Both of Kathleen Wood’s parents died relatively young, before age 62, and because of that she is very proactive about her health. Last year, the 66-year-old business owner decided to explore longevity medicine programs. Ms. Wood, who lives in St. Petersburg, Fla., didn’t feel comfortable receiving care outside of a major medical system. She is originally from Chicago, so when she learned that Northwestern Medicine had opened a longevity clinic, she was in.
“I knew I wanted my care to be backed up with medical research and medical science,” she said in a phone interview.
There are hundreds of boutique longevity medicine clinics in the United States, with services that aim to extend life span and health span (the number of years lived without chronic disease or disability). Until recently, these programs, which can cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars a year, were situated outside of mainstream medicine; many offer screenings and interventions that are not yet proven to be effective.
Fountain Life, for example, a membership-based longevity company with five clinics, allows members at its highest tier —$23,500 annually — to access whole genome sequencing, whole body M.R.I., stem cell therapies and therapeutic plasma exchange, among many other assessments and treatments.
Dr. Dawn Mussallem, the company’s chief medical officer, wrote in an email that some therapies Fountain Life offer “have early, promising data” for longevity. She added: “I don’t accept that a test or therapy is either standard of care or has no value at all. Much of the most important science lives in between.”
For consumers like Ms. Wood, programs situated within nonprofit academic medical centers feel safer; they carry an expectation of accountability and evidence-based treatment.
In the last year, several major health systems have opened their own longevity clinics, as the market for this kind of preventive care grows. This shift could add legitimacy to a field of medicine often regarded with skepticism.
At Northwestern’s Human Longevity Clinic the clinical practice is informed, in part, by research at the university’s Potocsnak Longevity Institute. The institute, which is three years old, has an ongoing study investigating the biomarkers — or measurable signs — of aging.
The longevity clinic’s program costs $5,500 a year and includes well-established ways of promoting healthy aging, likes V02 max testing (how much oxygen your body consumes while exercising), physical function and strength assessments. But it also includes less-validated assessments such as complex bloodwork, body composition analysis, biological age tests and a retinal analysis, which may allow doctors to assess a patient’s risk of developing cardiac disease and cognitive dysfunction.
Mount Sinai Healthspan program, in New York City, is expected to open this month. The one-year program will provide evidence-informed screenings and interventions focused on extending health span. (Unlike evidence-based screenings, evidence-informed ones tend to be relatively new, where the science “is still developing,” according to a spokesperson for Mount Sinai.) Included in the program is an Oura Ring for continuous biometric data monitoring between visits.
Like Northwestern, Mount Sinai’s clinical program is partly informed by its healthy aging research. Genetic testing and a full-body M.R.I. are also included, but patients first discuss the risks and benefits with their doctor. Some experts worry that whole body M.R.I.s can identify benign health conditions — such as harmless tumors — that can lead to anxiety or unnecessary treatment.
“You can get a lot of incidental findings that might not have significance today but create a need for future monitoring and doing that responsibly,” said Dr. Kelly Cassano, executive vice president and chief of ambulatory care at Mount Sinai. “One of the key things with this testing is ensuring people understand the implications of the information they receive.”
Northwestern’s longevity clinic does not offer whole body M.R.I. screenings, said Dr. Baljash S. Cheema, a cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine and the longevity clinic’s medical director, because there is a lack of evidence that its use lengthens life; nor do they offer genome sequencing.
“We know for those with financial means who want this testing we’re losing that share of the market, but we have a pretty strong line in the sand about it,” Dr. Cheema said.
“At some point there may be good reason to offer genetic testing for specific markers, if there is an evidence-based action you can take by finding out about it early.”
Weill Cornell Medicine’s Longevity Medicine program opened in New York City in May and offers one comprehensive initial assessment completed during a single visit for $7,500 and a program that provides quarterly comprehensive visits for $12,000. Both programs evaluate existing medical conditions and modifiable health risks.
Dr. Eugene Lucas, an internist and founding director of the longevity medicine program, said unlike private longevity clinics, which may offer treatments and screenings without strong data behind them, “we focus very much on cardiorespiratory fitness, which has a strong association with life span.” A large portion of the program’s assessments target strength and mobility; patients also receive personalized fitness and nutrition counseling. Whole-body M.R.I.s, coronary CT angiogram and genetic testing are offered as optional add-ons.
Few of these screenings and interventions are covered by insurance, so most of the cost is borne by the patient. Although insurance companies have flexibility in determining what they cover, “they generally look to standards of care and evidence bases for a particular treatment or test,” said JoAnn Volk, a research professor at the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms.
Dr. Lucas said out-of-pocket costs create a “meaningful access concern for patients.” He added that the primary motivation for starting the program was not revenue.
That may be true, but academic medical centers are also businesses concerned with revenue and operational costs. “Some of this is a response to market forces,” said Leigh Turner, a professor and director of the Center for Health Ethics at University of California, Irvine. “They might not have a huge customer base right out of the gate, but I think they are making the investment now because they see the long-term growth potential.”
He added that the longevity medicine category includes a wide variety of services and screenings, some of which have a robust evidence base, like those addressing diet and exercise. “But with some of the other tests, the evidence base gets thinner,” he said. “I think a lot of this belongs in the clinical trial space.”
This is largely the way Cedars-Sinai Healthspan Clinic, which opened in Los Angeles in September 2025, operates. The clinic provides a comprehensive evaluation of physical function, bone health, blood sugar and blood screenings, all of which are covered by insurance. Patients can opt for other assessments — which are not covered — by participating in research trials.
They also spend time with Dr. Sara E. Espinoza, an internist in geriatric medicine and the clinic’s medical director. “We talk about things a primary care doctor doesn’t always have time to discuss, like sleep, depression, diet, physical activity and social engagement,” she said. If a patient has a clinically warranted need for a test, they are referred to a specialist.
“It’s a shift in mind-set, pulling this type of care into academic medical centers and dovetailing it with research,” Dr. Espinoza said. “Our whole mission is to identify and translate interventions that promote the extension of a healthy life span. We don’t want that to be available only to the wealthy.”
- Credits: The New York Times
- Author: Eilene Zimmerman
- Illustration: Eleni Kalorkoti
