CourMed, a private client health and wellness startup, rides a healthy growth trajectory

By Karen-Janine Cohen

CourMed, which provides health and wellness services to high-net worth individuals in their homes or offices, has expanded in the last several years with new offerings. Notable among the new services are an addiction treatment and recovery program, which caters to a population often overlooked when alcohol and drug abuse is discussed.

“Substance abuse is very high for high net-worth individuals,” said Derrick Miles, who founded and runs the company, which went live in 2018 as a prescription delivery company, but whose menu of services has greatly expanded. “For some reason,” he said, “People think that once you solve the money game, all your problems go away.” Nothing, he noted, could be further from the truth.

Stress is very high for those at the top, which can be a lonely place and where tough decision making can take a deep toll, Miles said. In an article written for Crain Currency, Miles notes that fear of public exposure and possible damage to reputation keeps many affluent individuals from seeking help through the usual channels.

The service is a partnership with Washington state-based NorthStar Care. It is home-based and virtual, and has been available since the beginning of the year. Miles expects adoption of the program to ramp up as more people become aware of it.

Other new services include dental and vision care, along with customized powdered vitamins and supplements. CourMed has also partnered with Cancer Check Labs, to provide blood screening tests to detect tumors at their earliest stages.

Miles gives credit for offering innovations to Dr. Tami Singh, who joined in 2021 as CourMed medical director.

Meanwhile, CourMed continues to provide its core wellness and well care solutions, such as nutritional therapies, extra cellular vesicle therapy (a regenerative approach based on cell function); and IV therapy, among others.

“Our clients do have disposable incomes and they use our platform because they want to save time, they know the time-value of money.”

Miles, who splits his time between South Florida and Dallas, grew up in Clearwater, attended Bethune-Cookman College, earned dual master’s degrees in healthcare and business administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and worked as a hospital administrator for 15 years before going out on his own.

The company, he said, should be viewed as a technology platform. CourMed partners with five verticals, which include large banks, insurance companies and law firms, which all have high-net worth private clients. The service is typically offered by CourMed’s partners as a perk or benefit.

Since its inception, Google for Startups has supported the firm, and in 2021, CourMed became the first recipient of Microsoft Capital Fund for Small Business’ loan program. The company’s financial investments rely primarily on family offices, a private wealth management vehicle used by net worth individuals and families. CourMed, said Miles, has “very nice margins,” but declined to give sales, investment, or clientele figures. This summer, CourMed has been participating in Endeavor Miami’s EndeavorLAB accelerator cohort.