Cleveland Clinic looks to profit from wellness, launches ‘Wellness Enterprise’

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Clinic is going to turn wellness into a business.

The health giant in December incorporated Cleveland Clinic Wellness Enterprise LLC, an organization dedicated to “selling wellness products and the commercialization of ideas” from the Clinic’s Wellness Institute, according to documents (pdf) filed with the Ohio Secretary of State.

The effort is spearheaded by Scott E. McFarland, who joined the Clinic in March as its president of wellness. The Clinic started advertising in at least the past few weeks for additional employees for the enterprise, and added a director of operations to the organization this month.

Although Wellness Enterprise is designated as a non-profit organization, according to state filings, its goals are clearly to commercialize and create new revenue streams for the Clinic.

In some ways this approach is a unique move by the Clinic, which has typically focused on spinning off its core medical innovations to other organizations. This is also a service, whereas most of the spin-offs are related to medical devices, drug or therapies.

At speaking engagements and events, McFarland is described as leading a group that is “commercializing the world’s first clinically-based comprehensive wellness company scaled to serve consumers, patients and caregivers globally with excellence in prevention, health promotion and lifestyle management products and services.”

McFarland, through Wellness Enterprise, will develop the Clinic’s “value proposition into new and early stage wellness markets and health promotion delivery systems including the direct to consumer, sponsor and caregiver channels.”

McFarland previously worked as a vice president at HealthWays.

Chris Seper MedCity News

Chris Seper is the CEO at MedCity Media, which publishes MedCityNews.com. He is also a senior writer at MedCity News. Reach him at chris@medcitynews.com.

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Tags: Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic, hospitals, Northeast Ohio, Ohio, wellness

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[...] off new products that aren’t central to the hospital’s mission. In late December it created the Wellness Enterprise to sell and commercialize wellness products, and later announced it was expanding the operations of [...]

Comment by Cleveland Clinic: The software company : MedCity News — June 12, 2009 @ 1:50 pm

[...] as it tries to increase revenues as margins narrow for health care. Its early results included the Wellness Enterprise and an expanded reference lab. The Clinic also recently licensed a piece of software to a financial [...]

Comment by 2 key executives depart Cleveland Clinic; larger reorganization on the horizon : MedCity News — July 1, 2009 @ 4:11 pm

[...] It’s continued to evolve since then. Colorado’s Pharmaca, which combines traditional pharmacy with wellness services, last month raised almost $7 million and was named this year’s Pharmacy Chain of the Year by the trade magazine Drug Topics. Midwest companies like Allostatix (wellness blood test); Engagement Health (corporate wellness) and Red Brick Health (corporate wellness) have raised or are raising capital. Cleveland Clinic soon plans to launch its own brand of wellness services. [...]

Comment by A $200 vibrator, confessionals from the Catholic Church and why wellness’ greatest profits are yet to come : MedCity News — September 1, 2009 @ 2:04 pm

[...] have cut thousands of pounds off his employees. But waiting in the wings, just months away, is aÂ profit-driven Clinic wellness enterprise that will reach out to the public and create new revenue for the health [...]

Comment by Does Cleveland Clinic’s Toby Cosgrove really hate fat people? : MedCity News — September 11, 2009 @ 1:39 pm

[...] blurring the line between for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals. The Clinic even launched a for-profit wellnessÂ enterprise this [...]

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