Startup wants to help clients make healthy lifestyle changes

BOULDER — A Boulder-based startup is looking to change the way people think about health care by having them look at their lifestyle.

Cruxpoint Health Breakthrough Programs is helping clients look at the big picture, with free and premium offerings depending on their needs.

“What I decided to do about 10 years ago was research how to help people with chronic diseases get out of the trap of just treating their symptoms and restore their health and quality of life,” said Gary Koyen, the 73-year-old chief executive of Cruxpoint. “We want to go back to where the causal factors are to reduce disease patterns in the first place, intervene and make lifestyle changes to get rid of diseases.”

For the last four years, Cruxpoint has been working on testing its program, and eight months ago the company launched its business.

“If you have heart disease, for example, this is created by your lifestyle,” Koyen said. “You are highly vulnerable for a heart attack if you have a bad diet, poor sleep, high-stress, classic-American lifestyle. America is eating crappy food, sitting all day long, going to bed tired and waking up tired. That takes a toll. Cruxpoint is getting involved in taking control of that situation, through lifestyle changes where the results are fast and dramatic. The work gets done in a lifestyle of a person, because that’s where the disease generated.”

Cruxpoint has two offerings, with more on the way. There is a premium model, where clients get one-on-one coaching on everything from nutrition, fitness, sleep and mental health for two years.

The option is pricey, Koyen said, at about $600 a month. But the solution is ideal for those who have the means to make the lifestyle changes they need, but haven’t been able to do it without help.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cruxpoint offers free classes, through its Cruxpoint Breakthrough Series. The classes, Koyen said, educate on different topics, like how someone gets heart disease, how it can be prevented and what lifestyle changes must be made if someone does have heart disease. The classes cover topics such as cancer and health issues such as trauma.

“We want to educate people that if they want to control their health, they can do it,” Koyen said.

Future offerings from the company will be online versions of their University series, so clients can watch online. There are also plans for group-class versions of their premium model, which will be more affordable.

“We’re working on lower-cost intervention programs, where people can sign up for groups instead of individual attention, as that’s really expensive,” Koyen said. “But we’ve learned in our pilots this is too hard for most people to do on their own; they need a group setting where they’re committed or they need a lot of individual attention.”

Koyen said Cruxpoint is also working on a class for parents and children that can help parents set up a lifestyle for their kids at a young age that will prevent future health problems.

Koyen added that the company is also looking to partner with physicians who are interested in helping their patients make lifestyle changes.

“Our country is going broke on health care,” he said. “We’re now spending $50,000 a year on a family of four, but you can hardly find a family of four that feels they’re getting that much value. We can’t medicate our way out of this. It’s hard for me to see people unnecessarily in a state of bad health and bad quality of life. We have a long lifespan but our healthspan sucks, because we get diseases by age 50 or 60. It’s not necessary and we’re trying to interrupt that.”