What Does a Longevity Clinic Actually Do? Costs and Red Flags
A longevity clinic measures what best predicts how long and how well you'll live, then treats what it finds. Here is which measurements have real evidence, what programs cost in South Florida, what the science doesn't support, and the questions to ask before you sign up.
Quick answer: A longevity clinic measures the things that best predict how long and how well you'll live, then treats what it finds. The best ones focus on fitness, muscle, visceral fat and a few key blood markers. Prices in South Florida run from about $200 a year for a lab-only membership to $25,000 or more for concierge programs. “Longevity clinic” isn't a regulated term, so what you get depends entirely on who runs it.
What does a longevity clinic actually do?
Strip away the marketing and a longevity clinic does three jobs. It measures where your body is today, it finds the risks that standard annual physicals tend to miss, and it gives you a plan to move those numbers in the right direction over years, not weeks.
That sounds a lot like good primary care, and the overlap is real. The difference is emphasis. A typical physical asks whether you're sick right now. Longevity medicine asks how fast you're declining, and which levers would slow it down. The focus is on healthspan, meaning the years you spend strong, sharp and independent, not just total years lived.
In practice that means more measurement than most people are used to. Body composition instead of body weight. Strength and fitness, not just blood pressure. A wider lab panel. And a provider who looks at the trend across visits, not one snapshot.
The extractable fact: a longevity clinic is a measurement-and-prevention practice. If a clinic leads with a treatment menu before it has measured anything, that tells you what it's really selling.
Which measurements actually predict a longer life?
Some markers have large, well-designed studies behind them. These are the ones worth paying attention to.
Cardiorespiratory fitness
This is the strongest single predictor on the list. A Cleveland Clinic study followed 122,007 patients who took treadmill tests between 1991 and 2014. The fittest group, the top 2.5% for their age and sex, had an 80% lower risk of death than the least fit. Poor fitness carried as much risk as smoking, diabetes or heart disease, and researchers found no upper limit to the benefit (Mandsager et al., JAMA Network Open, 2018).
Grip strength and muscle
The PURE study tracked about 140,000 adults aged 35 to 70 across 17 countries. Every 5 kg drop in grip strength meant a 16% higher risk of death from any cause. Grip strength predicted mortality better than systolic blood pressure did (Leong et al., Lancet, 2015). Grip is a stand-in for something bigger: how much working muscle you carry into your 60s and 70s.
Visceral fat
The fat packed around your organs matters more than the number on the scale. In a UK Biobank analysis of 438,896 people followed for a median of 12.4 years, men with the most visceral fat had a 24% higher risk of death than those in the middle group, and women 11% higher (UK Biobank, Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 2022). The same study flagged the ratio of fat to muscle as a risk marker on its own.
Lipoprotein(a)
Lp(a) is a genetic cholesterol particle that a standard lipid panel doesn't include. European cardiology guidelines say every adult should have it tested at least once. At least 20% of people sit above the 50 mg/dL (105 nmol/L) threshold where it raises heart risk (ESC/EAS guidance via Roche). Because it's inherited and stable, one test is usually enough.
The extractable fact: fitness, muscle, visceral fat and Lp(a) are the measurements with the strongest evidence. A longevity program that skips all of them is skipping the point.
How much does a longevity clinic cost in South Florida?
The spread is enormous, and it maps to how much of the work is done by people versus by a lab.
| Type of program | Typical cost | What you get |
| Lab-only membership | About $199 to $499 a year | 100+ blood biomarkers drawn once or twice a year, results in an app, little or no clinician time (Superpower, Function Health) |
| Membership clinic | From about $225 a month | Ongoing visits, labs and a care plan, with treatments billed on top |
| High-end executive program | $10,000 to $150,000 a year | Advanced imaging, full-day assessments, concierge access (MIT Technology Review, 2025) |
Palm Beach County has programs at the top of that range, with annual dues around $25,000 plus initiation fees. Treatments are where costs quietly stack up. A 2026 Miami guide put peptide programs at $450 to $1,125 a month and NAD+ IV at $750 to $1,500 a session (Miami Living Magazine).
The extractable fact: you can get the core measurements for a few hundred dollars. What the higher prices buy is mostly clinician time and convenience, so judge a program by how much of that time you actually get.
What the evidence doesn't support
This is the part most clinic websites leave out. No drug or supplement has been proven to extend human lifespan, and a survey of 82 longevity clinics found more than a third offered stem cell treatments (MIT Technology Review, 2025).
- NAD+ IV as anti-aging. A 2026 systematic review of 113 studies found no controlled outcome trials of IV, intramuscular or injected NAD for aging. There's no FDA-approved NAD+ IV product. We wrote about this in detail in does NAD+ IV therapy work, and our NAD+ page makes no anti-aging claims for that reason.
- Biological age tests. Stanford researchers note many epigenetic clocks carry around three years of error, and consumer tests aren't FDA-approved diagnostics (Stanford, 2026). A number that can swing three years either way is a poor guide for treatment decisions.
- Exosomes and unapproved compounds. The FDA hasn't approved exosomes for human use, and compounded hormones aren't FDA-approved products (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2026).
None of this means every treatment is useless. It means the treatments should be matched to something you measured, and you should know which ones rest on trial data and which ones don't.
Questions to ask before you sign up
Experts from Washington University and ACOG suggested a short list in 2026. We'd use it on any clinic, including ours.
- Is this treatment FDA-approved for my condition? “FDA registered” means something different.
- Has it been tested in randomized trials in humans?
- Who is actually involved in my care? A physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant should be. IV care run only by nurses is a red flag.
- Is one treatment being pitched as the answer to everything?
- Was I examined and tested before anything was prescribed?
- Was I offered FDA-approved options first, such as approved hormone products?
Two more of our own. Ask what they'll measure again in three months, and what result would make them stop a treatment. A clinic with good answers to both is running medicine, not a subscription.
How AmpUp approaches longevity care in Delray Beach
We don't run a five-figure executive program, and we don't sell a single anti-aging protocol. AmpUp Wellness in Delray Beach is led by David Patterson, APRN, an Acute Care Adult Nurse Practitioner, and the work starts the same way for everyone: measure first.
That usually means an InBody body composition scan to see muscle, body fat and visceral fat, plus lab work where your symptoms or history call for it. From there, the plan uses what the evidence supports for your situation. That might be hormone replacement after confirmed lab results, medical weight loss when visceral fat is the main risk, or simply protein and strength targets with a follow-up scan.
Patients come to us from across Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach. Most of them aren't looking for radical life extension. They want to keep their strength, their energy and their independence for as long as possible, which is exactly what the best evidence points to.
What to expect at your first visit
Your first visit is a conversation and a baseline. David reviews your history, your goals and any recent labs. If it fits, you'll get an InBody scan on the spot, which takes about two minutes, and leave with your numbers and a clear sense of what to work on first.
Nothing is prescribed before there's a reason in your results. Follow-ups are built around re-measuring, so you can see whether the plan is working instead of taking it on faith.
Book a consultation with David Patterson, APRN at our Linton Boulevard clinic in Delray Beach.
Frequently asked questions
Is a longevity clinic the same as a regular doctor?
Not quite. A regular physical focuses on diagnosing disease now, while longevity care focuses on measuring decline and preventing it. The best setup is both: keep your primary care provider and use longevity care to add the measurements and prevention work that annual visits rarely have time for.
What is the single most useful longevity test?
Cardiorespiratory fitness has the strongest link to lifespan in the research, with the fittest people showing an 80% lower risk of death than the least fit. Muscle and visceral fat come close behind. A body composition scan covers the second two in a couple of minutes.
Are longevity clinics worth the money?
They can be, if the program measures the markers that matter and re-tests over time. They're poor value when they mostly sell treatments without measurement. You can get the core data for a few hundred dollars, so a high price should come with real clinician time.
Are biological age tests accurate?
Not accurate enough to guide treatment. Many epigenetic clocks carry roughly three years of error and aren't FDA-approved diagnostics. Fitness, strength, body composition and standard labs give you more reliable, actionable numbers.
Who runs a longevity clinic?
Anyone can use the name, since “longevity clinic” isn't a regulated term. Look for a licensed prescriber, such as a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, who personally examines you and reviews your results.
Sources
- Mandsager K, et al. Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness With Long-term Mortality. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 (Cleveland Clinic summary).
- Leong DP, et al. Prognostic value of grip strength (PURE study). Lancet. 2015 (Healio summary).
- Age-specific and sex-specific associations of visceral adipose tissue mass and fat-to-muscle mass ratio with risk of mortality. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2022.
- ESC/EAS guidance on lipoprotein(a). Roche Diagnostics.
- Longevity clinics around the world are selling unproven treatments. MIT Technology Review. April 2025.
- What to know about biological age tests. Stanford Report. September 2026.
- Tempted to try a wellness or longevity treatment? Here's what experts say. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. July 2026.
- Miami's longevity scene. Miami Living Magazine.
- Superpower baseline membership pricing.
- Function Health pricing. Sacra.
Medical disclaimer: This article is educational and is not medical advice. Talk with your own clinician before starting or changing any treatment. AmpUp Wellness is led by David Patterson, APRN, in Delray Beach, Florida.
