Medical Spa Basics |
PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE MEDICAL SPA
The primary purpose of the medical spa is to expand and complement a medical practice by offering a variety of medical aesthetic or health and wellness modalities in conjunction with complementary spa treatments including but not limited to facials and massage. Many medical spas have further expanded their services and have become “full service spa” facilities also offering cosmetic and nutritional advice, healthy and nutritious spa cuisine, manicures, pedicures, hair services and an apothecary.
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THE NEED FOR A SPA ANCHOR
A shopping mall offers a variety of services and products but its ability to attract customers and be a financial success depends to a large degree on the strength of its primary or anchor tenant. The same can be said of a medical spa - in order to be a success, we believe that a medical spa must be anchored by a successful medical practice. And in our opinion, those anchor practices or medical specialties that have the best chance of succeeding as a medical spa are plastic surgery , dermatology , obstetrics and gynecology, general internal medicine or integrative medicine. Our experience indicates that it is very difficult for a non-medical entrepreneur to develop a financially successful medical spa that is unrelated to an existing practice using physicians who are either employees or independent contractors. |
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE MEDICAL SPA TO THE CLIENT?
The medical spa allows the client or patient to receive a wide variety of spa services that not only complement the medical services offered by the practitioner but expand those services into the client’s home. By doing so, greater emphasis is placed on the overall health and wellness of the client including home maintenance through a holistic medical approach that includes not only the body, but the mind and spirit as well.
WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF THE MEDICAL SPA TO THE MEDICAL PRACTITIONER?
The primary benefits of the medical spa to the medical practitioner are to improve the overall quality of the medical services delivered through the practice and to improve the overall economic viability of the medical practice.
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"You
need to check with the state medical board to see who can
perform laser and other medical aestheticsservices. If
you are not a physician, you may have trouble strting and
operating a medical spa."|
WHAT IS A MEDICAL SPA?
The term
medical spa has
come to
As a result, the general public has had to maneuver carefully through this maze of “so-called” medical spas in search of what a medical spa is or should be. |
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 A survey by SpaFinder and SpaTrade reported in January 2005 indicates that people in the northeastern U.S. were more aware of medical spas and liked the term better than people who were located in California. Interestingly, less than 5% of these spa-going consumers thought anti-aging hormone therapy, Botox, full body scanning, mammography, or sclerotherapy procedures were appropriate to have performed in a spa. None felt that liposuction should be. There was slightly less resistance to laser skin resurfacing and in-office tooth whitening being offered in a spa, while up to half felt microdermabrasion, laser hair removal, permanent makeup, and/or glycolic peels were acceptable in a spa facility. As noted by Nancy Griffin, “these responses suggest that hiring a physician to provide these services in a day spa may not be a good strategy: “Medical” implies higher levels of credibility, good results, and overall safety.” |
ORGANIZATION OF A MEDICAL SPA
Based on these observations and our experience, Spa Business Associates firmly believes that a medical spa should be organized with two important principles in mind:
First, a medical spa should have a medical director on site who is licensed to practice a specialty that is related to the spa services being offered. Any other form of spa organization is misleading to the public and should be avoided.
Second, the medical director should be an owner of the business and not merely an independent contractor or employee of the owner. In other words, the medical director should have a vested interest in the financial outcome of the business.