6 Tips for Opening a Successful Physician Owned Medical Spa
With 12,000 Americans turning 50 every day, many doctors are expanding their existing practices with the addition of a Medical Spa. Since there is no shortage of Baby Boomers who want to stop the aging process, this is an excellent time for physicians to explore the Medical Spa industry.
Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) January 29, 2008 — The International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine (IAPAM) has completed this tip guide designed to help physicians who want to either open a medical spa or add aesthetic medical procedures to their existing practice.
“Medical Spas are a natural progression of medical practice expansion, having a medical doctor run them gives them the credibility and public confidence needed for their success,” says Jeff Russell, executive-director of the IAPAM. Physicians need to find a way to utilize their skills to expand the scope of their practice. The growing demand for personal attention and service in medicine may provide opportunities for physicians who see the benefit of addressing these needs.
Don’t try and re-invent the wheel, learn from our experience, here are 6 tips that will help you successful add medical aesthetics to your practice.
1. Do It Because You Want To Do It
Adding a cash-based revenue center in the form of a Medical Spa should yield great returns. However, if you are not doing what you truly enjoy, it will show on your bottom-line. As you will probably be spending more time and money than you originally planned, you need to make sure opening a medical spa is what you really want to do.
Why are more and more physicians looking at adding these cash-based aesthetic medicine procedures by opening a medical spa? One reason is fees are much higher than those for reimbursable procedures.
2. Start with a Road Map
You should have a clear strategy of what services, procedures and products you will offer. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Opening a medical spa typically involves combining medical and aesthetic procedures along with complementary physician-directed skin care products.
One thing I strongly advocate is having a plan. You should have a business plan that outlines what you want to accomplish (goals), and a road map on how you are going to get there. You should have a marketing plan to clearly outline what you are going to do in order to get the best return on your investment (time).
A very important part of your business plan is to clearly understand what the top minimally invasive procedures are, and who is having them done. You should clearly know who your target demographic for the procedures.
3. Choose your Products, Equipments & Service Menu Carefully
Before you purchase any equipment, you should know which procedures you are going to perform in your practice. Hair removal, although popular, is very commoditized. You may want to focus on vascular and pigmented lesions, skin tightening, wrinkles and acne scars, and skin rejuvenation. It is also important that your equipment can be easily upgraded as new technologies become available, and not need to be replaced.
Don’t forget about ensuring each room has sufficient space to highlight the physician directed skin care line you will also carry. When choosing your skin care products, choose the ones that have active ingredients, you certainly don’t want to compete with a department store or the spa down the street.
4. Building your Dream Team
Since you will not want to be tied down to the day to day operations of the MedSpa, you may consider hiring a medical spa manager. This person needs to have exceptional customer service values, and be talented enough to choose and develop the right team to perform your medical aesthetics procedures.
The nice thing about offering medical aesthetic procedures is that in most States you do not have to do the actual procedures, you can hire an experienced aesthetician, RN, PA, or NP to do them. Allowing these trained extenders to generate revenue whether you are there or not.
5. Marketing and Promotion is Key
First of all you need to let all your current patients know about your new medical spa, but do not think this is enough! You will need to have a comprehensive marketing plan prior to your grand opening. You may want to offer free informational sessions on popular topics (i.e. wellness) or a special promotional treatment package.
6. Don’t forget about regulatory and insurance issues
Since you will be incorporating medical procedures in your practice you need to ensure you have the proper liability coverage for the procedures you will be performing. While you may already have malpractice insurance, it may not cross-over to the medical spa. Many insurers are now requiring offices adding or expanding cosmetic aesthetic procedures to their practice to document clinical and/or accredited training on all non-ablative modalities before a policy of coverage will be extended. Please consult your insurance provider and your legal advisor to ensure you are accurately covered.
The underlying theme here is – Be Prepared! The key to any business success, including opening a medical spa, is having clinical expertise and a team in place to operate the medical spa.
As you develop and grow the medical spa, you are going to experience the same growing pains common to any new business, the key is identifying them and responding to them.
This information has been taken from part of the course curriculum that will be taught at the International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine’s 2-day Aesthetic Medicine Symposium. Physicians can download the full version of the “6 Tips to Adding Aesthetic Medical Procedures to your Practice” ebook at no charge from http://www.iapam.com/ebook
About the International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine (IAPAM)
The International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine is a voluntary association of physicians and supporters that sets standards for the aesthetic medical profession. The goal of the association is to offer education, ethical standards, credentialing, and member benefits. IAPAM membership is open to licensed medical doctors (MDs) and doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs). More information about the Symposium can be accessed through http://www.aestheticmedicinesymposium.com.
For more information:
Jeff Russell
Executive-Director
International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine (IAPAM)
1-800-219-5108 x705
http://www.iapam.com
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more information: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/1/prweb657004.htm
