Beyond the Exam Room: How Wellness Solutions Can Impact your Members with Chronic Conditions

Health and wellness don’t just happen during your members’ yearly check-ups; they’re shaped by the lifestyle choices that people make every day – from getting enough sleep, to regularly exercising and limiting stress. 

Don’t get us wrong – access to and utilization of primary care is an essential part of maintaining overall health. But long-term improvement in your population’s health happens when lifestyle support services are available beyond the exam room, too. The Centers for Disease Control say it best: Chronic conditions are among the leading drivers of healthcare costs in the United States, even though many are preventable or reversible through behavior change. A benefits plan focused on lifestyle medicine – i.e. using an evidence-based approach to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic conditions through lifestyle change – can address the root causes of disease, rather than just managing symptoms once they appear. 

For employers, that means thinking beyond the basics when building a benefits plan, and intentionally including types of care often considered supplementary, like medical fitness, wellness coaching, nutrition, biometric screenings, and massage. While these unique offerings might not be as well-known as primary care, they can go a long way in empowering healthier behaviors day-to-day, reducing risk, and delivering lasting value for both employees and the organization. 

Let’s explore how some of these non-traditional options work.

Medical Fitness 

When members are physically active, they incur lower healthcare costs and are less likely to develop chronic conditions. But, for someone who doesn’t know how to build a sustainable, effective fitness plan, it can be hard to get started.  

Medical fitness programs marry clinical oversight with exercise to prevent or manage conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Members are referred by their primary care provider, ensuring their care is quarterbacked by someone familiar with their medical history and making the process of getting connected seamless.  

Then they work one-on-one with an exercise physiologist to increase physical activity, receiving personalized, supervised routines that grow their comfort and confidence so they can independently maintain their progress once leaving the program. This approach keeps members safe they build better health and exercise habits.   

Wellness Coaching 

Sometimes, members need support staying accountable to the lifestyle changes that will help them feel their best. That’s where wellness coaches come in, providing a personalized approach and ongoing support with wellbeing between primary care appointments. 

Wellness coaches are trained in the science of behavior change, advanced listening skills, the application of curiosity, and the process of wellness visioning. Their approach helps empower members to change their lifestyles and report high satisfaction, increased self-awareness, and sustainable health improvements after engaging in regular coaching visits.  

By integrating wellness coaching appointments with a positive psychology and wellbeing focus, members receive holistic care and support that complements the treatment provided by their primary care provider. 

Nutrition Counseling 

Diet-focused interventions are proven to improve weight control and heart health, and good nutrition is foundational for preventing and managing conditions like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.  Personalized nutrition counseling offers clinical care that helps employees translate nutrition science into practical, everyday food decisions for themselves and their families. Members meet up with a registered dietitian nutritionist regularly to assess and review their needs to make sure they’re getting the proper nutrition to reach their health goals safely and efficiently. 

Plus, registered dietitian nutritionists are part of the same care team as primary care providers, care managers, pharmacists, and behavioral health specialists, working in tandem to ensure members receive holistic care and address social drivers of health that might prevent members from eating a healthy diet.  

Biometric Screenings 

Your members can’t start solving for health conditions they aren’t aware of. That’s why when leaders can offer regular opportunities for employees to check in on their health, it can improve their population’s health and save money. 

Biometric health screenings detect risk factors like elevated blood pressure, cholesterol, or glucose early. Knowing one’s numbers often motivates proactive care and lifestyle change, meaning that members can address health concerns before they become costlier conditions. And if they need additional support, members can bring results directly to their primary care provider, making screenings a powerful gateway to personalized prevention strategies. 

Massage Therapy 

Massage therapy might seem like just another workplace perk, but this crucial service offers more than relaxation – it can help reduce stress, ease muscle tension, and support overall wellbeing. 

Research shows massage can lower anxiety, reduce pain, and even decrease blood pressure, all of which support chronic condition management. It can also engage employees who may be hesitant to try more clinical services, providing an approachable entry point into their organization’s health center that can be pivotal to receiving future care.  

The Employer Advantage of Lifestyle Medicine 

When employees and their families have access to resources to support their health goals, they live healthier lives. But when these resources are also integrated with primary care, the impact can be even more holistic and sustainable. Primary care providers act as “quarterbacks” for member care, working in collaboration with the larger care team – fitness experts, nutritionists, behavioral health specialists, and more – to address the root causes of poor health, not just symptoms. They help develop care plans to make sure members are meeting their health goals and making recommendations to fill crucial gaps in care that might be influencing a member’s overall health. 

The result for members: Healthier lives with fewer sick days, fewer emergency room, hospital, and urgent care visits, and more time, money, and energy to spend doing the things they love. And when employees adopt healthier habits, employers benefit from lower medication spend, improved productivity, increased retention, and lower overall cost of care. It’s a win-win across the board. 

Are you ready to see how services like medical fitness, wellness coaching, nutrition counseling, biometric screenings, and massage therapy could foster behavior change, improve health outcomes, and lower long-term costs for your people? Contact us to learn more about how to bring lifestyle medicine to your workforce. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: What is lifestyle medicine, and how can it benefit employees in the workplace? 
A: Lifestyle medicine is a preventive approach to healthcare that focuses on improving daily habits like physical activity, nutrition, stress management, and sleep to reduce the risk of chronic conditions.  

Q: What benefits can employers offer to support lifestyle medicine for their employees? 

A: In the workplace, offering lifestyle-focused benefits like medical fitness programs, wellness coaching, nutrition counseling, biometric screenings, and massage therapy can help employees build healthier behaviors. This leads to fewer chronic health issues, lower healthcare costs, and higher productivity for organizations. 

Q: How can employers use lifestyle medicine to reduce healthcare costs? 
A: Employers can lower healthcare costs by incorporating lifestyle medicine programs that address the root causes of chronic disease. Services such as biometric screenings and nutrition counseling detect and address risk factors early, while wellness coaching and medical fitness help employees maintain healthy routines.  

When employees stay healthier, organizations experience fewer emergency room visits, lower prescription drug spend, and reduced absenteeism-driving long-term savings.