New Concierge Startups Could Devastate The Cosmetic Medicine Market

Futuristic new startups in concierge medicine could really put the screws to competitors as they expand their offering.

Silicon Valley is rife with startups looking to disrupt all aspects of healthcare, moving from traditional approaches to entirely new delivery systems and business models. The result is a number of new, well financed competitors that don't have the baggage of traditional methodologies and can easily adopt new methodologies and could bury existing competitors. Here are a couple of examples.

Forward is a new tech concierge medical start-up San Francisco that is focusing on reinventing the primary care clinic. With something of a clean look that founder Adrian Aoun describes as something aking to an Apple store crossed with Star Treks next generation sick bay. Physicians have access to some really cool gizmos, from a wall-sized screen to visualize and show patient data to automated speach recognition that transcribes converstaions in real time and adds them to patient records. Patients can get their prescritions filled in the on-site pharmacy and can text staff around the clock (with 30 second response times).

But the biggest value is not the glass and white walls, it's the removal of trivial tasks that prevent clinicians from operating at the top of their license. According to a 2016 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, physicians spend more than half of their time on paperwork, compared to a measly 27% interacting with patients. (Read the study here)

Forward is using technology to ruthlessly elimiate waste and improve physician productivity while also delivering what patients are asking for with whiz-bang tools. They currently don't taken insurance - although they have plans to change that - and charge patients $149/month all in.

Of course Forward is joining a number of other primary care and concierge competitors.

One Medical is another that already has a number of locations. It's not quite as technically cool but it's also getting traction by delivering what patients want  - same day appointments, online access, and 24/7 virtual care - at the even more affordable price of $149 per year.

And that brings us to telemedicine and what's happening there.

Read the 2015 Telemedicine Report from Medical Spa MD

In a poll asking dermatologists if they were to use telemedicine in their practice, 41.84% were opposed to the idea of adopting it. Only 38.1% were in favor in using telemedicine, but that may be changing.

In a study by Wilson and Maeder (2015), teledermatology has produced positive outcomes with user satisfaction and uptake, and hopeful in the idea of improvements with healthcare. Another study mentions the benefits of using teledermatology, which could serve as an educational tool.

Despite study findings about telemedicine’s ability to diagnose illnesses, it is still met with resistance. In another study referenced by the authors, it seems that while it can screen and diagnose illnesses, it faced a challenge with an accuracy. Bashur et al., (2015) also suggest the same finding that inaccuracy could be a common challenge when using teledermatology.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the American Telemedicine Association expected the number of physicians using telemedicine to rise approximately 30% more. Healthmine has conducted a poll saying that out of 1500 physicians, only 15% employed telemedicine.

What does this mean for cosmetic / aestheitic practices?

These new startups are going to be under increasing pressure to find ways to generate revenue Forward, for example, has already raised $30m from venture capitalists and needs to get to a value of more than $100m to raise additional funding.

The likely result is that they, like others before them, will see that cosmetic medicine is primarily a cash fee-for-service business that will need little additional investment to add. Since these new competitors are built to deliver such extrodinalry patient satisfaction it will be more than just a little challenging for stand-alone clinics to compete.

Of course their success is not yet assured and they could implode if they can't meet their revenue needs.

If they can, there will be a period of adoption but they will be riding the wave of transformative care that is coming.

I'll Be Speaking At The Medical Fusion Conference, Nov 11-13

I'll be speaking (twice) at the non-clincal Medical Fusion Conference on November 11-13th in Las Vegas.

The Medical Fusion Conference is a unique event that allows clinical physicians the opportunity to learn about unique niches where they can apply their clinical knowledge and gain real control of your income and lifestyle. (Isn't that why most docs are in cosmetic medicine in the first place?)

I've been to a lot of aesthetic and cosmetic conferences and trade shows, but this conference is different. I went to it last year and the result was that we launched Freelance MD!

Medical Fusion is purposely small. It allows you to sit down (multiple times) with any or all of the speakers and pick their brains. (If you've been to any of the big conferences you know that a the end of a talk or session there's a pack of people around the speaker for ten minutes and that's about it. Not at Medical Fusion.)

Who is Medical Fusion for?

Any physician who wants more control of their income, career, and lifestyle.

• A plastic surgeon who want's to learn how to invest in real estate.
• An internal medicine doc who want's to retire and write a book.
• A dermatologist who want's to leave clinical practice and consult to big pharma.
• A family practitioner who want's to leave Medicare and Medicate and start a concierge practice.
• A surgeon who want's to make sure his retirement is secure.
• An ER doc who want's to travel and work internationally.
• A Pediatrician who want's to publish a children's book.
• A cosmetic surgeon who's ready to grow his cosmetic practice or medical spa.  ; )
• Any doctor who's thinking of leaving clinical practice.
• Any doctor who want's to spend more time with your family and kids.
• Any doctor who's looking to increase their income.
• Any doctor who's looking for a change.

And that's just a part. In short, if you're a physician who want's to take control of your life, this is the conference for you.

Read what other physicians are saying about the Medical Fusion Conference

I'll be speaking on two topics; how to start/add/run and grow a cosmetic practice, and how to use online technologies to make money as a physician.

There will also be speakers on personal finance, investing, product development, and a bunch of other stuff including concierge medicine which a lot of you have expressed interest in. (More about that in another post.)

Register before October 10th and reserve your room at the beautiful Aria Resort for a special discounted room rate of only $179 plus resort fee. These rooms are regularly around $400. (You must book your room at the Aria prior to October 10th to lock in these special rates!)

Take a look at some of these videos that Greg made about Medfusion and then run over and register for the Medical Fusion Conference.

Discover all of the options available to you as a physician.

Medical Fusion isn't just another conference where you're sitting around and listening to an endless parade of speakers that lecture from behind a podium. Instead, you'll have every opportunity to talk to any speaker you're interested in learning more from. Our Accelerator Sessions are a perfect chance to make connections and deep-dive into the areas that are of interest to you.

More about our Accelerator Sessions

Concierge Medicine

By Greg Bledsoe MD

One of the most rapidly growing clinical practice models in the US these days is Concierge Medicine.

In Concierge Medicine, a physician cuts out third-party payers and contracts directly with his or her patients.  The patients pay a retainer and the physician agrees to limit the practice size so he or she can provide exceptional access to these patients.

While this model has become very popular with a certain segment of the population and many physicians, it is not without critics.  I wrote a recent article on Freelance MD about the ethics of Concierge Medicine and the arguments for and against this model. 

Since we've received so many inquiries about Concierge Medicine, I decided to post some resources here about the subject.  In addition, for those of you who will be attending the Medical Fusion Conference this November, you'll be able to hear one of the leading experts on Concierge Medicine, Dr. Steven Knope, discuss the subject personally (and have the opportunity to sit down with Steve individually at our Accelerator sessions).  Steve is the author of the book, Concierge Medicine: A New System to Get the Best Healthcare.  

Here's a video interview with Dr. Steven Knope describing Concierge Medicine:

 Here's another interview with Dr. Knope that appeared on FOX Business:

Here's a short video in which I describe Concierge Medicine and how we'll be discussing Concierge Medicine at the Medical Fusion Conference.

Learn more about the Medical Fusion Conference