As Next Health Eyes Expansion, It’s Also Pushing for a Healthcare Revolution
The health optimization and longevity brand is attemping to open 150 locations by 2027. Bigger than that, it wants to change the way we think about our own health
If Next Health has its way, people will soon be spending less time inside their primary care doctor’s offices – and they’ll be a lot healthier as a result.
That’s because Next Health, a chain of health optimization and longevity centers, is working to popularize what it calls “proactive healthcare,” which is designed to help get and stay healthy in the long term rather than just treat disease.
Next Health is aiming to open 150 locations by 2027, and, if all goes according to plan, many more in the years that follow.
“We’re at the beginning of changing how healthcare functions in this country,” Next Health co-founder Dr. Darshan Shah tells Athletech News. “There needs to be 1,000 Next Healths.”
Inside a Proactive Healthcare Center
Founded back in 2016 by Dr. Shah and entrepreneur Kevin Peake, Next Health offers services including therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), hormone replacement therapy and wellness modalities like cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and LED light therapy, along with aesthetic treatments.
The brand’s core offering is an “Executive Physical,” a $14,500 program that measures over 1,000 biomarkers via advanced bloodwork and other tests. With early detection in mind, the program also offers cancer screenings, a fully-body MRI and CT Scans, along with a body-composition analysis. Members review their results with a team of medical professionals, reviving a personalized care plan and ongoing support.
According to Next Heath, around 3.5 people out of every 10 uncover a life-altering or life-threatening condition during the Executive Physical process. Many of those conditions would have gone undetected – or would have been detected too late to receive ideal care – if left to the traditional American healthcare system, the brand argues.
“Western medicine is disease care. It’s great if you get diagnosed with cancer, have a heart attack or get hit by a bus, but it was never meant to reverse chronic disease or to keep you healthy in the first place,” Dr Shah says, contrasting that with Next Health’s proactive approach.
“We’re (about) the reversal of chronic disease, so you don’t need pharmaceuticals and other intervention,” he explains.
Next Health Eyes 150 Locations by 2027
Buoyed by the rising demand for wellness and longevity services post-pandemic, Next Health began selling franchises in 2023.
“I looked at the franchise opportunity as a way to take our message further, quicker,” Dr. Shah says, adding that the brand targets franchisees who truly believe in the mission of proactive healthcare (along with meeting minimum capital requirements).
So far, franchising has been a hit. Next Health has sold over 70 units, with development underway in 13 U.S. states and international openings planned for Dubai and Canada.
Next Health locations are already open in Los Angeles, New York City, Maui and Nashville, with additional openings slated for cities including Chicago, Miami and Houston, among others.
By the end of 2027, the brand is aiming to open 150 locations in the U.S. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit.
“There’s exponential growth opportunity beyond that as we continue to unlock new markets and get data,” Next Health chief operating officer Scott Svilich tells ATN. “The data we get this year is going to help us pinpoint that, but from our early studies, we feel there could be 250 to 300 in the U.S. “
More international expansion may also be on the horizon.
“The demand for Next Health internationally is insane,” Svilich says, believing that Next Health could open as many as 200 additional overseas locations in the coming years. “We’ve said no to a lot of it because our primary growth focus is the U.S. right now. But there will be a time when we flip that lever and start opening up more international territories.”
Svilich identified Japan and London as potential international expansion targets when that time comes. Next Health is also seeing interest in continental Europe, the Middle East, South America and the Philippines, he said.
Is Proactive Healthcare the Next Big Thing?
Next Health’s growth comes as wellness and longevity centers begin to proliferate, especially in the franchising space. Brands like Restore Hyper Wellness, Serotonin Centers and Pause Studio are all either firmly entrenched in strip malls across America or have plans for major franchise expansion.
But Next Health believes it’s the only large-scale longevity franchise that provides medically backed healthcare services, at least for the time being.
Dr. Shah contrasts Next Health’s medical-first approach to other wellness and longevity centers, which he says function more like “recovery centers.” Those types of concepts have their place, providing services like cryotherapy, IV shots and infrared sauna, but they offer little in the way of actual healthcare, the Next Health co-founder notes.
“Recovery centers are places you go after a workout,” Dr. Shah says. “Then there are medically based clinics that are truly focused on disease reversal. In that space, we’re currently the only one that I know of with more than two or three locations.”
But the team at Next Health believes it’s only a matter of time before they have serious competition.
Svilich, a former executive at boutique fitness franchising giant Xponential Fitness, believes the proactive healthcare space is poised to blow up. He compares the sector’s potential growth trajectory to the birth of the fitness industry back in the 1950s and 60s.
“In the 50s and 60s, fitness really exploded with key opinion leaders like Jack LaLanne popping up. People first started quitting smoking, all of those trends were happening, and fitness went on a 70-year-plus bull run, and it’s still expanding,” Svilich says. “I think (proactive healthcare and longevity) is just about to catapult into a bull market that’s going to lead to incredible growth and innovation.”
Dr. Shah agrees, believing these new-age clinics will forever change the way we think about our health.
“There should be the same number of health optimization and longevity clinics as there are doctors’ offices. I think everyone needs to have their Western medicine doctor and a Next Health in their life,” he says. “So whether it’s us or another clinic like ours, the opportunity is massive. I don’t see any upper limit to this.”