Medispa industry shows continuing growth
But after
several franchisee failures, some say a strong physician
presence is needed to create a thriving business.
By
Pamela Lewis Dolan, AMNews
staff. March 12, 2007.
Even though the
growth rate for medical spa openings is expected to stay strong,
some medispa owners are learning merely opening the doors does
not guarantee success.
According to
Susie Ellis, president of Spa Finder Inc, a New York-based spa
trend watcher and consumer resource which started tracking the
medical spa industry four years ago, there are approximately
1,250 medical spa businesses in the U.S., up 50% from a year
ago.
Ellis said her
research indicates an estimated 33% growth rate in the number of
medical spas for 2007. Only about five years ago, the medispa
industry was essentially nonexistent.
"The baby boomers
are fueling it," Ellis said. It started with a growth in the
general beauty spa industry, but when medical treatments became
available, boomers got really excited, she said.
By definition,
medical spas -- medispas or medspas for short -- are cosmetic
medical facilities that offer services such as laser hair
removal, Botox, derma fillers and microdermabrasion, in a
spa-type setting.
Experts say laws
require that a physician medical director be on staff, although
in many cases the physician is not required to be on site.
|
As
of early 2007, there were 1,250 medical spas in the U.S.
|
Physicians have
been attracted to the medispa industry either through investment
in a facility, or in a franchise offering to provide everything
necessary to open one.
The medical spa
industry is often pitched to physicians as a way to supplement
their income in the face of declining insurance reimbursements.
However, evidence
is growing that a medispa investment comes with some risk.
Several former franchisees, in separate cases, have sued
Franklin, Tenn.-based Sona Med Spas, claiming they couldn't make
it financially under Sona's "flawed" business plan. Sona
currently has 28 locations around the country, with some
facilities having closed over the last two years. The cases are
pending.
Sona attorney
Kiran Mehta, of the Charlotte, N.C.-based law firm Kennedy
Covington Lobdell & Hickman called the claims "hogwash."
He said that all
but one of the lawsuits were filed by franchisees who simply
want to break from their affiliation with Sona and go
independent. None of the suing franchisees were physicians,
Mehta said.
One former Sona
franchisee is among those who believe that the physician's
direct presence -- as a clinician as well as an investor -- will
delineate which medispas survive and thrive, and which fail.
|
The
number of medical spas in the U.S. grew about 50% in
2006. |
Ron Berglund, a
Minneapolis attorney, sold his Sona franchise after, he claims,
it wiped him out financially. He is not suing Sona. Berglund
said physician-focused practices can have bigger success because
they can be built upon existing practices with an already
established patient database.
Berglund is now a
product manager at a company that manufactures lasers for the
medical spa industry. He is so convinced that physicians are the
key to a successful business model that he will only sell his
products to physicians, he said.
"This is a
business for physicians. Entrepreneurs have no business doing
it," Berglund said.
Ellis said that
spa franchises have had a tougher time generally, compared to
individually owned practices having a strong physician
involvement beyond part-time work or a silent investment.
She, like
Berglund, believes consumers will seek out medispas in which the
physician is a strong presence.
"I think the more
[consumers] learn about [the procedures offered at med spas],
the more they want a doctor to do it," Ellis said.
Copyright
2007 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
