Company Name: Real You
Name & Title: Dr. Elise Mecham, Founder & Surgeon
Location: 48 N 1100 E, American Fork, UT 84003
Website: RealYouPlasticSurgery.com
Industry: Health & Wellness
When Dr. Elise Mecham opened her own plastic surgery and wellness center in July, she went from being a wound care specialist, cosmetic surgeon, and the only plastic surgeon in Utah who does microsurgery to also being a business owner. For years, her attention to detail and compassion for clients made her stand out as a medical provider, but by opening her own practice called Real You, she stepped into a professional era that challenged her, giving her a lot to learn and tossing curveballs left and right.
The service her clients received never faltered, but starting her own business resulted in a few scars—metaphorical ones, of course. She was ready to open her doors in February of this year, but due to construction issues, the grand opening kept getting pushed back further and further. It felt like everything that could go wrong was going wrong, except for one component of starting a business that many people don’t think about: IT support. “The startup for us was trauma,” Dr. Mecham said, “but the IT system never has been.”
NPI Sets the Vendor Standard
At her prior practice, she had grown accustomed to slow IT service, clunky systems, and problematic phone issues. She knew she wasn’t going to partner with the IT service provider from that practice, but beyond that, she wasn’t sure where to start. During the early stages of business planning, a network connection recommended Network Providers, Inc. (NPI) as the organization Dr. Mecham should reach out to about managed IT services. Within the first phone call with NPI, they illustrated impressive service, made a plan of action, and got to work.
When implementing their proposal, the NPI team sent regular updates, were very communicative, and worked hard to keep things manageable for Dr. Mecham. Doctors and business owners are experts in their fields, but since IT usually isn’t their field, finding IT support that breaks things down in an understandable way and serves as a trusted advisor is critical to overall business health. Even when something came up that technically wasn’t on their list of responsibilities, Dr. Mecham could rely on the team at NPI to go above and beyond.
“We were originally supposed to be in this building in February. NPI had everything ready to go, but the building kept getting delayed. They personally came and ran the wiring for the building, and someone cut off all their wiring. NPI hit so many challenges with us getting the building open and they just worked through it, every time,” Dr. Mecham explained.
When it comes to working with medical providers of any kind, managed IT firms have a very specific set of regulations to follow in order to ensure HIPPA compliance. HIPPA protects all patient data, and at Real You—or any medical provider—a lot of patient data is collected and stored during consultations, doctor’s visits, and procedures. “We have electronic medical records, so we have iPads and computers that we enter patient data into. We scan everything into the chart; we don’t keep paper charts,” Dr. Mecham shared about the tech-forward setup of her wellness center. Although she might not understand all the technical work that NPI does behind the scenes, their knowledge surrounding HIPPA compliance and medical privacy laws has been integral to her business.
Creating Custom Client Solutions
In just one day, Dr. Mecham may perform a breast reconstruction on a breast cancer survivor, reconstruct an injured jaw, and provide Botox to a client. She doesn’t have the time to manage a faulty phone system or troubleshoot wireless connection issues. NPI’s work allows her to get as much time as possible to build relationships with her clients, which is the most important part of her job. Very aware of how frustrating it can be when working with an unreliable IT service provider, Dr. Meacham’s gratitude for the team at NPI is unmatched. “We recently had a problem with the phones, and NPI just took care of it. They laid out our options, gave a recommendation, and got it fixed. There’s never been something that they didn’t have a solution for.”
Even for some of the more unique needs that come with supporting a plastic surgery and wellness center, NPI is there to meet the moment. After they had set up all the computers for each workstation—giving two monitors to each desk—Dr. Mecham felt that the two monitors in reception looked busy and overwhelming. To some managed IT providers, being asked to adjust the monitor setup for purely aesthetic reasons would be laughable, but NPI was more than happy to make the adjustments because they understood that in the plastic surgery industry, office aesthetics matter.
“There isn’t another company out there that would do what they’ve done for us. We’ve been just thrilled. The work has been so good, and we’ve never had any problems,” Dr. Mecham said with a smile. Taking a leap and opening your own practice can be intimidating, frustrating, and purely overwhelming, but it’s the people that you have in your corner that make it all worth it. NPI may not have been in Dr. Mecham's corner for very long, but they’ve certainly served as a reminder that there are good people who care about Real You just as much as she does.
Real You Is Changing How Patients Interact with Health and Wellness
Dr. Mecham has big dreams for the future of Real You. She’s taking it from a plastic surgery and wellness center to a holistic health and wellness space. With plans to conduct research, educate the community, and empower people to maximize their life experience, Real You will continue shaping the future of wellness in American Fork, Utah. Supporting that journey and playing a part in turning Dr. Mecham's vision into reality is the main focus of NPI. For all the phone issues, system outages, or even cyberattacks, they’ll be on the frontlines, but when it comes to plastic surgery or wellness advice, they’ll let Dr. Mecham lead the way.
