F03 - The Business Case for Lifestyle Medicine: Activating the Health in Healthcare

According to the Center for Disease Control, chronic diseases currently account for seven out of ten deaths in the US annually and are among the most common, costly and preventable health problems in the country. The impact of this epidemic of disease has enormous consequences on the country’s economic and health systems, as well as individual and community quality of life. These diseases are often directly associated with poor patterns of daily behavior such as sedentary lifestyle, improper nutrition, excess stress and poor sleep patterns. The solution requires an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ strategy from a healthcare system that currently focuses on treating and managing the sick, with little attention or resources spent on prevention or reversal of disease. Lifestyle diseases and their symptoms often contribute directly to the pathologies of physical dysfunction in our patients. As clinicians who work with patients to optimize their physical health, there is a responsibility, as well as business opportunity, to activate healthy lifestyle choices within our practices to change the trajectory of our patients’ health and improve their overall outcomes and quality of life.
This session will include an overview of the emerging field of Lifestyle Medicine and the evidence supporting its integration into a physical therapy practice. The presentation will focus on practical applications, pro forma financial projections, business modeling and real-life lessons learned in 10 years of program development and practice.