Posts Tagged ‘wellness center’
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
The prestigious Cleveland Clinic has taken a proactive stance on preventative healthcare by creating a Chief Wellness Officer position and putting Dr. Michael Roizen in the job. Dr. Roizen is well known for his appearances on the “Oprah” show and as the co-author of health and lifestyle books with Dr. Mehmet Oz. His impressive resume lists the position as the past chair of the Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee.
Dr. Roizen has taken on the cause of preventive wellness through the Cleveland Clinic’s Lifestyle 180 program. Lifestyle 180 provides patients with chronic diseases with a proactive approach to improving their health. Patients are closely monitored and coached to improve their health and well-being through diet, exercise and stress management. Interestingly, the program has a dedicated space in an old corporate headquarters building in Lyndhurst, OH.
By all indications, Lifestyle 180 appears to be an excellent approach to educating patients so they can attain improved health. This raises a question. Once patients complete the program, where do they go to maintain and continue to put into action the valuable information and lifestyle tools they have received? Although patients are encouraged to come in for follow-up appointments – which are important – where do they go?
This is exactly where a medically based wellness and fitness center fills this void. Patients need a comfortable, unintimidating medically directed facility that provides them with the information, tools and resources they need to continue their journey to improved health.
We all could use a chief wellness officer to pave the way to improved health, no question. We also need a medically directed facility to put into action and maintain the life lessons that we have learned. Kudos to the Cleveland Clinic for recognizing the need to improve health through comprehensive wellness strategies. Now, let’s take it a step further and apply this proactive strategy to a comprehensive medically directed wellness and fitness center so we can live this healthy lifestyle forever.
Tags: chronic diseases, Cleveland Clinic, diet, exercise, fitness center, Healthcare, Lifestyle 180, patient, preventive wellness, stress management, wellness center
Posted in General, Healthcare, Healthcare Village, Wellness Centers | No Comments »
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Urgent care centers (Illinois law mandates that they be called immediate or convenient care centers) are gaining ground nationwide as an alternative for families with minor medical emergencies that require quick treatment. Although the walk-in clinic concept has been around for more than 20 years, the trend is picking up steam in an increasingly cost-conscious healthcare environment. 
Approximately 8,000 such facilities currently are open for business in the United States.
A 2008 survey by the Urgent Care Association of America found that most centers are owned by physicians, and approximately 15 percent are hospital affiliated. More than 55 percent are located in suburbs, where well-off patients with private insurance are unwilling to spend hours waiting in an emergency room. The survey found that of an average of five employees, 1.7 are physicians; 0.4 are nurse practitioners; 0.7 are registered nurses; and 2.3 are clinical staff or medical assistants. Sixty percent of patients are seen by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant in just 30 minutes.
Alter+Care sees immediate care centers as a great fit with Alter+Care’s Healthcare Village concept (our concept of a wellness/preventive-focused outpatient campus, see www.healthcarevillage.net, because the village becomes a healthcare destination while generating visibility and visits for all services located in the village such as diagnostics/imaging, specialty clinics, physician practices, retail healthcare, laboratory and the wellness center. For patients, the centers provide easy access and reasonably priced care because they typically charge far less than an emergency room visit. Insurers who want to control costs are encouraging people to use urgent care facilities as an alternative, especially during after hours and on weekends.
Tags: Alter+Care, campus, clinical staff, convenient care center, diagnostics, emergency room, emergency room visit, healthcare destination, healthcare insurance, Healthcare Village concept, hospital, Illinois, Illinois law mandate, laboratory, medical assistants, minor medical emergencies, nurse practitioners, patients, physicians, preventive focused, quick treatment, registered nurses, Retail healthcare, specilty clinics, United States, Urgent Care Association of America, urgent care center, walk-in clinic, wellness, wellness center
Posted in Healthcare, Healthcare Village | No Comments »
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Alter+Care’s revolutionary Healthcare Village concept was the focus of a recent online article in HealthLeaders Media.
“Think of it in terms of an upscale shopping mall, but only with healthcare services, and the wellness center as the anchor tenant – the major department store,” says Donna Jarmusz, senior vice president of Alter+Care. “That generates a lot of visibility, a lot of high traffic, because people join the wellness center as members and they are frequenting it two or three times a week. That creates a lot of pedestrian traffic for the other services that may be at the same location.”
The article notes that Healthcare Villages are a worldwide phenomenon, with locations opening in such diverse locations as Wisconsin and Dubai. “It’s really taken off from a global perspective, it’s not just a U.S. concept,” Jarmusz says, adding that having a stake in a healthcare village abroad helps some U.S. organizations expand their brand.
To read the entire article, click here.
Tags: Alter+Care, Donna Jarmusz, Dubai, global, Healthcare Village, wellness center, Wisconsin
Posted in Healthcare, Healthcare Village, Wellness Centers | No Comments »
Friday, April 17th, 2009
With 78 million baby boomers marching towards retirement, the U.S. population is older and less healthy as cases of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases increase, says Donna F. Jarmusz, Alter+Care Senior Vice President, in a recent interview for the Inspire blog. These same consumers dislike inconvenient, institutional healthcare delivery systems, are demanding and have high expectations. We have a drive-through mindset and enjoy everyday consumer experiences– buying a cup of coffee, drive-up banking, picking up dry cleaning. We hardly think about them because they’re all convenient and accessible.
Consumers are looking for a similar consumer focus in their healthcare services. They are also looking to healthcare providers for preventative health resources to achieve healthier lifestyles.
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Donna Jarmusz on the Healthcare Village:
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Tags: Ambulatory surgery center, ambulatory-care facilities, baby boomers, Cardiac rehab, chronic diseases, consumers, credit, diabetes, diease management, GI centers, Healthcare referrals, Healthcare Village, Hospital capital, hospitals, institutional healthcare, Liability insurance, obesity, Office of the Inspector General, OIG, Oncology, Outpatient services, physicians, Radiology, reimbursements, Retail healthcare, retirement, Revenue-sharing partnerships, wellness center, Wellness Centers
Posted in Healthcare, Healthcare Village, Wellness Centers | 1 Comment »
