Tag Archives: Lifestyle Medicine

NEWS: Health Coaching to be reimbursed by insurers (71400000X)

NBHWC News Update Jan. 16, 2021

In the fall of 2020, the NBHWC applied for a taxonomy code for health & wellness coaches. We recently learned this was granted and will become effective April 1, 2021. This is a significant step forward for the industry as this decision further demonstrates the importance of the role of the health & wellness coach in healthcare. We understand many of you may have questions so we developed an FAQ below.

What is a taxonomy code?
A taxonomy code is a unique 10-character code that designates your classification and specialization. To find the taxonomy code that most closely describes your provider type, classification, or specialization, use the National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC) codeset list at https://www.nucc.org.

Is there a taxonomy code for health & wellness coaches?
Yes, the code is 71400000X. This code becomes effective April 1, 2021. You will use this code when applying for a National Provider Identifier, commonly referred to as an NPI.

Who oversees taxonomy codes?
The National Uniform Claim Committee. The National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC) is a voluntary organization that was created to develop a standardized data set for use by the non-institutional health care community to transmit claim and encounter information to and from all third-party payers. It is chaired by the American Medical Association (AMA), with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a critical partner. The committee is a diverse group of health care industry stakeholders representing providers, payers, designated standards maintenance organizations, public health organizations, and vendors.

How are taxonomy codes used?
A taxonomy code is used when applying for a National Provider Identifier, commonly referred to as an NPI.

What is an NPI number?
An NPI is a unique identification number for covered health care providers, created to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of electronic transmission of health information.

Who needs an NPI number?
Any healthcare provider, healthcare clearinghouse or healthcare organization that conducts transactions or uses health records that fall under HIPAA regulations is required to obtain an NPI. This includes organizations and providers that use a medical billing company to process their claims. HIPAA requires that any individual, business or healthcare agency who transmits any patient health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction is required to have an NPI number.

Do health & wellness coaches need an NPI number?
National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coaches need an NPI number if they work for a healthcare organization or in partnership with a physician, and if they currently have the ability to bill for insurance.

The NBHWC continues to work diligently towards reimbursement for health & wellness coaching, and has made this a top priority for 2021.

Leigh-Ann Webster, NBHWC Executive Director

How to eat with Dr. David Katz (New Book)

Great interview from one of the leaders in Lifestyle Medicine Dr. David Katz which will be our keynote speaker at the 2021 Lifestyle Medicine Summit October 21-20, 2021.

David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM is a preventive medicine specialist and globally recognized authority on lifestyle medicine. He is the founder and former director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center (1998-2019); Past President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; President and Founder of the non-profit True Health Initiative; and Founder and CEO of Diet ID, Inc. Katz is a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine; the American College of Physicians; the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; and Morse College, Yale University. He earned his BA at Dartmouth College; his MD at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and his MPH from the Yale University School of Public Health. The recipient of numerous awards for teaching, writing, and contributions to public health, Katz was a 2019 nominee for a James Beard Foundation Award in health journalism, and has received three honorary doctorates. He holds multiple US patents; has over 200 peer-reviewed publications; has published many hundreds of on-line and newspaper columns; and has authored/co-authored 18 books to date including multiple editions of leading textbooks in nutrition, preventive medicine, and epidemiology. Recognized by colleagues as the “poet laureate of health promotion,” Katz has given keynote addresses in all 50 United States and in countries on 6 continents. To support Dr. Katz’s work please go to: https://www.truehealthinitiative.org/

How To Boost Your Immunity | Dr. Dean Ornish

This is a really important article I received from Dr. Dean Ornish and I feel it needs sharing. Excellent scientific references and tips to build up your immune system from a Lifestyle Medicine perspective.


Comment and share here.


BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY &
EMPOWER YOUR WELL-BEING!

Your health, wellness & safety are important to us! 

We understand that this pandemic is causing feelings of uncertainty and anxiety. To avoid getting sick, most of the focus so far has been on preventing exposure to the coronavirus, which, of course, is very important—staying at home, social distancing, hand washing, gloves, masks, disinfecting, etc.  We’re all in this together!

But very little has been written about the other half of the equation: how to enhance your immune system so that if you are exposed, you can reduce the chances of getting sick—or at least mitigate the intensity of the disease and thus reduce the death rate.

The four aspects of our Ornish Lifestyle Medicine program—Eat Well, Move More, Stress Less, Love More—have been proven to reverse a wide variety of chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, early-stage prostate cancer, and hypertension. They also enhance immune function.

Our book, UnDo It!, describes this in more detail. Here are some relevant studies:

1. Love More

Spreading fear and loathing about the coronavirus may, ironically, increase the risk of getting sick. Fear can be self-fulfilling to the extent that it does suppress immune function and makes someone more likely to get the very disease they’re most afraid of.

Also, staying at home and social distancing help prevent transmission of the virus, but feeling lonely can be harmful to your health. Study after study have shown that people who are lonely and isolated are 3-10 times more likely to get sick and die prematurely of virtually all causes when compared to those who have a strong sense of love and community.

Fortunately, there are many things we can do to enhance our immune function to help protect us. While it’s important to stay at home, wash your hands, disinfect, etc., it’s also wise to spend more time socializing with family members who are living with you as well using video or just audio technologies like Zoom or the phone to virtually spend time with friends and family in other places.

For example, Sheldon Cohen did a study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, in which he dripped rhinovirus (which causes the common cold) in the noses of volunteers. (I don’t know how he persuaded people to volunteer and got this approved by the human studies committee….) All of them became infected, but not everyone developed the signs and symptoms of a cold.

Those that had only 1-3 social ties—defined as a phone call or visit from a friend every two weeks—were 4.2 times more likely to develop a cold than those with 6 or more social ties during that time. (Now, just visit friends virtually rather than in person.)

2. Stress Less

In an earlier study, Cohen dripped five types of respiratory viruses (rhinovirus type 2, 9, or 14, respiratory syncytial virus, or coronavirus type 229E, a less deadly form than the current coronavirus) into volunteers. The rates of both respiratory infection and clinical colds increased significantly in a dose-response manner with increases in the degree of psychological stress. Infection rates ranged from approximately 74 percent to approximately 90 percent, according to levels of psychological stress, and the incidence of clinical colds ranged from approximately 27 percent to 47 percent.

In other words, stress suppressed their immune function. Because of this, the more stressed they felt, the more likely they were to get infected and sick.

And in a more recent study, he found that those who he infected with rhinoviruses who had positive emotions such as happy, pleased, and relaxed had a 2.9 times lower risk of developing a cold than those who did not in a dose-response fashion.

In other words, feeling happy and peaceful enhances your immune system.

In contrast, when you’re depressed, your immune system is depressed as well. In a different study by Margaret Chesney and others, men who were HIV positive (i.e., all had evidence of being infected with the HIV virus) and were depressed were significantly more likely to develop AIDS and die from it than those who were not depressed.

3. Eat Well

Numerous studies have clearly shown that a healthful whole foods plant-based diet enhances your immune function. There are thousands of substances in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and soy products that are protective against infections.

4. Move More

Many studies have shown a clear, inverse relationship between moderate exercise and risk of a wide variety of illnesses, including infectious diseases. It enhances immune regulation. Just walking 15-30 minutes/day makes a big difference in your immune function.

So, I put all of this together to say that it does make very good sense to be mindful of reducing risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus by staying at home, social distancing, hand washing, gloves, masks, disinfecting, etc.) without becoming afraid or depressed. And to spend more time virtually in loving relationships with friends and family; eating well; moving more; and stressing less.

In short, enhancing our immune system can help us to be less “influenced” by the influenza virus.

Finding meaning in situations, especially bad ones, also helps enhance our immune system. With all the tragedy of the coronavirus, is there anything meaningful that comes from it?

First, for those of us who work too much, being at home and being told not to go to work or to travel gives everyone a valid rationale to spend more time with our friends and family, both in-person with those you live with and also virtually with others. No FOMO if everything is cancelled. You don’t have to give an excuse at work to stay home.

Also, having a common enemy can help heal some of the wounds that divide our country. These are profoundly human issues that affect everyone in all states, both red and blue.

It reminds me a little of the classic science fiction movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still, in which an intelligent alien comes to Earth to warn everyone of the importance of living peacefully. He caused all mechanical and electrical machines to stop for an hour to get everyone’s attention. Our world this week is also stopping—for much more than an hour—and it’s getting everyone’s attention as well.

And, finally, having so much less traffic and manufacturing is also giving the Earth a chance to breathe and heal, at least temporarily. A literal breather.

Wishing you and your loved ones health & happiness!

Dean Ornish, M.D.
Founder & President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute


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Lifestyle Prescriptions®: Two-Phases of Self-Healing

Surprising Sympathetic and Parasympathetic triggers in your daily life.

Get a FREE Lifestyle Prescriptions Root-Cause Analysis Consultation® at: www.LifestylePrescriptions.TV/directory

3 Steps To Healthy Habits [PDF Worksheet Download]

I’ve lived in California for 20 years and have heard about a thousand times motivational and goal setting advice like this:

“You can do it if you just put your mind to it.”

“Yes you can!”

“Set clear goals in your life and they will manifest.”

If you’ve heard it too and tried to use goal setting and will power to achieve your dreams then I would like to ask you to look back and consider how well this worked for you!

We use our will power to loose weight, get rid of back pain, depression or anxiety and often find that it’s not worked that well.

What we are realizing now is that setting goals is important and necessary. But it also requires lots of energy, attention and “will power muscle” to make them happen. We seem to have not enough will-power to achieve our goal, get frustrated and then blame ourselves for not being “good enough”.

And we all know how easy it is to lose our desired goals, by getting side tracked or because we don’t feed it with “energy and attention” … oops!

Download the brand-new PDF Worksheet: 3 Steps To Healthy Habits

Establishing habits is way more powerful.

Habits are like the automated tasks our smartphone does without us knowing. It’s being done. Just think of all the wonderful apps helping you to stay in touch with family, read emails (you’ve got mail!) or the latest news article or “fake news” on Facebook. It’s all pretty much automated and we love it and benefit from it.

The same is true for our body. Healthy habits make our body “run” in a productive and high performance kinda way. We don’t have to think at all that we drink water instead of soda, we grab healthy snacks or eat mostly vegetables not because we have set that daily goal and used tons of our will power and energy to do it.

NO.

It’s fully automated running in our background (our subconscious mind).

Our breathing, blood flow, digestion, sensory input, brain activity, etc…. the majority of our bodily functions are unconscious “habits” (if that is what we decide to call them).

Symptoms are habits!

Ok. I said it.

This might be a totally new perspective for you. But start to consider symptoms as habits and not as something being wrong with you.

Your symptoms are biological reaction based on…..what you eat, how you react to stress, how you process emotions, how you perceive your environment, your relationships and your connections with others and the universe, presence or God.

Your symptoms are the result of your unconscious habits and when you change that “symptom producing habit” you’ll notice that your body will automatically – sometimes instantaneously sometimes over time – adjust and the symptoms disappear.

In Lifestyle Prescription® Health Coaching we are using the power of habits in a conscious way to transform our body-mind into a well oiled “bio machine” that produces empowering emotions, thoughts and results.

Seth Godin says it perfectly: “Your audacious life goals are fabulous. We’re proud of you for having them. But it’s possible that those goals are designed to distract you from the thing that’s really frightening you — the shift in daily habits that would mean a re-invention of how you see yourself.”

“Habits are powerful, but delicate. They can emerge outside our consciousness or can be deliberately designed. They often occur without our permission but can be reshaped by fiddling with their parts. They shape our lives far more than we realize—they are so strong, in fact, that they cause our brains to cling to them at the exclusion of all else, including common sense.” stats Charles Duhigg.

William James said: All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits – practical, emotional, and intellectual – systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.”

The big question for you right now is: Do you want to continue to struggle using will power to improve your health and your life? 

Or are you ready to use the power of micro-habit change and Lifestyle Prescriptions® to consciously automate your unconscious habits and let your body’s intelligence do the work?

Once you set up healthy habits, they become part of your identity, they can last all your life and require very little or no will power to maintain them.

It’s your choice. 

So who’s the winner: Goals or Habits?

I guess there is really no winner, both have their purpose.

But one thing is for sure true: Creating habits in a conscious manner is extremely powerful and will free up your will power and energy and help you automate tasks in your life that you used to struggle with.

Download the brand-new PDF Worksheet: 3 Steps To Healthy Habits and apply them int your life.

Lifestyle Medicine Documentary – Reversing 80% of Chronic Disease? (Trailer)

Can we reverse up to 80% of Chronic Disease by treating the root-causes and using lifestyle modifications?

Watch the short-film documentary “LIFESTYLE MEDICINE” and learn from world-renowned experts like Dean Ornish MD, David Katz MD, Erminia Guarneri MD, Bruce Lipton PhD, Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. M.D, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, Neal Barnard MD, Dawson Church PhD, Sayer Ji, Dave Asprey, Nick Polizzi, JJ Virgin, Ocean Robbins .. a total of 30 world-renowned experts in treating root-causes.

Watch the film at https://lifestyleprescriptions.org/documentary-trailer/.

 

Day 11 Lifestyle Prescriptions® Bootcamp: Types of Stress Triggers

Learn how to recognize 3 different types of Stress Triggers in your life.

Get a FREE Lifestyle Prescriptions Root-Cause Analysis Consultation® at: www.LifestylePrescriptions.TV/directory

Lifestyle Prescriptions- Integrating Lifestyle Medicine Into the Health Care System

As per the predictions of the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2020, almost two-thirds of all the diseases worldwide will be the outcome of poor lifestyle habits – classified as chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

These NCDs include: obesity, heart disease, different forms of cancer, type-2 diabetes, and other chronic conditions, which have been proven to be effectively treated or prevented through lifestyle medicine.

Lifestyle Prescription Medicine Health Care System

Nevertheless, doctors and health care professionals face several challenges for adapting the lifestyle medical interventions into their practice. Some of them are mentioned below:

  • Insufficient time
  • Inadequate knowledge and hence, lack of confidence
  • Poor returns/revenue
  • Lack of personal fitness levels
  • Lack of resources for start-up

Apart from the above, it is imperative to consider a process that is not only a definite solution, but simplifies the integration of lifestyle medicine protocols into the standard practice of physicians; given the very limited consultation time.

Nevertheless, the Lifestyle Prescriptions® health-care program goes a step further to wipe out these challenges and gives way to a new health-care reform. Combining the evidence-based Lifestyle Medicine protocols with META-Health and the Art and Science of Self-Healing, it provides health professionals with the appropriate training, tools and techniques.

To start with, the Lifestyle Prescriptions® program defines a powerful and precise diagnostic process based on: the body’s healing intelligence, the organ-mind-brain-lifestyle connection, and the 9 major points and phases of self-healing process.

Secondly, the Lifestyle Medicine University Foundation Training (self-study program) teaches you 7 proven protocols and the required skill-sets for quickly identifying the root-cause, which stimulates your clients healing process.

Furthermore, for easy reference, you are given 13 Organ-Brain-Mind Connection Reference Charts & Posters that includes:

  • 150+ organ tissues with the relevant conflicts and emotions,
  • 1000+ stress and regeneration phase symptoms, and
  • Major points and phases of self healing worksheets and charts.

These organ-mind-brain-lifestyle connection charts help to easily relate and link your client’s symptoms to its root cause and write effective Lifestyle Prescriptions®: Well-defined habit and behavioral interventions.

Hence, including lifestyle medicine into your health-care practice gets easier and takes minimum time.

The Lifestyle Prescriptions® Training Program can prove to be an successful investment for your practice and your client’s health as they adopt more conscious and holistic lifestyle habits.


To learn more about Lifestyle Prescriptions® Health Coach Training Program and get a free demo click here.