iPad as a revenue builder for docs

Could the iPad help physicians offset reimbursement cuts and shrinking influence over patients by enabling them to diversify into the weight loss management business SymTrimics, an El Segundo, Calif.-based tech startup, believes so—and it’s rolling out a program aimed at helping docs establish their own weight loss programs, aided by the Internet and an iPad app designed to help them monitor and educate patients.

According to an article in the Los Angeles Business Journal, the program calls for medical practices to make an initial investment of $15,500 in order to affiliate with SymTrimics. In return, the practice receives a branded Web site that offers patients a range of educational tools, including webinars on diet, exercise and behavior modification techniques. The physicians also get their own iPad, which is preloaded with a patient-monitoring app and the services of a SymTrimics employee who comes to the office to enroll patients and manage other aspects of the program.
 
As the article states: “Patients pay $299 for a 14-day introductory program designed to reduce cravings and show quick results. They are provided meal replacement shakes and bars for most meals and snacks. The patients also prepare one regular meal on their own based on low-glycemic dietary principles, which emphasize low-sugar, high-fiber foods.
 
“After the initial period, patients pay $349 a month for a 90-day “integration” phase that gradually has them preparing more of their own meals. The company says the cost is close to half of what a new Jenny Craig’s client might expect to pay for portion-controlled meals, counseling and materials.”
 
Then there are the online and in-office marketing tools, including a flat-screen monitor for the waiting room, which runs health related programming.

It's an interesting idea, buoyed by great timing. It should be interesting--and telling--to see how many physicians go this route, and how many other business models will emerge aimed at keeping docs solvent in the age of health reform.

Photo obtained from SymTrimics.