How Lifestyle Management Coaches Can Boost a Physician's Practice

John W. Wilson, a family practioner in Daly City, CA, uses a lifestyle educator to help with his practice because he doesn't have the time to handle nutrition issues faced by his patients. He uses a FirstLine Therapy® program, developed by Metagenics of San Clemente CA, in which a lifestyle educator is appointed as a patient coach to do health assessments, to help patients lose weight, lower blood pressure and deal with metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. Medical foods are also included under the plan to augment diet and exercise.

Wilson says he sees more patients with commorbidities in his practice. "We've got a terrible obesity problem in this country and diabetes issues aren't far behind," he says.

While traditionally trained, Wilson says he was always interested in alternative approaches, including holistic methods, to help patients "but never found evidence to support it."

As he cared for more patients with chronic conditions, he says he was "prescribing more and more medications, and there was more unknowns and I wasn't seeing great results."  He says he would suggest patients "eat better, but I didn't have a structured way of dealing with nutrition."

"I had to intervene in a different way," Wilson says.  Metagenics states that clinical trials have shown that it developed a medical food that enhances cardiovascular disease risk lowering benefits of a Mediterranean-style low glycemic-load diet.