Entelos, Inc. Develops a Simulation Process for Drug Treatment Analysis

A while back, England's chief medical officer indicated that not having enough simulators for doctors to practice on could be harmful to patients. This opinion shows that using simulation has proven to be useful to some health care professionals. Further, Entelos, Inc., a California based company, is employing simulation to analyze drug treatment outcomes for diseases, including obesity and diabetes.

Simulation is often employed to improve skills. In the U.S. Space Program for example, simulation is used to train the astronauts. And a Yale University study showed that simulation can be used to increase a doctor's proficiency. In the study, student doctors were taught to successfully insert a catheter into a major vein of the body.

Modeling a drug treatment scenario and analyzing the outcome using simulation would be an effective way to determine appropriate treatment options for diseases. Entelos, Inc. has designed a biosimulation lab, called PhysioLab, that can simulate human disease, and disease treatments.

With the PhysioLab platform, a researcher can construct a virtual patient and carry out clinical trials for, say, an obesity drug, using computer modeling and simulation. In fact, the company was just given a U.S. patent entitled, “Apparatus and Methods for Assessing Metabolic Substrate Utilization."

For more information, interested organizations can contact Entelos, Inc. According to a statement on the company’s Website, “Access to Entelos expertise and technology is available through R&D partnerships, research agreements, licenses, and strategic alliances.”

We feel that simulation for obesity drug analysis would mean a great deal to the bariatric or weight loss industry. The weight loss industry has had a difficult time developing a safe and effective drug that can help a person lose weight. However, since the potential market for weight loss products, including obesity drugs, was estimated by some to be 59 billion dollars in 2009, a tool to improve the development of weight loss drugs would be a boon to the bariatric or weight loss industry.

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Tags: environmental scanning, strategic management, Entelos, physiolab, strategic opportunity

Wellness Programs Are Beneficial to Employers And Employees

In an effort to improve the general health of their employees, employers have been offering wellness programs to employees. Among the programs’ most important components are help with diet and exercise. These programs aim to keep employees healthy and lower health care costs. Medical weight loss centers may be able to play an important role in these programs by joining with organizations that deliver wellness programs and with employers who purchase the programs.

More and more, experts believe that putting wellness programs in place may enable organizations to be more profitable by improving employee health. In fact, according to the organization, U.S. Preventive Medicine, an effective wellness Program can yield a $1.00 to $3.00 return on investment.

And according to Right Management, a subsidiary of Manpower Inc., an organization’s wellness program can improve the organization’s competitive edge by increasing employee productivity and performance.

Further, some insurance providers see the benefits of offering wellness programs. CIGNA has just purchased Kronos Optiman Health Company, a Phoenix-based health and wellness company. This acquisition will enable CIGNA to expand its wellness program offerings, including its online services.

To make a wellness program more effective, program leaders will often ask for a participant's medical history, and inquire about family illnesses. As an incentive to employees, some medical information obtained may be used in decisions to lower or raise health insurance premiums, or establish monetary employee awards.

But using medical information to give monetary awards or raise or lower health insurance premiums may conflict with the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. This act provides "protections against discrimination based on an individual's genetic information in health insurance coverage and employment settings."

But still, effective wellness programs are proving to be beneficial to the employer and the employee. The employer gets a more engaged and productive employee. And the employee will likely pay less out-of-pocket for health care, and the employee will have a higher quality of life.

Because wellness programs are beneficial, medical weight loss centers may be able to work with employers and wellness program organizers to help find ways to use the medical information without discriminating against any group or anyone in the group. It's worth a shot, and this activity may give a weight loss center a competitive advantage.

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Tags: environmental scanning, strategic management, bariatric marketing, wellness programs

Body Fat Percentage May Be a Significant Problem

As some in the media have reported, obesity may be leveling off in most segments of the U.S. population. Although about a third of the U.S. population is obese, obesity appears to be holding constant. This might mean that some of the efforts to head off obesity are working. But still, there might be an unseen problem -- hidden fat that is not usually measured. And bariatric centers might want be at the forefront in the effort to tackle the problem.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a person can have a normal BMI (body mass index), but still be obese. The condition is called normal weight obesity. BMI takes only a person's height and weight into consideration, since BMI is computed by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the person's height in meters, then squaring the result. Therefore, BMI does not measure the percentage of fat on the body.

Although BMI is sometimes controversial, it is probably the most used measurement of body weight. BMI categories have been established to indicate when a person is of normal weight (a BMI between 18 and 25), when a person is overweight (a BMI between 25 and 30), and when a person is obese (a BMI over 30).

Indeed, at most bariatric surgical centers, BMI is one of the key factors used to determine if a person should be considered for bariatric surgery. For example, at many centers, one must have a BMI of 40 or more before bariatric surgery is recommended. With a BMI less than 40, a person might be considered for bariatric surgery if the BMI is greater than 35, and the prospective patient suffers from comorbidities such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

However, the prospect of normal weight obesity may necessitate the inclusion of fat percentage measurements when assessing body weight. And this is where the expertise of bariatric centers could come into play. While there are home methods for calculating body fat percentage, at this time, the most accurate method is probably done in a facility equipped to make accurate body fat percentage measurements.

The relatively new finding by the Mayo Clinic that a person of normal weight could be obese identifies a problem that bariatric centers can equip themselves to handle. Centers should become knowledgeable about the current recommended fat percentages. The centers should also get involved in the ongoing research to nail down more accurate fat percentage classifications. At any rate, strategically inclined bariatric centers should prepare to play an important role in helping potential clients manage body fat percentage, as well as BMI.

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Tags: strategic management, environmental scanning, bariatric marketing

Using the Pedometer and the Mandometer for Lifestyle Modification

Lifestyle modification is a significant element in most weight loss or weight management programs. Lifestyle changes can lead to new habits that enable a person to lose and control weight. The use of two instruments -- one old and one, relatively new -- might be key instruments that can prompt an individual to modify the two most important weight loss and weight management activities. The two instruments are the pedometer and the mandometer. The activities are eating and exercise.

The pedometer is a tool that can be used by an individual to give the individual an accounting of the distance traveled based on the number of steps taken. The pedometer is said to have been around for well over two hundred years. Although older pedometers were mechanical, today's pedometers are usually electronic. The instrument is usually attached to the belt of a walker, jogger, or runner, giving step-count information to the wearer.

Since most people engage in walking, jogging, or running to lose or control weight, the pedometer can encourage a person to add steps to his or her daily activities.

The mandometer is a tool that can help a person change the way he or she eats. The mandometer was developed by two researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. The instrument is a portable electronic scale that is connected to a small computer. The scale weighs the food, in a plate for example, before any food is eaten, and continues to calculate the rate of change in the weight of the food as a person eats from the plate. The rate of change is correlated with eating rate. And the device shows a graph of eating rate, giving off an alarm when the rate is too high, indicating that a person is eating too fast.

This alarm is an attention-getter that encourages the patient, with a too-high eating rate, to lower his or her rate. Lowering the eating rate can be important in weight management and weight control. Changing the way we eat food is an important lifestyle modification. And using the mandometer to monitor eating rates appears to be an effective way to motivate better eating habits.

So the pedometer and the mandometer are possibly two important tools for lifestyle modification for weight loss and weight control. Indeed, these tools might enable a person to increase exercise activity and decrease eating rate.

Therefore, weight loss centers should view these tools as important weapons in the overweight and obesity fight. Along with their existing inhouse services, a center could recommend these tools as methods for weight loss and weight control.

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Tags: strategic management, environmental scanning, bariatric marketing

Using Telemedicine to Modify Lifestyle for Weight Loss

In a November 25, 2009 blog post, we said that "telehealth has the potential to improve the treatment of obesity and obesity-related diseases such as diabetes." And we said that "telehealth devices may elevate the treatment of obesity by making it easier to modify lifestyle." Scientists at the University of Southern California lab are developing a wearable wireless monitoring device that may assist lifestyle modification for overweight and obese persons.

In the blog post mentioned above, we cited the Free Dictionary definition of telehealth as "the use of telecommunication technologies to provide health care services and access to medical and surgical information for training and educating health care professionals and consumers, to increase awareness and educate the public about health-related issues, and to facilitate medical research across distances." Well, telemedicine is a subset of telehealth. And the above-mentioned wearable device is a telemedicine device.

In the University of Southern California lab experiment, the monitoring device was used to detect what the teenagers ate and did while wearing the device. The device's output is sent via cell phone to the researchers. Because the information received by the researchers does not depend on self-reporting, the information is likely more accurate that self-reported information. Self-reported information is often inaccurate.

The wearable sensor sends the lab reports on such things as heart rate and physical activity. There are other devices that actually track calories burned. And, still, other devices are in development that may record video for further study. All these devices might allow weight loss and weight management counselors to have a better idea of what a client is doing. And this can enable a counselor to better personalize a weight loss or weight management program for a client, enabling the client to successfully modify a lifestyle.

The counselor can collect results, determine the appropriate weight program, or modify an existing program. The counselor can then determine what diet is most appropriate and what physical activity might be the most effective.

We think these telemedicine monitoring devices could be a important tool for weight loss and weight management. Bariatric or weight loss centers should keep abreast of these tools. Indeed, including some of these items in its arsenal may allow a bariatric or weight loss center to improve its weight loss services.

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Tags: environmental scanning, strategic management, strategic planning, bariatric center, weight loss center

Obesity Gives Rise to Disability

Disability is on the rise among the elderly who don't reside in elder care facilities. According to a recent study, one of the reasons for this rise in disability is the rise in obesity. Indeed, there is a link between obesity and disability. But if more people adopt healthy living habits, this adoption could lower the levels of obesity, and thus lower the disability numbers.

The above-mentioned study was done by researchers from the University of Toronto, and the University of California at Berkeley. According to the study results, there has been a doubling of obesity over the past three decades. This doubling of obesity is associated with a rise in disability among those 65 and older. And many of these older persons are poor.

Of course, obesity-fighting treatments should be made available to all socioeconomic groups. This is especially true for the poor elderly. We believe that if this group is given access to obesity-fighting services, this group could make lifestyle changes that might lower obesity rates, and thus reduce disability levels. For this reason, we hope the current health care overall being debated will create a workable health care system.

A workable health care system would bring more of the poor elderly into the health care system. And these new entrants would increase the market for weight-loss tools, since losing weight is viewed as a way to address many health problems -- including disability.

The rise in obesity-related ailments is already an inducement to bariatric centers to refine their weight loss services. The rise in disability should be an additional motivator for these centers. Weight loss centers should emphasize the importance of a healthy weight in dealing with disability.

Weight loss centers should also prepare for the potential enactment of the health care overall. While there may be an assortment of problems with the reform under review, a workable health care system will widen the market for weight loss services. And this could benefit some weight loss centers, by giving the centers the opportunity to offer their weight loss services to more clients.

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Tags: environmental scanning, strategic management, strategic planning, health care

Gastric Bypass and Adjustable Lap Band May Be Cost Effective for Treating Type 2 Diabetes

As we've all heard, today, more and more U.S. citizens are succumbing to diabetes. Furthermore, Type 2 diabetes among children is increasing. Some forms of bariatric surgery are being viewed as a viable treatment for Type 2 diabetes. Studies show that in more than two thirds of the study subjects with Type 2 diabetes, the disease was either gone or easier to control after weight loss surgery. And recent research indicates that gastric bypass surgery and the adjustable lap band are more cost effective in treating Type 2 diabetes than conventional diabetes treatment methods for persons with a BMI greater than or equal to 35.

We've noted before that some experts feel that bariatric surgery can be used for more than just weight loss. Indeed, the American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) changed its name to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) to recognize non-weight-loss applications of gastric bypass surgery.

And the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center has started treating Type 2 diabetes using a modified version of the gastric bypass surgery used for weight loss. In the modified version of the surgery, nothing is done to shrink the stomach; only the small intestine is rerouted.

Using bariatric surgery to treat diabetes, no doubt, will receive more attention. And if it turns out that the surgery is a good, cost effective treatment for diabetes, the surgical option will become an important surgical service that bariatric surgical centers can offer.

Another item that favors surgery as a reasonable option for treating diabetes is research showing that insulin treatment for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes causes some patients to gain weight. Gaining weight can be a negative factor in cardiovascular disease.

So depending on how viable the utilization of bariatric surgery is for treating diabetes, compared to insulin use, it may be reasonable, in some cases, to consider bariatric surgery for the treatment of diabetes for economical reasons.

Bariatric or weight loss centers should stay abreast of activities associated with the use of bariatric surgery for the treatment of diabetes. It might turn out that offering this treatment could give a weight loss or bariatric center a competitive advantage and help to lower the health care costs associated with Type 2 diabetes.

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Tags: environmental scanning, strategic management, bariatric marketing, strategic planning