goal. An example would be integrating nutrition, physical activity, and psychological support to help customers lose weight. Or you might simply offer a menu of professional services available through physician referral--for example, nutrition, stress management, fitness, or counseling.
2) Customer service matters. Focus on "serving customers", not "processing patients". A doctor's office may be able to get away with requiring patients to fill out forms on a clipboard on every visit. Customers, on the other hand, will challenge your office's inefficiency since other service-providers they routinely deal with have automated many of these processes. And they won't accept sloppy scheduling that delays the rest of their day. In fact, they expect you to adapt to their needs, not vice-versa.
3) Customers want collaboration. Many consumers will not appreciate a highly directive approach, one grounded in "do this because I said to" or "what you need to do is...". They will expect--and welcome--a collaborative approach based on identifying what's important to them and working with them to developing useful plans to reach their goals.
4) Billing and collections are no longer centered on the insurance reimbursement process. Patients dislike but tolerate inept billing practices and poor financial record-keeping. Customers think that's ridiculous.
5) Sales and marketing are not optional. You'll need to think about sales and marketing activities that as a healthcare professional associated with a hospital or medical practice you probably gave very little attention to. For example, how will potential customers know that your business even exists? Since repeat customers are often the most profitable, how will you encourage customers to return again and again?
6) Assess your team's skills carefully. Select the business staff as carefully as you select the wellness staff. Relevant business management experience is more important than clinical experience when it comes to areas like sales, marketing, billing, and collections. We advise against hiring friends - but if you must, make sure their credentials and experience pass muster.