How can a fitness professional become recognized by health insurance companies as an approved provider?
Hi Justin. Aside from the excellent answers that you’ve already received here, another option would be to go straight to the source! Contact the insurer that you are interested in and find out if they are allowing ‘ancillary healthcare providers’ into their network. Today, the movement is toward allowing other providers such as massage therapists etc into some of the insurance company networks, so simply asking them the question may be your best, and most direct route.
Good luck!
LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
[email protected]
Jason I looked at your profile and I don’t know what your specialty is. I do know that Medicare collaborates with Silver Sneakers and many gyms offer Silver Sneakers classes. This might serve to be an indirect way of collaborating with insurance companies. Who know, if you take this route you might wind up securing clients.
All the best!
There are two ways, one is the long road that any service has taken to get recognized by health insurance companies. This takes decades, state (and some times national) licensing, mounds of empirical evidence suggesting that exercise led by a Personal Trainer is significantly more effective than without, as well as a nation wide agreed curriculum for teaching and training fitness professionals.
Option two, a long shot, the individual needs a doctors “prescription” that the only reasonable and effective way to treat the patient is through personal trainer instructed exercise. This might even have to be prescribed by more than one doctor, second opinion, before the insurance company will begin to think about reimbursement.
You might try contacting insurance companies to see if you could be listed as an alternative or preventive health care. I worked for a massage therapy wellness center that did this with Blue Cross Blue Shield and in return they gave BCBS customers a 20% discount.