WellQuest Moves Swift in Total Care

Steve Swift is sick of “sickcare.”
Swift, a 31-year veteran in the medical field, had a dream with his wife Judy in the mid-1990s to create an integrated medical service business that did more than just treat the symptoms of illness.
In 2005, Swift realized his vision by opening WellQuest Medical Spa in Bentonville and now he’s preparing to take his form of customer-driven health care to Fayetteville, Texas and the world.
“Business and insurance companies need to cross that line and start paying for preventative care and wellness,” Swift said. “An insurance company will pay $40,000 for a gastric bypass surgery but won’t pay $500 for a nutritionist.
“Progressive companies are starting to look into it.”
The future includes plans to open in Fayetteville by this fall and eventually in Springdale and Rogers.
From there, Swift wants to open in Tulsa, north Dallas and Austin, Texas. He even has investors who want to open a WellQuest in an affluent suburb of Mexico City.
Like a restaurant or retail store, Swift wants to replicate the same atmosphere at every WellQuest location, a “branded” philosophy nowhere to be found in the health care industry.
Swift said a three-part business model has made WellQuest a success:
Family medicine. WellQuest is a full-service medical facility and makes it possible to receive non-emergent care from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. six days a week and on Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.
Stay well. WellQuest employs a nutritionist who provides counseling on vitamins, supplements and diet, Swift said. His goal is for clients to change their lifestyles.
Skin and stress care. The full spa side of his clinic helps his clients “look well and feel their best.” His exclusive SkinPrint service — previously only available in New York, Los Angeles and Montreal — uses client interviews and tests and sends the data to New York, where customized skin care products are mixed for each individual.
WellQuest is on the cutting edge of digital technology and Swift built the business with the goal of a “paperless” office.
All client records are stored digitally, prescriptions can be sent electronically, WellQuest has a digital x-ray machine and even the blood pressure monitor is connected to the system so that the reading is sent directly to the client file without the process of moving charts from place to place.
Swift said women make 90 percent of health care decisions, so he’s made his office into an appealing environment. There are no old magazines lying around or TVs blaring bad news from CNN.
A bubbling fountain and soft music greets clients instead.
“Our internal motto,” Swift said, “is, ‘Don’t look, smell or act like a doctor’s office.'”