Partner Profiles
WellMax La Quinta Resort & Club, CA
www.wellmax.com
"The technology now exists to detect many potentially serious diseases well before they produce symptoms," said Daniel Cosgrove, M.D., founder and medical director for the WellMax Center for Preventive Medicine™. After practicing medicine for years in the traditional way as a board certified Emergency physician–treating patients who were already experiencing problems–I realized that if I could detect a developing problem early, I could help my patients avoid a serious condition through lifestyle changes and early intervention with medication. That's what led me to establish WellMax eleven years ago."
Internationally recognized, WellMax is a scientifically-based preventive medicine and wellness center with state-of-the-art technology, offering the diagnostic capabilities and expertise of a large hospital to provide comprehensive executive physical examinations. Located at the very private and intimate La Quinta Resort & Club™ in La Quinta, California, near Palm Springs, clients can take advantage of a thorough wellness medical exam and assessment integrated with the luxury of a desert destination resort for a total health and restorative experience.
The WellMax approach has attracted the attention of numerous magazines and journals including The Wall Street Journal where it was called "A Highly Advanced Medical Center" as well as Time Magazine, USA Today, Men's Health, Newsweek, Worth Magazine, Men's Journal, Cosmopolitan, and Vogue Magazine.
"The WellMax philosophy is about understanding our patients' current state of health, so they can avoid illness and disease in their future," said Dr. Cosgrove. "Our goal is to maximize wellness with early detection of disease, as well as to identify processes of disease long before the 'disease' is present. We do this by analyzing every major system in the body with one goal in mind: to support our patients in attaining radiant health, vitality and longevity." WellMax offers two levels of physical exams: the WellMax Core Program (which is also their annual exam platform), which takes two days to complete, and the WellMax Platinum Program, which takes three days. Program specifics can be found on their website which is linked at the end of this profile. The center also offers Corporate Programs.
"During the exam we conduct a number of physical assessments and a variety of preventative screening tests to look for modifiable risk factors for disease, and we recommend various solutions to modify that risk," said Dr. Cosgrove. "We not only detect disease before symptoms, but also provide therapies to prevent disease in the first place."
WellMax conducts an extensive review of medical records prior to the initial exam and the examination includes an extensive medical interview followed by a comprehensive physical examination, tailored for men or women. A nutrition assessment, vitamin profile, metabolic analysis, an EKG, cardio-pulmonary stress test, musculoskeletal evaluation, fitness assessment, genetic testing, a stress assessment, vision and auditory screening are components of the work up.
Preventive screening tests include comprehensive blood analysis, including the Biophysical250 health assessment and several advanced imaging tests. These include scans of the carotid arteries, virtual (or traditional) colonoscopy, bone density analysis (DEXA), as well as carotid artery, abdominal, thyroid, and prostate or uterus/ovaries ultrasounds, CT scans include of the heart, the lungs and coronary arteries to aid in the diagnosis of cardio-pulmonary disorders including arthrosclerosis.
Following the exam and tests, a WellMax physician goes over the results and provides patients with a Personal Health Notebook (their entire WellMax medical record) with details of all of the studies, labs, copies of reports and recommendations and a USB drive copy so that WellMax patients can carry a copy of their entire WellMax medical record with them when they travel. And because WellMax physicians are on the hospital staff at Eisenhower Medical Center, they frequently collaborate with specialists at Eisenhower and UCLA Medical Centers specialists when needed.
To ensure medical care continuity, WellMax offers a concierge Membership Program that provides for 24/7 access to the WellMax clinical staff. The WellMax Membership Program is designed to encourage clients to view their healthcare as a process, not an episode. It allows patients to partner with WellMax over time to improve their overall health in the long term organizes and maintains patient health information over the years.
WellMax is preparing to launch a revolutionary new medical record product. Health optimization and ongoing management of a patient's health is best achieved with a WellMax Personal Health Portfolio™ (PHP). The WellMax Personal Health Portfolio™ is a longitudinal real time medical record solution that organizes and maintains patient or client health information over the years and is fully HIPAA compliant. This health data management solution will to some legacy and to other compliment the WellMax USB medical record management tool. For WellMax patients' it includes their entire WellMax medical record and for non-WellMax patients/users it will contain all of the records that are provided to WellMax for inclusion. Medical information from other facility and physician providers will be added to the WellMax Personal Health Portfolio™ as received; it can be frequently updated during the year. PHP medical records are highly encrypted and patients can access their portfolio through the WellMax portal which is a private secure website. Each patient will have a unique password and log on. Information can be downloaded to a CD or USB drive. Internet assess is the only requirement. Patients are now in control of their own individual records, and share only as much as they choose with others.
More importantly, the WellMax Personal Health Portfolio™ is overseen by and provides a checklist of tests, and recommendations by WellMax physicians about that information. For example, women generally keep track and know when they had their last Pap smear or mammogram. When was their last bone density test? For men, have they ever had a bone density test? If it was abnormal, what action was taken? Now imagine over 100 such data elements. And with the BP 250 lab panel, there are many more. In most cases we can be assured it was measured, and it is normal. If it was not measured and more importantly if it should, the WellMax Personal Health Portfolio™ will allow its patients, its clients and their providers to quickly and easily see what was done, when and what should be done. Too many men realize they have not had an up to date PSA, the blood test that screens for prostate cancer in the earliest stages, until too late. There are many other tumor markers that can be followed as well. The doctors at WellMax have innumerable stories about patients whose lives were saved or radically changed for the better by monitoring parameters of health and intervening before symptoms.
Patients do not need to physically visit the WellMax center in California for a PHP. A WellMax Personal Health Portfolio™ can be created with their existing medical records. However, the creation of the Portfolio can best be accomplished in a couple of days by visiting their office located at the La Quinta Resort and Club.
The WellMax motto "Ultimate Customer Service While Making the Process a Pleasure" illustrates the center's objective to make the annual physical as enjoyable as possible. The PHP aligns perfectly with Dr. Cosgrove's belief that "there is a place for everything and everything should be in its place." By keeping the center small and accessible, WellMax takes a very personalized approach with each client in the serenity of a world-class resort that can include spa treatments and golf and provide entertainment and relaxation for accompanying family members.
"The practice of medicine is changing from reactive to proactive," said Dr. Cosgrove. "At WellMax we've seen the value of measuring and monitoring one's state of health on a regular basis and the power of early detection. We've demonstrated with our patients over and over again how even small lifestyle changes can improve a person's health and well being and put them on the road to longevity.