home to Nova Medical and Urgent Care Center Inc., the largest primary care practice in Virginia’ s Loudoun County. Its medical facility is staffed by 11 certified nurses and specialists and 12 medical practitioners with specialties varying from internal medicine, endocrine, pediatrics and family medicine. Its integrative medical team also includes an in-house registered dietician, naturopathic doctor and licensed acupuncturists.
“ It became necessary to build a spa. We just couldn’ t do what we were trying to do in a mainstream medical practice for many reasons,” Dr. Keenan says.“ We wanted to create a sense of wellness and how we could optimize one’ s health, rather than just treat disease.”
SERVING THE MEDICAL SPA CONSUMER Doctors work alongside dieticians, personal trainers and therapists to help patients achieve wellness objectives through preventive and restorative therapies like acupuncture, massage and hydrotherapy. The spa also provides programs for stress management and weight loss as well as aesthetic services like facial treatments, Botox and dermal fillers, to name a few. Services range in price from $ 15 for a simple wax treatment to a few thousand dollars for laser treatments. She says the spa’ s biggest revenue-maker is the $ 90, 50-minute Swedish massage as well as Botox and filler treatments.
“ We’ ve grown our Botox business in the past year. I think the large driver is the people who are older in the workforce who feel the need to look younger and are competing against younger applicants and want to keep their [ competitive ] edge,” she says.
Serving a client base of about 80
FASTFACT
Aside from hydrotherapy tub massage and balancer treatment which are both popular among patients with fibromyalgia, the spa’ s community acupuncture session is also an in-demand item on its menu. At an affordable rate of $ 30 per person( regularly at $ 150), the treatment involves four patients attended to in rotational session by a single acupuncturist. The concept of community treatment session is fast becoming popular among its clientele that the spa plans to launch a community naturopathic session on pre-diabetes and diabetes this month.
percent females and 20 percent males, The Medical Spa at Nova attracts mostly locals in the area. Like other medical spa consumers, the spa’ s regular patrons tend to be well-versed on the benefits associated with integrative medicine and the role spa services play in their mental and physical health.
“ The medical spa consumer is typically a seasoned spa person who values the role of spa services in there overall life,” she says.“ We have a very broad base mix of people. We have lots of professionals and we’ ve tried to make our facility one that you don’ t have to be a millionaire to come here.”
COMPETITIVE EDGE With customers keeping a close eye on price, particularly during the recession, Dr. Keenan attributes much of her spa’ s success to its highly trained staff that sticks to a strict“ no tipping” policy.
“ We’ ve given people more bang for their buck,” she says.“ The tip is not just about money to people, but I think it also degrades the level of service that is being given. A doctor wouldn’ t ask you for a tip, so how can you really feel good about a medical spa provider if they are standing there wanting a tip?”
In the integration of spa treatments and medical care at The Medical Spa at Nova, one of her biggest challenges has been combining the work of massage therapists, personal trainers and dieticians with that of traditionally trained doctors who are not accustomed to fusing their skills with that of a spa staff.
“[ Doctors ] weren’ t really trained to do that, and I’ d say that is something that is fundamentally wrong with the profession. The fact that we’ ve attended to this has attributed to our success in a downturn economy,” she says.
Transferring the high level of customer service expected at a spa into the medical environment has also taken some work, but is something Dr. Keenan believes will come to be expected by consumers moving forward.
March / April 2011 ■ PULSE 17