After dressing in a comfortable Rippe-logoed T-shirt, fitness shorts and sneakers, Korpan, 58, is escorted throughout a daylong battery of tests, starting at the lab, where he supplies blood and urine samples. After a light breakfast, it's on to the treadmill, where a cardiologist monitors his heart. In the course of the day, Korpan meets with a nutritionist. He consults with a pharmacist. He can even meet with a "vitality specialist" for an assessment of his social, emotional and spiritual well-being. If anything is detected that requires closer review, the executive is sent directly to a specialist in the building and gets preferential treatment. Again, no waiting.
At the end of the day, Korpan meets with Dr. James Rippe himself, the Harvard-trained cardiologist who directs the executive health program, for the results of his exam and recommendations to improve his health. "What sets them apart," Korpan says, "is that they actually care for people. They seemed genuinely interested in you as an individual."
The price of all that attention isn't exactly cut-rate HMO -- and in most cases isn't covered by health plans at all. Rippe, for example, offers four options, ranging from the six-hour Bronze plan for $1,400 to the day-and-a-half Platinum plan for $3,400. The Cleveland Clinic in Naples, meanwhile, offers a half-day exam for $1,800, and the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville charges $2,000 for its basic executive physical and an additional $2,300 for a colonoscopy, an involved exam for colorectal cancer that is recommended every five years for men 50 and older.
For busy top managers, the opportunity to see a range of medical specialists on the same day at the same medical facility -- as opposed to making separate appointments all over town over the course of several weeks -- is efficient and well worth the tab. In most cases, their companies are picking up the bill anyway; firms view the programs as both an executive perk and a smart investment. "It's good business to keep your people healthy," says Korpan, whose company hands out annual executive physicals to 30 of its top officers. "It's money well spent."
Executive health programs have been around for decades, but it wasn't until fairly recently that they began proliferating in Florida. Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and the Cleveland Clinic in Fort Lauderdale began executive health programs about 10 years ago. In the last year-and-a-half, the field has become more crowded as Rippe Health Assessment opened in Orlando and the Cleveland Clinic began a second executive health program at a new facility in Naples.
Executive health directors say there's enough business for all of the clinics in Florida to operate profitably. But in fact the executive health programs aren't big profit centers. Instead, big non-profit research clinics such as Cleveland and Mayo view the programs as way of marketing their services to large corporations and, potentially, to wealthy donors. Happy, well-to-do patients, especially those who have been saved through early disease detection, make ideal prospects for future fund-raising campaigns, says one former hospital administrator.
Going head-to-head
The executive health assessment programs in Florida offer more or less the same basic services. Executives are greeted at the front door and escorted through the process. Each clinic has specialists on staff to deal with most medical issues. Those who go through the executive health program also have access to mini-conference rooms, where they can make calls, receive faxes or access the Internet. Each clinic also has special programs for women. All exams conclude with a consultation with a primary care physician to review test results, followed by a complete written report that is mailed a week or so after the visit.
In terms of name recognition and number of patients, the clear leader now is the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. Founded in Rochester, Minn., more than a century ago, Mayo began its executive health program in the late 1970s. This year, 3,000 executives will pass through the Jacksonville clinic's executive health program, which includes five physicians.
The Rippe and Cleveland Naples clinics are looking to woo away executives who now go to Mayo or other clinics by stressing closer proximity and better service. In particular, the Rippe program promotes itself aggressively, starting with James Rippe himself. A fitness buff who runs daily, skis in Colorado and windsurfs in Maui, the 53-year-old cardiologist exudes good health. Rippe, who likes to mention he's married to a former Miss Daytona Beach, has written a slew of popular guides to health, including titles such as "Fit Over 40" and "Healthy Heart for Dummies."
The wall outside Rippe's office at Florida Hospital/Celebration Health is covered with pictures of his smiling face gracing the covers of his books and accompanying magazine articles about him. He makes regular appearances on the CBS Morning Show and ABC's Good Morning America. But he's also written numerous academic articles and books, including one of the leading cardiology textbooks. "They use it at Mayo," he says with a grin.
Once a year, for 30 years, former Disney executive Richard Nunis traveled to the Scripps Center for Executive Health in La Jolla, Calif., for a physical, even after he moved to Florida in 1984. But for the past two years, Nunis, now retired and working as a consultant in Orlando, has been getting his annual health checkup from Rippe in Orlando. "I like Rippe's attitude," says Nunis, who recommended the program to Korpan.
Gaining a foothold
For his part, Korpan had been going to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for his annual health assessment but decided to give the Orlando upstart a try several months ago. "I decided to make myself a guinea pig" for the other Florida Progress executives, he says. Korpan is recommending the Rippe program to his colleagues, although they are free to use the executive health program of their choice.
Frank Lentz, a 56-year-old retired computer executive from Minneapolis who now lives in Longboat Key, is another former Mayo patient. He had gone to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for his annual physical until this year, when he and his wife opted to try the new Cleveland Clinic program in Naples. "Mayo was our place. Now it's Cleveland Clinic," Lentz says.
The Cleveland Clinic is hoping to attract more retirees and executives who have second homes in the affluent Naples area. "There hasn't been much competition here," says Leonard A. Schlossberg, an internist and director of Cleveland Clinic's Executive Health Program in Naples.
Meanwhile, the medical director of Mayo's executive health program in Jacksonville says he's not overly concerned about the noisy competition to the south. "We'll compete," says Christian Van Den Berg, an internist and kidney specialist. "Don't you worry."
An Elite Physical: A Day at Rippe Health Assessment
7:15 a.m. Arrive at Florida Hospital/Celebration Health, greeted at front door by Rippe Health
Assessment ambassador. Go to locker room to change into T-shirt and shorts.
7:30 a.m. Arrive at the Rippe clinic lab to give blood and urine samples.
8:15 a.m. Breakfast of fruit, cereals and juices in executive conference room.
Watch a short video tape about the Rippe program.
8:45 a.m. Return to clinic for 30-minute meeting with primary care physician. Execs in the Platinum plan meet with Dr. James Rippe himself.
9:30 a.m. Complete cardiovascular exam, including EKG and stress tests. Followed by comprehensive consultations and evaluations with dietitian and pharmacist.
11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lunch either in the executive conference room or in
Celebration Health's cafeteria.
1 p.m. Prescheduled consultations with any of 20 specialists on staff at Celebration Health to discuss medical issues ranging from plastic surgery and old sports injuries to infertility.
3:30 p.m. Exit consultation with primary care physician to review test results
and recommendations.
4 p.m. Optional workout in Celebration Health's 60,000-sq.-ft. fitness center, followed by massage and sauna.
Executive Health Programs in Florida
Rippe Health Assessment at Florida Hospital/Celebration Health
Executive Health Director: James M. Rippe, M.D.
Marketing Director: Sherrick T. Wassel
Total number of available doctors : 80
Year opened: 1999
Location: Celebration
Cost: Four options, ranging from $1,400 to $3,400
Cleveland Clinic Florida
Executive Health Director: Leonard A. Schlossberg, M.D.
Executive Health Coordinator: Ana Luisa Harris
Total number of available doctors: 35 (expanding to 80 by next year)
Year opened: 1999
Location: Naples
Cost: $1,800
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
Executive Health Director: Christian Van Den Berg, M.D.
Executive Health Program Representative: Holly Occi
Total number of available doctors: 248
Year opened: 1991
Cost: $2,000