ACPM and CDC hosting a webinar on engaging providers in CDC’s 6|18 Initiative
ACPM and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are excited to present a webinar on Tuesday, June 27 to highlight the role of providers in CDC's 6|18 Initiative. The webinar will provide an overview of the initiative, a case study on controlling high blood pressure, and an example of a preventive medicine physician participating in the initiative. In addition, you can learn about ACPM's current and future learning opportunities in health systems transformation—including the 6|18 Initiative.
Registration is required for this free webinar. Learn more about the event and secure your seat when registration opens Friday, June 9.
Physician Reviews of the Lifestyle Medicine Program
As part of a set of physician testimonials, ACPM spoke with Drs. Jill Beavins, Jeni Shull and Rob Baker after taking the online Lifestyle Medicine Core Competencies Program. Hear what they said about the program’s value, why it's important, how it has improved their practice, and how they’re using what they learned to improve patient outcomes.
The Lifestyle Medicine Core Competencies Program is designed to provide a comprehensive foundation for doctors as well as nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dietitians, health coaches, and other allied health professionals with an interest in learning the basic foundational principles of lifestyle medicine. MOC is available for select medical specialties.
ACLM Healthcare Transformation Summit
The 3rd Annual Healthcare Transformation Summit organized by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) brings together healthcare stakeholders to learn about and discuss innovative approaches integrating lifestyle medicine strategies. This year's meeting will showcase "Lifestyle Medicine in the Workplace: Lower costs. Improved outcomes. Enhanced wellbeing."
As the cost to treat lifestyle-related chronic conditions increases—currently accounting for 85 percent of every dollar spent on healthcare in the United States—health systems and self-insured employers are awakening to the potential of lifestyle medicine as the future of worksite health promotion.
The event will be held Friday, June 16 at the Hilton Garden Inn Carlsbad Beach in Carlsbad, California. This ticketed gathering includes a continental breakfast, lunch, and will feature presentations by executives representing large self-insured employers and health systems who have successfully implemented lifestyle medicine programs. Registration is $90 and includes continental breakfast and a health-promoting lunch.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Send us your lifestyle medicine news and events. Information received by the first of the month will be included in our next issue. Send notices to Dani Pere, ACPM Associate Executive Director.
Deep Cuts Proposed to Federal Health Institutions
President Trump's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018 includes deep cuts to the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which may significantly affect key programs that promote disease prevention and health promotion. Notably, the budget would completely eliminate federal support for preventive medicine residency training programs funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and significantly cut CDC funding for immunization and respiratory programs, public health preparedness and response, and infectious diseases.
These drastic and short sighted cuts will endanger the lives of those afflicted with preventable diseases, lead to increased treatment costs for diseases that we know could have been prevented, and decrease our country's ability to respond to health crises.
ACPM is actively working to secure support in Congress for preventive medicine residencies and CDC programs and will identify opportunities for our members to weigh in with their representatives during key intervals of the legislative process.
Updates regarding federal policy and rulemaking affecting programs and institutions that champion preventive medicine and lifestyle medicine are available via Washington Update, a monthly email for ACPM members. Check out the latest issue, distributed today.
A Bipartisan Way to Improve Medical Care
In a recent article in The New Yorker, author Adam Davidson argues that a payment system called capitation could be used to pay medical providers a fixed amount per patient—whether that person needs expensive surgery or just a checkup—to encourage health maintenance. The well-established pricing model has existed for generations and could be used to lower costs and government spending while improving the health.
"The health-care crisis in the United States is in many ways a pricing crisis," Davidson contends. "Nearly all medical care is paid on a fee-for-service basis, which means that medical providers make more money if they perform more procedures. This is perverse. We don’t want an excess of health-care services, especially unnecessary ones; we want health. But hardly anybody gets paid when we are healthy."
Capitation, at its best, both improves health care and cuts costs. At its worse, a poorly designed version of capitation implemented in 1973 legislation led to the proliferation of HMOs which ultimately failed to cut costs or improve care. This misstep has stifled contemporary discussion about using capitation to improve modern health care. While the political left and right continue to argue about who should pay for health care and rarely find areas of agreement, Davidson reminds readers that the use of capitation models have received bipartisan support and if properly designed and given time to mature could lower costs, overall health care expenditures, and improve health outcomes.
As part of our Health Systems Transformation Project funded by the CDC, ACPM is active in developing education materials and conducting capacity building activities that facilitate the integration of public health and primary care. Physicians interested in these types of opportunities and discussions should visit our project page and sign up to receive the monthly Health Systems Transformation newsletter.
RESEARCH / NEWS
PREVENTION / WELLNESS
The Roadmap to Wellness -- Published by Australia's National Institute of Integrative Medicine, the Roadmap to Wellness provides readers with an evidence-based, easy to read and practical guide to health.“Health isn’t everything, but everything is worthless without it. The Roadmap has been designed as a do-it-yourself guide that covers the three pillars of wellness, and aims to support every individual to live a long and healthy life,” said Professor Avni Sali, NIIM Director. -- National Institute of Integrative Medicine (Australia)
U.S. life expectancy varies by more than 20 years from county to county -- Life expectancy is rising overall in the United States, but in some areas, death rates are going conspicuously in the other direction. These geographical disparities are widening, according to a report published in JAMA Internal Medicine. People are less likely to live longer if they are poor, get little exercise and lack access to health care, the researchers found. The quality and availability of that health care — for example, access to screening for signs of cancer — has a significant effect on health outcomes. The U.S. needs to rethink how it delivers medical care, with a much greater investment in prevention, and a more holistic approach to creating healthy communities. -- The Washington Post
Fresh Food By Prescription -- Each week, participants come to the Geisinger Fresh Food Pharmacy in central Pennsylvania. In its new incarnation, it looks more like a grocery, with neatly stocked shelves filled with healthy staples such as whole grain pasta and beans. The refrigerators are full of fresh produce, greens, low-fat dairy, lean meats and fish. The participants meet one-on-one with a registered dietitian. They're given recipes and hands-on instruction on how to prepare healthy meals. Then, they go home with a very different kind of prescription: five days' worth of free, fresh food. -- NPR
This 60-minute webinar from the American College of Cardiology will cover updates in cardiovascular nutrition including the latest recommendation from the USDA, the danger about TMAO from your gut flora and how one approach combines the best of nutrition and lifestyle into one cohesive program you can start at your institution.
September 12, Online Over 250 clinicians have advanced their competencies to prescribe nutrition through the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine’s CHEF Coaching Program. This program is approved by Wellcoaches for 18 hours of continuing education credits and graduates earn a “certificate of completion in Culinary coaching.” The fall cohort will begin in September and prospective participants can learn more by attending a Q&A call July 18 or August 10.
