In the new model, the member is viewed as part of a "group" which could be his fellow employees, those others in his health insurance program, or both. The whole economic model begins to think in terms of larger populations and group recruitment.
Out of this new economic model came the health club "networks" that we know today. They facilitate "group" economics. They string together clubs across the country to be part of a common network.
Benefits Networks
Affiliate health club networks, such as IFCN are nothing new and have had some success with larger employers. They have recently morphed into something more than an affiliation of health clubs and into offering third-party benefits management, such as GlobalFit and American Specialty Health.
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Enter The Third Wave in Exercise Motivation
In the 3rd Wave of Fitness Center payment economics, there will be generous 3rd party payers, e.g. employers and health insureres, that have a vested interest in the fitness of their constituents, and will pay. All the supporting data moves around via a real-time computerized network.
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Health Club Networks and Health Benefits management gets us closer and will have a positive impact on the populations they manage. But the real score will come when exercise can be verified to the point where employers and health insurers will give cash incentives to their employees.
According to Harvey Lauer of American Sports Data, 77% of Americans (80% do not exercise) would exercise if they would receive a cash rebate on their health insurance.
We are moving from a world of "self-reporting", e.g. the honor system, to one of automatic recording by computers attached to the exercise machines that will recognize the user a record the results of their exercise session into a central database.
Since the system records every exercise ever performed by that individual, it can summarize trend lines and graphically display the improvements to areas of their body. This information can then be forwarded to the person's employer and/or health insurance carrier for a monetary rebate system.
The health care system can offer rebates to individuals that exercise religiously because they will finally have an empirically derived validation of exercise achievement. It makes economic sense because it's been proven that regular exercise in a population segment reduces disease occurrence and severity.
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The above is made possible by a little company in Toronto called MYTRAK. There is a computerized success Coach that attaches to each form of exercise machine, recognizes the person, and in addition to encouraging them to exercise in their zone, it records each and every session, and whether it was optimized or not.
Impact on Health Clubs
In the Third Wave, health clubs are not gyms anymore, they become "exercise providers" and information gathers.
The driving motives are no longer narcissism but wellness and disease prevention. So this new term "exercise providers" are really a subset of health providers since they are involved at the most beneficial stage, before disease is contracted.
Attracting members is an expensive ordeal for any fitness center. Why else would there be so many sales consultants? But we are entering a world that allows you to bring in employees by the droves because you have the one tool that will allow employers to slash one of the largest line items on their cost sheets, their health care costs.
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