Carilion Medical Center: Advancing Lifestyle Medicine in Southwest Virginia
Carilion Medical Center received grant funding from Ardmore Institute of Health (AIH) in 2023 to enhance and evaluate its Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in Southwest Virginia. The initiative highlights the potential of Lifestyle Medicine to improve health outcomes, particularly within underserved communities.
Key enhancements to the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic included the automation of their Lifestyle Medicine Patient Data Registry (which now serves as a repository of over 150 data points collected during each patient visit) and the integration of Full Plate Living programming, tailored to be most relevant and accessible to the clinic’s patient population.
Throughout the grant period, Carilion evaluated clinical outcomes for over 500 patients, with more than 25% reporting food insecurity. Patient-focused outcomes such as perceived effectiveness of the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic visits, facilitators and barriers to Lifestyle Medicine Clinic visit attendance, and participant-reported nutrition and physical activity outcomes associated with the Full Plate Living sessions were also evaluated.
The evaluation efforts demonstrated that:
Patients who engaged with the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic experienced a greater decrease in hemoglobin A1C from first to last visit than patients who did not engage.
Patients, particularly those who attended multiple Lifestyle Medicine Clinic visits, perceived lifestyle improvements as a result of engagement with the clinic.
42% of patients who engaged with the LM clinic experienced improvements in clinical outcomes.
There are opportunities to enhance the number of Lifestyle Medicine Clinic visits attended and patients’ overall experience with the clinic. In particular, identifying and referring patients with food insecurity or with high motivation to succeed with lifestyle changes may continue to promote positive patient experience.
The successes and lessons learned from this AIH-supported initiative at Carilion Medical Center offer insights for other healthcare organizations and providers seeking to integrate Lifestyle Medicine into clinical care. Access the report abstract here for more information, including key challenges, learnings, and recommendations for future projects.
Related Grant: Enhancing and Evaluating a Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in Southwest Virginia
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