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Overview
The U.S. medical weight loss programs and services market is huge - worth $8.2 billion in 2021, when including bariatric surgery. Programs by hospitals, clinics, franchises, and independent physicians generate $1.6 billion. Many MDs would love to grab a piece of this market, but don’t have the marketing and business background to know how. This completely revised and updated Guide lays it out, step by step.
The Guide provides an outlook of medical vs. competing commercial programs, and how they were affected by the pandemic. It details existing medical weight loss programs by MDs, hospitals and clinics, their business models, fees, and features, and examines programs by drugstore chain healthcare mini-clinics. It examines programs by bariatricians as well.
The Guide provides operating metrics: Average revenues per program, a typical income statement of expenses and profits, plus start-up costs. Findings of interviews with top managements at leading companies. Discussions and advice for: staffing, center design, IT requirements, counselors and Dietitians, marketing, websites, patient financing, creating meal plans, using Rx diet drugs, supplements and meal replacements, establishing your brand, why some diet companies fail, and case studies of successful medical weight loss programs. Includes reimbursement opportunities related to the Affordable Care Act.
In-depth profiles are provided for:
Lindora Clinics, Smart For Life, Medi-Weightloss, Centers for Medical Weight Loss, Nuviva Clinics, Let’s Lose, Dr. G’s Weight Loss, JumpStartMD, Medical Weight Loss of Michigan, CVS Health, Rite-Aid, Wal-Mart, and more.
This Guide includes necessary forms (Collaborative Practice Agreement), CPT billing codes for obesity counseling, and sample marketing brochures.
The Guide provides all the information a Physician, Physician Assistant, Dietitian or Nurse Practitioner needs to set up a successful weight loss practice. It’s ALL here in one place, at a fraction of the cost of hiring a consultant.
FREE with purchase: A "done-for-you" PowerPoint presentation covering the market's characteristics, structure, $ size, growth drivers, forecasts, and key operating metrics.
Table of Contents
Part 1 Reality Check for MDs, Success Criteria, Diet Market Outlook, Competition, Program Components, Pricing, ACA’s Preventative Care Benefit Opportunities, What Dieters Want, Franchises & Other Models- Guide objectives
- Do you have what it takes to compete in this business? What it takes to succeed
- What dooms a weight loss company to failure?
- Market segment 2022 forecasts, major developments since 2020
- $ size of the weight loss market, by market segment: 2016 - 2022 Forecast
- The top competitor companies, revenues in 2020 & 2021: Table
- The Pandemic’s Effect on the Weight Loss Market and Dieters
- Top 7 Diets for 2022
- Status of Commercial Weight Loss Companies: market leaders, major developments,
- 2020-2021 performance, 2022 forecasts
- Status of Medical Weight Loss Programs: effects of the Pandemic, market size (surgery, Rx drugs, hospital, MD and clinic programs, bariatricians, 2020-2021 performance
- The bariatric surgery market, discussion, telehealth visit
- Table: no. of surgeries 1995-2022 F, No. of surgeries by type,
- $ value of surgery market 1995-2022 F
- The prescription diet drugs market: new drugs, growth
- Hospital, Clinic-based and Other MD Programs: top competitors
Why Medical Weight Loss? Why Now?
- Rationale for demand, position vs. commercial programs, barriers,
- Competition: types of medical weight loss providers, fees
Retail Drugstore Chain Healthcare Mini-Clinics
- Effects of the pandemic on retail healthcare clinics, the major chains and no. of sites they operate
- Summaries/descriptions of weight loss programs provided by: CVS, Walgreens (Take Care), Rite-Aid (RediClinics), Wal-Mart
Hospital, Clinic, and Physician-Based Weight Loss Programs
- Summary and description of types of medical weight loss programs
- Description of typical physician-based program, estd. no. of MDs offering a weight loss program, by company/vendor vs independents,
- Average Cost To The Patient for a 12-16 week program
- Physicians have the expertise
Bariatricians’ Weight Loss Programs
- Status of the profession, why is hasn’t grown much, profile of the typical
- Bariatrician (age, income, gender, years in practice, staff size, training, number, medications used, cost of treatment, etc.)
VLCD & LCD (very low calorie diets & low calorie diets) Turnkey
- Modified Fasting Programs
- How VLCD programs work, description, insurance reimbursement
- Size of the market, no. of patients served
- Findings of interview with management of: HMR, Vivaliti, Karol Clark medical programs
- Major market trends, growth factors, 2025 forecast, positive & negative factors affecting the market
Medical Weight Loss Program Advantages & Disadvantages
- Medical clinic competitive advantages & disadvantages
- Available medical weight loss models: franchises, licenses, turn-key models
Tables:
- Average revenues per outlet, top medical weight loss companies
- Typical revenues & expenses, earnings per medical weight loss center
- Avg. cost to the patient, top medical weight loss companies
- Avg. income statement for a medical weight loss franchise
- Start-up costs for the top medical weight loss franchises
Company Profiles (how their program works, no. of sites, company details)
- Lindora Clinics ( corporate chain, not a franchise)
- Centers for Medical Weight Loss (licensee model)
- Medi-WeightLoss Clinics
- Medical Weight Loss Clinics of Michigan (corporate chain)
- Smart For Life
- Nuviva Clinics
- Let’s Lose Advanced Weight Loss
- JumpstartMD
- Dr. G’s Weight Loss Clinics
- Ideal Protein
- Should you purchase a franchise? Is it worth it?
- Obamacare: the major opportunity created, the Preventative Health Benefit explained, features & limitations, the business opportunity for MDs, PAs, NPs, RDs
- Obamacare: CPT codes for weight loss counseling reimbursement
Part 2 Start-up Costs, Retail Clinic Set-up & Layout, Procedures Manual, Staff Recruitment & Salaries, Operations, Revenues & Profits, Bookkeeping, Marketing Methods, Counselor’s Role & Quality
- Part-time vs. full-time venture? Your choice
- Facility space and logistics - new standalone center vs. existing space
- Start-up costs for a stand-alone retail weight loss center (non-franchise)
- Operating costs/income statement for a stand-alone retail center
- Investment costs to buy a medical weight loss franchise or license, by company
- Finding the right retail site
- Recommended lease terms
- Center design: exterior and interior layouts
- The Weight Loss Consumer Bill of Rights
- Procedures manual: contents (forms, procedures/duties for personnel)
- Equipment and supplies needed
- Hours of operation
- IT and Software recommendations
- Bookkeeping - reports needed
- Patient financing options: making it easy to pay you
- Weight Loss Counselors: your key asset, weaknesses of commercial coaches, recruiting your staff
- What counselors should do/not do, limitations
- Ideal backgrounds of counselors
- How to use Registered Dieticians in your practice (typical diet plans, how to find them)
- Collaborative Practice Agreements (see Appendix for sample)
- Marketing: your advantages as a medical professional
- Marketing: promotional methods to use
- Marketing: budget: how much and how to spend it
- Mining your existing patient database (via emails, waiting room fliers, videos)
- Email: using it to stay in touch with weight loss patients
- Your website: key features, how it can work for you, best practices for e-commerce
- Customer loyalty
- Waiting room brochures (also see samples in Appendix)
- Local newspaper ads, costs, using social media, referrals from other healthcare pros
- Marketing & Advertising Consultants experienced in the weight loss market
Appendix:
- Sample Collaborative Practice Agreement for Nurse Practitioners
- Table: State by state scope of practice rules for nurse practitioners
- Design samples of fliers describing your program, for your waiting room
Part 3 Case Studies of Successful Medical Weight Loss Chains, Creating Meal Plans, Private Labeling of Meal Replacements, Using Prescription Obesity Drugs, Using Supplements, Strategy of Diversification.
- Why diet companies fail or lose their way- case studies (LA Weight Loss, Weight Watchers)
- Case studies of successful medical weight loss organizations (Lindora, HMR - Health
- Management Resources, NutriSystem, Johns Hopkins)
- Diversification: in-person and virtual/phone services, different plans for different budgets
- Creating meal plans: using a Registered Dietitian, DASH Diet, other options
- Using multiple plans, the importance of customization
- In-depth description of how the DASH program works, calorie levels, foods not allowed, menus, tips, lifestyle changes, typical daily menu (tables)
- Using prescription diet drugs: safe drugs to use, problems with previous diet drugs, discussions of: Phentermine, Xenical, Qsymia, Belviq, Alli, Saxenda, Wegovy, others
- Form: Patient Informed consent for Appetite Suppressants and Participation in a Weight Management Program
- Using dietary supplements: limitations, legal experts to consider, customer attitudes toward them, why use is a dual-edged sword, pricing, restrictions on claims, attorney specialists
- Using meal replacements (shakes & bars): why they are popular and safe, your private label brand, vendors who can make them for you, calorie counts and sugar levels, the use of soy, the convenience factor, ingredients, high protein/high fiber 201
- Vendor profiles: Bariatric Advantage, Bariatric Choice, Bariatrix Nutrition, Nature’s Sunshine
- Other companies using meal replacements (multi-level marketers, VLCD vendors, retail brands)
- Complementary, optional services to offer (hormone tests, etc.)
- Viewing your program as a complement to bariatric surgery patients (pre- and post-surgery) The growth of bariatric surgery, patient demographics, insurance coverage, demand, ACA coverage, ASMBS/other obesity societies
- Establishing your brand: why it’s important, actions and techniques, goals
- Reference Directory of diet industry sources
Companies Mentioned
- Centers for Medical Weight Loss
- CVS Health
- Dr. G’s Weight Loss
- JumpStartMD
- Let’s Lose
- Lindora Clinics
- Medi-Weightloss
- Medical Weight Loss of Michigan
- Nuviva Clinics
- Rite-Aid
- Smart For Life
- Wal-Mart
Methodology
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