The Integrative Medicine Center of Santa Barbara Announces a Reception at its New Location
Dr. Scott Saunders is blazing new trails in Santa Barbara. His Integrative Medicine Center (IMC) Practice continues to expand. When an opportunity presented itself recently to move the Center’s headquarters to a beautiful office nearby (533 E. Micheltorena St. Suite 101) he decided it would be a good step forward for the practice.
This move is part of Dr. Saunder’s larger vision to create a new WELLNESS/SPA facility unlike anything in the Santa Barbara area with triple the space of IMC’s new location.
This grand project is already on the architects’ drawing boards (see “Vision” schematic below) and is planned to be completed sometime in 2014.
The Integrative Medicine Center vision – providing its patients with the latest evidence-based 21st century science interwoven with ancient healing arts – is captured in the expansion’s architectural designs. The planned new Center integrates IMC’s unique Primary Health Care WELLNESS GROUP directly with the Community at large, offering features such as a true MEDICAL WELLNESS SPA, a broad range of health care offerings and mind/body/spirit healing practices, longevity and aesthetic treatments, a commercial Kitchen for large scale, hands-on cooking classes, a dining and take-out facility, a 1,500 sq. ft. multipurpose workspace for yoga, community workshops and meetings, performance, theatre, professional training courses, fitness classes, symposiums, oxygen and juice bars, and even whole food produce – unheard of in a medical center! (See illustrations of some of these planned uses in the following picture from the May/June WELLNESS GROUP Newsletter).
IMC’s practice crosses a broad spectrum of diagnosis and treatment, including the latest genetic, hormonal, and metabolic evaluations and treatments, as well as centuries’ old, time-tested healing practices such as herbal, naturopathic, acupuncture, and chiropractic medicine.
IMC’s WELLNESS GROUP is a select, limited membership community of patients who pay a small monthly fee – typically less than the patient’s monthly cell phone bill – in order to have far greater access to IMC’S Practitioners than patients generally are afforded by health care practitioners today, and to enjoy a host of other benefits the Integrative Medicine Center sums up as “A higher Standard of Care”. The WELLNESS GROUP’s limited membership is necessary to make sure IMC’s Doctors have the time to provide this extensive access to WELLNESS GROUP members.
Dr. Saunders says that the development of the WELLNESS GROUP at IMC began with the conviction that there must be a way to deliver what IMC calls a higher standard of care …affordably, and help IMC’s patients get the attention they really deserve. He comments that after some trial and error a plan was created that worked well for most patients. Following several months of hard work, a critical mass of WELLNESS GROUP Members was reached. At that point the Group began to take on a life of its own, with one Member passing the good news about the new Practice along to another person, and so on. Now the IMC sees the WELLNESS GROUP becoming increasingly the GO TO Integrative Medicine practice for the whole area. Dr. Saunders states, “We are very grateful for the way Santa Barbara has embraced our new Practice”.
The advent of “Obamacare” has brought soaring monthly premiums along with it for a huge number of insured patients. In addition, it introduces more than 20 new taxes for businesses and a host of other previously unannounced provisions that the public is just beginning to discover now that the plan is being rolled-out. The WELLNESS GROUP provides an alternative to the traditional use of insurance, including the Obamacare model. It allows patients to minimize the cost of health insurance by purchasing catastrophic health care coverage only, using it as a safety net for procedures that go beyond the ability of most people to pay, and by covering the cost of occasional illnesses or preventative treatments through the benefits and services provided by IMC’s WELLNESS GROUP.
Government/single payer plans are enormously expensive, “top down” programs that subsidize the pharmaceutical and highly interventional medical industry at the expense of affordable primary health care. By contrast, the Integrative Medicine Center’s primary health care deals with wellness imbalances by relying upon relatively simple procedures emphasizing proper food and lifestyle choices before severe illnesses develop. IMC’s WELLNESS GROUP is a grassroots, bottom-up program designed to reduce the out-of-control costs of heath care for IMC’s patients.
Many primary care practitioners are leaving the medical community, finding that the insurance industry is driving their practice in the wrong direction and refusing to compensate them for the time they truly need to spend with their patients. The Integrative Medicine Center’s WELLNESS GROUP serves as a model for primary health care practitioners in the Santa Barbara region to help them reduce the cost of health care for their patients. The WELLNESS GROUP model provides a comprehensive lifestyle and preventative approach to wellness that dramatically lowers the risk of catastrophic illness and disastrous medical expenses in the first place. The WELLNESS GROUP is a viable alternative for individuals who want to avoid pharmaceuticals and stay away from highly interventional, incredibly expensive medical procedures. These undesirable treatments and their consequences can be prevented largely by proper food and lifestyle choices at little or no cost. The objective is to maintain a high level of functionality throughout one’s entire life.
All of IMC’s new insured patients come into the Practice by joining the WELLNESS GROUP. This allows them to enjoy extensive consultations with their doctor and a host of other benefits that are unheard of today in most primary health care provider’s offices (you can learn more by visiting IMC’s website at www.imedsb.com or call for information at 805-845-3220 or 805-963-1824. Also see the IMC Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/imedwg]). In addition, by December 31, 2013, all of IMC’s current insured patients who were part of the practice before the WELLNESS GROUP was created will be transferring to the WELLNESS GROUP since membership is rising rapidly and the membership limit is being approached.
To add to the Integrative Wellness Center’s bold new initiatives, two highly qualified new Practitioners have now joined the IMC. Acupuncturist Jill Rosen, and Chiropractor Adam Kleinberg, have just joined the IMC WELLNESS GROUP Practice. They will be on hand at the IMC Reception to meet and greet everyone. For more information visit our website, Facebook Page or call.
To celebrate these exciting developments and meet the IMC TEAM, the Integrative Medicine Center WELLNESS GROUP warmly invites you to an OPEN HOUSE at its new facility at 533 E. Micheltorena St., Suite 101, Santa Barbara, California 93103, from 7:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. Refreshments will be served. Come casual, see THE WELLNESS GROUP’s beautiful new home, and get to know the friendly doctors, practitioners and staff in a relaxed setting.
