Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly on Bloomberg Radio giving them stones, looking for fun
Speaker 1: and it's all about wellness, and increasingly we have tons
Speaker 1: of conversations here on Bloomberg Radio just about that, a
Speaker 1: lot of companies involved in that space, and that includes
Speaker 1: our next guest. They actually rang. He did the opening
Speaker 1: belt the NAZAC today, Donato Tea Muto. Did I say
Speaker 1: it well? Almost? Chief executive officer of Tennessee based Activity Health.
Speaker 1: It's a provider of nutrition and fitness solutions. You know
Speaker 1: their brands, Nutral Systems, South Beach, Diet, Prime Fitness. They're
Speaker 1: launching a new nutrition division that also takes into account
Speaker 1: some of their existing brands. He joins us in our
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Interreactor Broker Student, New York. Say your name for me,
Speaker 1: because it's beautiful. Do not much better and much better?
Speaker 1: Tell me tell us a little bit about the wellness
Speaker 1: division that you got. Have created this nutrition division specifically,
Speaker 1: and I think it's not so much addis about wellness
Speaker 1: is that we are addressing now the social determinants of health.
Speaker 1: Where you live, where you age, your financial makeup has
Speaker 1: more of a determinant of your health outcome than your
Speaker 1: genetic code. And what Tivity has done for years, we've
Speaker 1: had the signature iconic brand Silver Sneakers, which provides physical
Speaker 1: fitness to nearly sixteen million seniors. If you're aging in
Speaker 1: America today, especially in rural America, and you are inactive,
Speaker 1: chances are you're also very much alone and you have
Speaker 1: food in security. And so what Tivity Health is aspiring
Speaker 1: to do with our new brand wisely, well, it's almost
Speaker 1: like the trifecta. How do we address inactivity among these seniors?
Speaker 1: How do we address food in security? And if you're
Speaker 1: addressing food in security and you're addressing in activity, you're
Speaker 1: going to address the new chronic condition of the twenty
Speaker 1: one century, all loneliness. And that's really what we are
Speaker 1: aspiring to do. And so how do you do that?
Speaker 1: Where does the rubber meet the road here in terms
Speaker 1: of the types of activities are the types of services
Speaker 1: or products that you're going to provide? Well, Silver Sneakers
Speaker 1: has been around for twenty seven years. We have eighteen
Speaker 1: thousand fitness centers that are part of our network. And
Speaker 1: let me say those to you. When the seniors are
Speaker 1: going to the fitness centers rest as sure they're not
Speaker 1: bench pressing a hundred and fifty pounds right, They're there
Speaker 1: because they're making social connections. And there's a quickneys central
Speaker 1: opportunity with our fitness center partners to identify are they
Speaker 1: feeling alone. If they are feeling alone, I can bet
Speaker 1: my bottom dollar that they have issues with food. And
Speaker 1: so we have this trusted brand called Silver Sneakers. Why
Speaker 1: not add food and nutrition and social connections to the program.
Speaker 1: And that's really what we're doing. I feel like when
Speaker 1: it comes to this, like what you do as a
Speaker 1: younger individual carries over into as you age, and I
Speaker 1: feel like there's a lot of things we could get
Speaker 1: into because I feel like, you know, there's some people,
Speaker 1: whether young or old, are just trying to get through
Speaker 1: the day, get their job done, to care of their family,
Speaker 1: get to bed and get some sleep. Um and those
Speaker 1: who often I think at the higher incomes, you know, scale,
Speaker 1: can have equipment in their home to work out and
Speaker 1: stay healthier, can buy healthier food. I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of things going on. I feel like it's a
Speaker 1: it's a bigger, broader societal question. I mean, you're talking
Speaker 1: about loneliness. Um, you know, we used to have a
Speaker 1: family structure where they're often very you know, several generations
Speaker 1: in a home. My parents grew up that way. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's just a lot of things going on. How
Speaker 1: do you fix what is a very big, I think problem. Well,
Speaker 1: my favorite philosopher, Yogi barrow One said, you don't want
Speaker 1: to make the wrong mistake. Yeah, And you know, I
Speaker 1: think there's a quinines sentual opportunity to recognize and I am.
Speaker 1: I'm an author of a book that I released three
Speaker 1: years ago that talks about this need of integration. We
Speaker 1: have been folks, seen our efforts on innovation, and yet
Speaker 1: the answer is really about integrating what's out there. Case
Speaker 1: in point, you have the Silver Sneakers program. Sixteen million
Speaker 1: seniors get it for free, yet we only have three
Speaker 1: and a half million that have signed up for that Sneakers.
Speaker 1: It's a physical fitness program that Medicare Advantage of plans
Speaker 1: are providing to the senior population. It's getting them out
Speaker 1: of their home into a fitness center. And as I
Speaker 1: stated before, it's not just about working out. Our seniors
Speaker 1: are not just on the treadmill. They're making new friends
Speaker 1: let me push the point. You know, one step further
Speaker 1: is that there's meals on wheels in the local community,
Speaker 1: there's bingle night, there's all these activities that unfortunately if
Speaker 1: you don't ask the senior. And I did a up
Speaker 1: ed on December twenty six that appeared in USA Today
Speaker 1: and I basically titled it, ask your seniors Are they lonely?
Speaker 1: There's something about not wanting to admit that you're lonely,
Speaker 1: and so we need to ask the question and give
Speaker 1: you a great specialization. Right, everybody, most people except for Jason,
Speaker 1: likes to be a little kid. But you know what
Speaker 1: it's for the seniors. It's an accumulation factory. No, I
Speaker 1: get it. You you lose your spouse, your you know,
Speaker 1: son or daughter has moved away, your kids take the
Speaker 1: car keys away, your best friend has passed away. It's
Speaker 1: an accumulation factor. And so we need to really step
Speaker 1: forward and ask the question are you alone? And then
Speaker 1: be able to integrate them into services that are available
Speaker 1: in the community. And so, and we want to talk
Speaker 1: more about this. We're gonna hold you over talk a
Speaker 1: little bit more. But you know, briefly, how does nutrition
Speaker 1: sort of fit into that well, again, if you go
Speaker 1: back to the social determinants of health, where you live,
Speaker 1: where you sleep, your financial makeup in many respects will
Speaker 1: determine whether or not that last week or that last
Speaker 1: two weeks of the month you can afford to buy
Speaker 1: food and you can afford to buy medication. And what's
Speaker 1: happened to very significant legislative laws have been passed. C
Speaker 1: MS passed the law where they're going to reimburse up
Speaker 1: to four weeks of food delivery for a senior that
Speaker 1: has been released from the hospital but doesn't have the
Speaker 1: means or the capability to cook for themselves. Brilliant. Donato
Speaker 1: Tromudo still with us, CEO of Tivity Health based down
Speaker 1: in Nashville, Tennessee. He's here with us in New York City.
Speaker 1: So Donato, I want to sort of go back a
Speaker 1: step if we can, to the underlying business, because you
Speaker 1: ultimately own a number of brands that people are familiar with,
Speaker 1: South Beach and nutri System. Tell us about those businesses
Speaker 1: and how it all sort of fits together absolutely, and
Speaker 1: so you know, I did speak a few minutes about
Speaker 1: activity health and sover Sneakers, and so what we have
Speaker 1: is another vertical which is the weight management vertical, and
Speaker 1: we'll still continue to drive forward the ability to grow
Speaker 1: nutri system in South Beach. But then what really is
Speaker 1: the quintessential opportunity for the company is to connect these
Speaker 1: two programs to address the social determinants of health. And
Speaker 1: as I shared with you before, there have been two
Speaker 1: very significant legislative changes. One is by CMS which is
Speaker 1: now reimbursing up to four weeks for food delivery for
Speaker 1: those seniors incapable of cooking for themselves or even affording
Speaker 1: food for the first month post discharge. And the Chronic
Speaker 1: Care Act that was passed by the Senate in Congress.
Speaker 1: Those two legislative changes really fuels this opportunity to combine
Speaker 1: these two verticals and create an entirely new revenue stream
Speaker 1: for the company. So one of the things I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you about as I have come to understand
Speaker 1: how this all fits together, is you're seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of the market, especially when it comes to wellness, go
Speaker 1: higher end, you know, trying to get to the more affluent.
Speaker 1: It feels like you are going the other direction in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. Well, when you look at social
Speaker 1: determinants of health, let's you know, put it on the table,
Speaker 1: let's let's come clean. It really is addressing that in
Speaker 1: many respects, your zip code, your economic profile is really
Speaker 1: going to determine your outcome more than your genetic code
Speaker 1: and your right it does address a whole different population
Speaker 1: than that whole upstream higher incause this is not the
Speaker 1: typical audience or customer for South Beach diet. No, it's not.
Speaker 1: But again, if you look at the fact that we're
Speaker 1: still going to go after the demographics that are suitable
Speaker 1: for South Beach, We're still going to go after the
Speaker 1: demographics that are suitable for Nutra System. But the acquisition
Speaker 1: of Nutri System, which was almost a year ago, was
Speaker 1: to really step forward where the market is heading. Medicare
Speaker 1: advantage plans which ensure now nearly twenty millions of all
Speaker 1: the seniors. They have been given legislative approval to provide
Speaker 1: supplemental benefits like transportation, food delivery, which speaks well to
Speaker 1: the sixteen million seniors that we are managing right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting because you guys, from what I understand, I'm
Speaker 1: just looking at some of the information that you're you
Speaker 1: guys have provided us a pilot program by Walmart correct
Speaker 1: which certainly would tap into this population that you're looking
Speaker 1: to go. Absolutely. The partnership that we signed last year
Speaker 1: actually has a three legged stew to it. Yeah. One
Speaker 1: of the other programs that is a corollary to Silver
Speaker 1: Sneakers is our program called Prime very simply expressed, it
Speaker 1: is Sneakers for the population of eighteen to sixty five.
Speaker 1: We signed a partnership with Walmart to provide that program
Speaker 1: to their one point four million employees. The second part
Speaker 1: of the program is my vision has always been to
Speaker 1: bring Silver Sneakers to where their seniors gather. Seniors gather
Speaker 1: at the Walmart store every single day, why not tailgate
Speaker 1: on that and put a Silver Sneakers class. And Walmart,
Speaker 1: as you know, is getting into healthcare in a very
Speaker 1: big way. But to what Jason said, and you know,
Speaker 1: to be fair, not like I do feel like when
Speaker 1: we talk wellness and stuff, it is often like a
Speaker 1: higher end service. And it's interesting, as you said, to
Speaker 1: kind of you know your approach, because there are lot
Speaker 1: of Americans that I think are being left behind, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and seniors in particular particularly. I do want to ask you,
Speaker 1: because we were talking about a little bit in the
Speaker 1: break and take a little bit of a turn here.
Speaker 1: But you are based in a really interesting part of
Speaker 1: the country right now, and you're sharing some data with
Speaker 1: us about a hundred people moving to Nashville every every
Speaker 1: single day, which is unbelievable. What does that tell us
Speaker 1: about the addressable market and sort of the state of
Speaker 1: the sort of population right now in the United States. Well,
Speaker 1: I think what you do is, I think you take
Speaker 1: a step back, is that people are looking for affordable
Speaker 1: places to live. They're looking for communities that are very vibrant.
Speaker 1: And this is no different than seniors. Seniors struggle every
Speaker 1: single day with the financial makeup, the financial purchasing of homes,
Speaker 1: how they pay for food. Seniors are struggling what they
Speaker 1: want communities. I think this is what has made Nashville
Speaker 1: so remarkably popular. It's affordable, there's communities that are being formed.
Speaker 1: It's not just a community of young, it's a community
Speaker 1: of old and coming together. And I think that's what
Speaker 1: we really have to look at as we look at
Speaker 1: cities that have become so unaffordable to take up regidency
Speaker 1: and yourk happens to be one well. And I also
Speaker 1: just think in a tight labor force too, if you've got,
Speaker 1: you know, a hundred people moving in every day. For
Speaker 1: somebody who runs you know, a company, you it sounds
Speaker 1: like you have a pretty nice available pool of workers
Speaker 1: to choose from. We do more growth ahead, more acquisitions,
Speaker 1: um right now we want to execute and you know,
Speaker 1: I think we have enough on our plate in terms
Speaker 1: of focus on execution. Right. All right, well, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for spending some time with this to NATO Tremuda.
Speaker 1: You will be down, I believe at the NASDAK tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Bringing tomorrow, I said, sorry, alright, CEO of Tivity Health
Speaker 1: Lot going on a really interesting take on as Carol
Speaker 1: and I talked about sort of a mega trend that
Speaker 1: we're very interested in. Different, different you know, just coming
Speaker 1: into this, we were talking about tough Mutter and what's
Speaker 1: going on there. This is a totally different view of
Speaker 1: health and wellness and addressing a population that I think
Speaker 1: oftentimes does not get addressed as much when we talk
Speaker 1: about it. Left behind, no doubt about it,