E873 | 8 Trillion Reasons Why You Should Lean Into Longevity

Longevity and Cash PT: Why the Next Big Wave Is Built for You

If you’re paying attention, you can feel it:

People aren’t just talking about getting out of pain anymore.
They’re talking about living longer, staying sharper, and being strong and active deep into their 70s, 80s, and beyond.

That’s longevity—and it’s not a buzzword. It’s a massive shift in how people think about health.

In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Doc Danny Matta breaks down why the longevity trend is such a huge opportunity for cash-based physical therapists and how you can start positioning your clinic to ride that wave instead of watching it pass you by.

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Step One: Own the Patient Experience

Before diving into longevity, Danny hits a simple but important point:

In a cash-based practice, patient experience is everything.

While your competitors:

• Step out of the room to finish notes

• Stay late after hours clicking away in their EMR

You could be:

• Staying fully engaged in the session

• Following up with patients

• Planning next visits and long-term care

That’s where Clair, an AI scribe built for PTs, comes in:

• Handles documentation instantly

• Frees you up to actually be with your patient

• Gives you an operational advantage your patients can feel

Better experience → better retention → better business.

That’s important, because the longevity model is built on long-term relationships, not one-off care.

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The Longevity Shift: From “Fix Me” to “Keep Me Going”

Danny’s seeing the same pattern across conversations with PT Biz mastermind members and other clinic owners:

Patients are waking up to two realities:

1. They’re likely going to live longer than previous generations.

2. They don’t want those extra years to be weak, painful, or dependent.

They’re becoming:

• More proactive

• More curious about testing and data

• More willing to invest in long-term health

And they’re open to working with clinicians who can help them:

• Maintain muscle, strength, and power

• Keep their joints and tissues healthy

• Improve their cardiovascular fitness

• Optimize sleep, nutrition, and stress

That’s not traditional “3x/week for 4–6 weeks” PT.

That’s long-term longevity coaching and care.

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What the Big Players Are Doing

This isn’t just a theory. Big brands are already moving:

1. Peter Attia’s 10x / performance-style models

In Austin, Attia’s world is blending:

• High-level assessments

• Long-term programming

• Hands-on clinical work

• Ongoing performance and health monitoring

It’s expensive, high-touch, and built around continuity.

2. Equinox’s Longevity Program

Equinox launched a longevity program in the $35,000–$45,000 per year range.

That includes:

• Assessments

• Bloodwork

• Ongoing training

• Bodywork (massage, etc.)

You’re talking $3,000–$4,000 per month.

Point isn’t that you should copy their pricing.

The point is: they did the homework. Companies that big don’t roll out programs like this without market research.

They know people are willing to invest serious money into staying healthy and capable as they age.

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The $8 Trillion Forecast

Danny mentions a UBS forecast that puts the global longevity market at around $8 trillion by 2030.

That’s not a niche.
That’s not a trend.
That’s a full-on economic engine.

And a lot of that money is going to go somewhere:

• High-end gyms

• Concierge medicine

• Functional medicine

• Testing clinics

• Performance centers

Or…

Cash-based PT practices that decide to step into the space.

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The Power of Long-Term Patients

Here’s one of the most important numbers from the episode:

Danny’s friend running a longevity-focused, cash-based model only needs:

30–40 new patients per year.

That’s it.

Because:

• People stay a long time.

• They see value in ongoing guidance.

• They want someone to help them manage their health proactively.

Compare that to a more traditional model:

• You might see 40 new patients in a few weeks.

• They come in, get fixed, and disappear.

• You’re constantly chasing volume.

Which game would you rather play?

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What Longevity Care Actually Looks Like

This isn’t just “more sessions.”

It’s a different framework.

A longevity-oriented cash PT model might include:

• Strategic assessments

  • Movement screens

  • Strength and power testing (e.g., force plates)

  • VO₂ max or cardio testing

• Objective benchmarks

  • Baseline testing

  • Regular retests

  • Clear visuals on progress and weak spots

• Programming and coaching

  • Strength and conditioning

  • Mobility and durability work

  • Return-to-sport or “stay-in-sport” progression

• Lifestyle pillars

  • Sleep hygiene and routines

  • Basic nutrition guidance or referrals

  • Stress management strategies

• Bloodwork interpretation (within scope / via partners)

  • Helping patients understand labs

  • Pointing them towards better decisions and/or medical partners

You’re not just the “knee pain person” anymore.
You’re the long-term health and capability guide.

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Why Cash PT Is Perfectly Positioned

Insurance-based clinics are boxed in:

• Limited time per visit

• Pressure for volume

• Coding constraints

• Narrow definitions of “medically necessary”

If they spend an hour talking about sleep, stress, or long-term training, it’s often:

• Underappreciated

• Under-reimbursed

• Seen as “not billable enough”

Cash PT is different.

You can:

• Spend the visit on whatever will help the patient most

• Design 6–12 month plans instead of 4–6 week plans

• Charge based on value, not codes

And your environment usually looks different, too:

• Open floor

• Racks, weights, and turf

• People lifting, running, and testing

When someone walks in, they don’t think “hospital outpatient.”

They think:

“This place is about performance, health, and longevity.”

Exactly the association you want.

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Tech as a Trust Builder (Not Just a Toy)

Danny also talks about the value of tech and objective data.

Things like:

• Force plate assessments

• VO₂ max testing

• Structured movement and performance tests

Paired with:

• Clear baselines

• Defined goals

• Regular retests

These do a few powerful things:

• Make progress tangible

• Build buy-in and motivation

• Differentiate you from basic “exercise sheets” and generic gyms

You don’t need every tool at once. But one or two used well can completely change how patients see you.

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How to Start Moving Toward Longevity

You don’t have to become Equinox by next month.

Here’s how you can start in a grounded way:

1. Clarify your lane.
   Are you best with runners, lifters, older adults, executives, weekend warriors?

2. Design a simple “Year One” plan.
   Think in 6–12 months, not 6–12 visits. What would long-term care look like for your ideal client?

3. Add at least one objective test.
   VO₂, force plates, timed strength tests, standardized movement screens—pick something you’ll use and retest.

4. Layer in basic lifestyle pillars.
   Learn just enough about sleep, nutrition, and stress to give solid guidance—or build a referral network.

5. Make your model visible.
   Talk about longevity and long-term performance in your content, consults, and workshops.

And if documentation and admin are eating your time, consider offloading notes to something like Clair so you can focus on building this side of the business instead of drowning in charts.

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Want a Clear Path to Go Full-Time First?

If you’re still part-time or early in your practice, Danny points you to the:

PT Biz Part-Time to Full-Time 5-Day Challenge (Free)

In five days, you’ll:

• Get ultra clear on how much money you need to replace

• Know exactly how many people you need to see and at what rate

• Learn three strategies to go from part-time to full-time

• See the sales and marketing systems PT Biz uses with their mastermind clients

• Build a one-page business plan you can actually execute

👉 Join here: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge 

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Final Thought

Longevity isn’t going away.

Patients are:

• More proactive

• More educated

• More willing to invest

The only real question is:

Are you going to be one of the clinicians leading in this space—or watching from the sidelines while big brands and bolder practices step in?

You’re already uniquely positioned as a cash PT.
Now it’s about deciding how you want to plug into the wave that’s coming.

Do you enjoy the podcast?  If so, leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and tell a friend to do the same!

Ready to elevate your practice? Book a call at the link below with one of our expert consultants today and start your journey to delivering unparalleled physical therapy.

Podcast Transcript

Danny: [00:00:00] What's going on, doc Danny here with the PT Entrepreneur Podcast and today we're talking about longevity again.[00:00:05]

Uh, you know, this is something that I brought up recently, [00:00:10] uh, on the podcast. This is something that I've had conversations with recently about people in our, uh, [00:00:15] PT Biz Mastermind, uh, people that are friends of mine that have their own their own businesses in the PT [00:00:20] profession around the country. Um, and.

This is a trend that I, I don't think it's going anywhere. I [00:00:25] wanna touch on again, I think it's important to keep this in mind. Um, today I had a chance to have [00:00:30] breakfast with a buddy of mine who, uh, is, uh, doing a lot of cool stuff in the longevity, uh, space, who's a [00:00:35] clinician, he's a pt. And, um, it was a really cool conversation and I wanna share some of the things that, you know, [00:00:40] that I'm seeing and, and that this, this conversation this morning reinforced about why I think this [00:00:45] really is a place that you need to, you need to understand as a cash-based physical therapist.[00:00:50]

The, the global landscape is changing as far as healthcare is concerned. People are realizing [00:00:55] that they're gonna live longer and that they want to be more proactive than reactive, which [00:01:00] generally this is a great thing. This is something that, you know, I, I think we would [00:01:05] have, I. God, we would've been ecstatic for, to have patients that are like proactively wanting to do [00:01:10] work.

That sounds amazing. And that's what's happening right now. It's, that's what's happening. And you're seeing this [00:01:15] in a number of different ways. We see this with, uh, Peter Attias group with 10 Squared, [00:01:20] um, which is a, his gym in Austin. You're, you're seeing that there's sort employing performance [00:01:25] clinicians, um, in the space that are doing basically assessments, program hand on [00:01:30] stuff, things of that nature, you know, over the course of, um.

Months and years, and it's very, it's very expensive. It's [00:01:35] thousands of dollars every single month. Um, another example would [00:01:40] be Equinox. Equinox just released their longevity program. This is something to the effect of, [00:01:45] you know, 35 to $45,000 a year. Um, that's a combination of [00:01:50] assessments, uh, blood panels, and, uh, work, work with trainers [00:01:55] and, and, uh, massage therapists.

And it's a, it's a, it's. Sort of all [00:02:00] encompassing program, but you're talking about, you know, pay three, four grand a month, [00:02:05] um, that people are, that are paying. Now, obviously this is very high end. I'm not saying [00:02:10] that's necessarily what every clinic needs to do, but just as an example, the, these, these types of businesses don't [00:02:15] get rolled out.

Uh, like Equinox is huge. You're not gonna roll something like this out without. [00:02:20] A lot of market research and even with us, we're already seeing [00:02:25] things like this make a lot of sense within practices. People already doing a lot of things like this. Or they're [00:02:30] managing people's, you know, programming long term.

Um, they're really helping them understand what [00:02:35] supplements make sense for them. They're helping 'em interpret blood panels. They're, they're helping 'em basically pro be [00:02:40] proactively healthy and check in with people before they have a problem or when it's minor and not wait [00:02:45] until it's so bad that they have to, like their wife makes 'em a busy because they're tired of them complaining about their knee.

[00:02:50] So. And we're trending this direction. And there's an interesting, um, [00:02:55] article, article that I read. Uh, UBS, they [00:03:00] forecasted that by 2030 that the longevity, uh, [00:03:05] market would be worth $8 trillion worldwide. That is. [00:03:10] A lot of money, a lot, and I, I definitely see this trend happening [00:03:15] within the clinics that we're, uh, working with.

It is one of the better things you can do, I think [00:03:20] from a life, uh, you know, lifetime value continuity standpoint. [00:03:25] Um, because you're, you know, you get one client and if they work with you for like five years, [00:03:30] uh, or, or you know, whatever, like a very long period of time. You don't [00:03:35] need that many new people.

You know? Uh, you just don't like the guy that I was talking to today. [00:03:40] He needs like 30 to 40 new patients a year. Okay. [00:03:45] 30 to 40 new patients per year. I. Yeah, that's it. You know, I mean, in, in [00:03:50] our clinic we got like, I don't know, 60 new patients last month. So, [00:03:55] you know, eighties, like 30 a year. That's it. What game do you wanna play?

And I think this is [00:04:00] why when you really look at, you know, where this makes sense from a number of reasons. [00:04:05] Yes, it does make sense because. It's it's work that people are looking for. It's a great thing for their health. [00:04:10] You can teach 'em a lot of habits that are gonna be like, very transformational for their life.

It's very rewarding. But on the business [00:04:15] side, it's also, it's fantastic. It's fantastic 'cause it puts your business in a place where it's very sticky. Uh, you [00:04:20] don't need as many new people. You don't need to, uh, to really focus on new volume as much. Uh, you can [00:04:25] focus more on long-term, you know, relationships and delivering, uh, ongoing [00:04:30] care to, to somebody that values it.

That's a pretty great place to be. And it's, it's something that people [00:04:35] are. Are not price sensitive to. Especially if you are different than [00:04:40] everybody else around you in terms of your ability to assess, uh, to use technology. If you're doing things [00:04:45] like force place, force plate assessments and, and objective objectively [00:04:50] measuring where they, uh, how they perform in comparison to people their age and their, um, you know, their [00:04:55] peers.

When you show them objective measures of what they're not that good at, what they need to improve. When you do [00:05:00] things like VO two max testing, you know, when you do specific objective. [00:05:05] Assessments as far as movement and performance are concerned [00:05:10] that people want to use as benchmarks to get better at. If you understand and learn how to [00:05:15] evaluate at least basic blood panels and help people understand how to improve things like sleep and [00:05:20] nutrition and stress management, these open up a massive amount of [00:05:25] opportunity for you to have ongoing relationships with people and really, really help them, you know, [00:05:30] achieve these long-term goals.

So. When you look at what these bigger businesses are doing, these trends that [00:05:35] we're seeing, these bigger reports that are, that are stating that, you know, it's gonna be, [00:05:40] uh, trillions of dollars of increase towards longevity training, [00:05:45] that is a pretty great place to be as a clinic. And, you [00:05:50] know, when I, when I think about where I, I can provide value to our clients in [00:05:55] particular, a lot of it is, well, what are these trends that we see happening?

Early, how do we [00:06:00] establish, uh, an opportunity to help them integrate within their own clinics [00:06:05] and, uh, and, and, and to really try to stay ahead of, you know, the, the general [00:06:10] field as far as that goes. And this is something that I stomped my foot on this stuff when I, when I [00:06:15] talk about it, because I, I honestly think that this is something that is gonna be a part of [00:06:20] every.

Successful cash-based clinic, you know, in the, over the next few years, they're gonna have [00:06:25] some element of, uh, longevity, whether they frame it that way or not of, of ongoing [00:06:30] work that's gonna be a bit more structured where they're gonna be doing tests and retests, which I hope they do, because it [00:06:35] is a much more professionalized way of going about it than just subjectively, how you feeling today?

Let's [00:06:40] actually see where you're at. Let's see where your goals are and help you achieve those. You know, and that is a really great place for the [00:06:45] profession to head as well, especially as we look at the difference between cash-based clinics and insurance-based [00:06:50] clinics. The, the, the massive advantage to cash-based clinics is we can do whatever [00:06:55] we want within legal reason, with our practice act, right?

And, and what we're allowed to do, and everybody's state is different, [00:07:00] but. We don't have insurance telling us what we can and can't do. Now, if I wanna have [00:07:05] a one hour conversation with somebody about sleep, because they're really struggling there and we're trying to educate [00:07:10] them on the importance of it and basic sleep hygiene or whatever, we can do that.

And they're still gonna pay me [00:07:15] whatever the fee is for that, uh, that I set within my, my own rates. [00:07:20] If it's insurance, they may say that's. That's not very valuable. They may not want to reimburse for that, [00:07:25] or they may view that as, you know, education that's, that's not as, not as valuable as, I don't know, neuro [00:07:30] reeducation or whatever you're gonna code it as, so we don't have to worry about that.

[00:07:35] The other thing is we look different. We don't look like a, you know, [00:07:40] hospital clinic. We don't look like a big corporate owned. A high volume [00:07:45] clinic, they walk into those places and they do not look like places that are breeding longevity. [00:07:50] You know, they, they walk into a clinic like what we own, and all of a sudden they're confused whether this is a [00:07:55] gym or whether this is a clinic and.

When people are doing testing and people [00:08:00] are actively picking heavy things up, or they're, you know, going through, um, [00:08:05] you know, cardiovascular assessments or run form assessments or whatever it might be, it looks very, very different. [00:08:10] And that's important because that's also how you're going to get other people coming your way.

A big portion of it's gonna be them telling their [00:08:15] friends and family about why they might wanna do this as well, uh, and, and really helping [00:08:20] them and their friends stay as healthy as possible. So this is something that. I think we are [00:08:25] uniquely positioned for, I'm excited for this, which is something that we're definitely gonna be spending more time working on.

[00:08:30] How do we, uh, you know, better standardize some of this, uh, different [00:08:35] pieces of technology that we can use, uh, with this as well. Different tools that are gonna be tech [00:08:40] enabled, um, I think are really gonna set people apart and allow them to get really great results, but [00:08:45] also definitively show the changes that they're making, which is great.

From a buy-in [00:08:50] standpoint and, and compliance and motivation. Um, and this is something I wanna put every, everybody's [00:08:55] radar because I think it's worth paying attention to. And, uh, you know, you can, [00:09:00] you can wait until it's a little more mainstream, which is fair. Uh, you can start looking into this stuff yourself [00:09:05] and really, you know, decide, Hey, is this something that fits the type of model that I have?

Right. [00:09:10] Like if you're, if you're doing, um, you know, I don't know, like very niche specific work [00:09:15] that's just like manual therapy driven and, and that's maybe this is not a good fit for you. You know, maybe that's the niche you should, [00:09:20] you should focus on, but try to be part of an ecosystem of people that are doing things like this.

[00:09:25] Maybe you wanna work with a medical group that's doing a lot of functional medicine, but you're a fantastic mano [00:09:30] therapist and they want to work with you as far as their ecosystem goes to help their client move [00:09:35] better. And feel better as they're working on other things. There's a lot of ways that this can work, but just something [00:09:40] to keep an eye out for.

Uh, see where you fit, see what makes sense for you. Um, but this is definitely a trend that's not [00:09:45] going anywhere. I think it's gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger as people realize that they're gonna be living [00:09:50] longer and that health is the real wealth, like is you're not healthy. It doesn't matter how [00:09:55] much money you.

And I think cash-based PTs are uniquely positioned [00:10:00] to really, really capitalize on this fantastic trend that I see occurring right [00:10:05] now.