Affiliations with healthcare institutions can be beneficial - IHRSA

Amanda Harris, Wendy Williamson and Bobby Verdun tackle the tricky question of whether to affiliate your club with a hospital and/or healthcare facility.

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"What are the advantages and disadvantages of having hospital/healthcare affiliation at the club?"

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A: My experience is with a physical therapy center that is affiliated with a local hospital ?housed? in the same building as the health or fitness club. The advantage is to develop professional relationships with the medical team so that reciprocation of referrals can take place. This can take time, effort, humbleness, and patience. Keep in mind that some medical professionals may not respect the fitness professional until they have ?proven themselves? or repetitive interaction has taken place.? Once professional relationships are established ? the interaction together is a ?win-win? situation. They may gain a patient and the fitness professional has the respect of the client for customer service, not to mention the reciprocation that should take place.

Following the physical therapy visits, the fitness professional needs to position them self to receive the referral. Why? The number of allowable visits per medical case for physical therapy has decreased.? For example:? Twenty years ago, a person with an ACL repair may have been allowed 24 visits with a physical therapist.? Today, the reimbursement is less than 15 visits.? As a result, the person with the ACL may not be ready for their ?game of life? whatever that may be, a sport, or walking their dog.? By being in position for the referral, ESPECIALLY since the clinic is ?in house,? the transition is easy.? Realize that the fitness professional will always be the subordinate and must continue to educate themselves and advance their skills.

The fitness professional should NEVER over step their scope and continue to learn and develop their skills with the medical professionals in their ?hip pocket?.

Unfortunately, the disadvantage of having hospital/healthcare affiliation at the club might be the inability to refer to someone else outside the healthcare affiliation. The fitness professional may feel they need to refer ?within the network.?? This is a difficult scenario; however, I believe that working with the affiliated club, the fitness professional can seek the ?in house? physical therapist for referrals to a more convenient location or specialization for the common good of the patient /client.?

Dr. Wendy Williamson
Owner/President
Williamson Wellness Center, LLC
wmsonwa@gmail.com

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A:?There are significant advantages connecting with hospital/healthcare institutions. First and foremost, any link to healthcare brings forth immediate credibility.?Having a medically based ?partner? creates an aura of expertise and extends the healthcare continuum into your club; this continuum can be nicely bridged by bringing in a physical therapist or PT assistant as a trainer to transition patients from rehab into memberships.

The healthcare/health club partnership is a natural one on many levels but one that needs cultivating to truly be a ?win-win? for all involved. The success of any partnership can be found in open and consistent communication, education of services, and ?ownership? of the idea that nobody wins unless everyone wins.?We recommend opening up opportunities for healthcare providers to experience what is offered at your club as to have them become emotionally involved with the offering. One approach is to pick one month each year to give every doctor, nurse, therapist, etc., in the community a free membership.?They may end up joining but they will also be more likely to refer patients to join.

With regards to disadvantages, being connected with one affiliation can be limiting if the referrals become stagnant.?To that end, as previously stated, it will be imperative to keep the relationship fresh and the referrals flowing to fully benefit from the relationship.?

Bobby Verdun
Principal
Atwood Consulting Group
bobby@atwoodconsultinggroup.com

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There are many advantages to having a hospital/healthcare affiliation at the club. Here are a few of the most compelling:

1. The affiliation increases the credibility of the club, i.e., the members/prospective members believe they can trust your organization to take good care of them. This can create a great competitive edge in a crowded marketplace and differentiate your club from the competition.
2. If your club would like to reach the large slice of America that has been referred to as the ?interested, but de-conditioned,? you may find that adding a medical referral program is much easier with a healthcare partner lending you some credibility. This could lead to new members that your club would never have attracted prior to such an affiliation.
3. The affiliation should necessitate higher standards of member care. This includes more attention to safety, more frequent CPR/ First Aid training, and programs suitable for special populations, including seniors and those with chronic disease. This should also increase revenues in peripheral services such as Personal Training, Programming and Massage.

The disadvantages (if you must call them that) would include:

1. The club may need to make a significant financial investment to increase its standard of member care, if it is not already operating at this level. Considerations include training for team members on safety, First-Aid and CPR, making the facility more accessible ? even inviting -- to those with disabilities, and training for Fitness Team members on working with special populations.?
2. A healthcare affiliation could drive some members and team members away from the organization. While this should be a small number of individuals, it is possible that some members and team members who are used to being surrounded by the young and fit may not want to exercise with or work with people who are not like them. (I would argue that those numbers will easily be replaced by those now attracted to your organization due to the partnership.)

All in all, if your club is in the position to partner with a reputable healthcare organization, you will most likely come out on top. Any financial investment should be more than returned by an increase in membership and peripheral revenues. The entire organization should improve due to the relationship. If your club is considering such a move, I would strongly encourage you to consider the Medical Fitness Association?s Facility Certification to ensure you meet the standards expected of a medically affiliated organization. You can learn more at medicalfitness.org.

Amanda Harris
Vice President of Fitness & Wellness
ACAC Fitness & Wellness Centers
amandah@acac.com

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This post is a part of our weekly?Ask an Industry Leader?series. We post a new question and answer every Monday. If you have a question you'd like our Industry Leaders to answer,?submit your question today.

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Source: http://www.ihrsa.org/home/2012/7/23/affiliations-with-healthcare-institutions-can-be-beneficial.html

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