For all the shortcomings of the American healthcare system, it’s impossible to deny that recent shifts towards patient-centered care and tailored treatments (such as precision medicine) can lead to dramatically improved health outcomes in many cases. Indeed, our healthcare system has gotten pretty good at treating specific conditions once a patient has been admitted.
But what innovations are there that help communities of people to proactively manage their health outside of the doctor’s office?
That’s exactly what Dr. Darshan Shah set out to create: a place where people can go to optimize their health and have the opportunity to be the best versions of themselves - not just when confronted with specific health issues, but during their everyday lives. As a forward thinker and true innovator, he recognized the need for a space that would allow community members to combine total body wellness and optimize healthy living; a total health solution that blended holistic values and emerging science that could be tailored to any individuals’ needs.
Thus, Next Health was born.
Located in the heart of Los Angeles, the first Next Health clinic first opened its doors in July. Since then, the innovative health & wellness destination has become a hotspot for community members to access top-of-the-line health services at an affordable price that can easily fit into their lifestyle.
Dr. Shah and his team wanted to give their guests the best of the best, and the Next Health menu of services is as diverse as it is comprehensive; with treatments that include cryotherapy, IV therapy, genetic testing, hormone optimization, and medical aesthetics. To arrive at this list of services, the Next Health team consulted with many industry experts to identify health services and therapies that have been proven and backed up by scientific studies - not just health trends and fads. The five services they offer can be stacked on top of each other synergistically to combine total body wellness and optimize healthy living.
According to Wendi Michelle, VP of Operations, “We are a brand new concept and it has been really fun to experience people’s reactions overall. They come in thinking we might be a fad or like a med spa but within minutes they realize we are not trying to trend, we are here to shift the paradigm. We are not a med spa and not a Doctors office, we are more like the Apple version of Health. We couldn’t agree more that in this rapidly advancing world people aren’t sure what they want until they see it. We intentionally opened in a retail space and have made our services accessible geographically and financially. Too many people don’t know what feeling good feels like and we have only begun to scratch the surface of human potential. Proactive health is not vanity nor fear, its power and it’s choosing to not wait for bad news. Next Health is really all about optimizing your life, taking your health to the next level. Feeling incredible mentally, emotionally and physically is not a pipe dream. We see it happen every day.”
As the Next Health team has asserted, a key component of their business model is that their service offerings constantly be evolving alongside scientific advancement so they can continue to better meet the needs of their members and help people lead healthier lives with the most cutting-edge technologies and health services available, while remaining accessible and approachable for the people that come through their doors.
From the very first time a patient enters the clinic, the first thing the staff does is to sit down and have a conversation with the individual, building a personal relationship to set the guest at ease and make them feel comfortable and welcome. When people know they are surrounded by trustworthy caregivers they are more open to share, allowing members and staff to communicate more effectively about different factors that may be contributing to health issues. By creating this safe space and closely working one-on-one with members, the expert staff at Next Health is able to better tailor experiences for different members and create effective custom treatment regimes, as well as educating members about how certain therapies should help them on an everyday basis so that they can pay attention to how they feel outside of the clinic. By the time a guest leaves Next Health, they have a better understanding of how they can achieve total body health and wellness. “Health can feel so overwhelming which is why we place a high priority on our members leaving equipped and empowered.” says Wendi Michelle.
The Next Health team believes strongly in creating this kind of warm, welcoming environment where its members can comfortably address their own distinct health needs. A common issue with traditional medical care is that there is often a very limited time for a patient to talk to a provider and get to know one another, and this type of semi-anonymity can lead to a huge disconnect between the patient and their own health. In stark contrast, Next Health considers their members to be a part of the Next Health family, and that community mentality is one of the unique things that has made Next Health a smashing success.
By blending science-backed health services with a remarkably holistic, community-centric approach to health and wellness, Next Health has already carved a niche for themselves in the industry and within six months of their grand opening they are already outgrowing their current facilities. As Michelle notes, “This mix of holistic values and western medicine is important for people to embrace in the healthcare industry. I expect we’ll start to see this marriage of the two more and more in coming years, as this kind of business model provides a true total health solution for people. What we have learned from history and natural medicine experts cannot be dismissed and yet what a mistake it would be to negate science and technology.”
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Next Health is located at the corner of Sunset Blvd & Crescent Heights Blvd in Los Angeles, California. Visit their website at https://www.next-health.com/.
Aptly named, Enclothed Cognition is the official Medelita blog for medical professionals interested in topics relevant to a discerning and inquisitive audience. Medelita was founded by a licensed clinician who felt strongly about the connection between focus, poise and appearance.
