Improving Patient Outcomes with a Team-Based Care Approach

Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are risk factors for many chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cognitive decline. Functional medicine clinicians are challenged to integrate modifiable lifestyle factors into a healthcare plan, and many are transitioning to team-based care with the use of health coaches to meet this need.

One area in which health coaches are especially effective is in nutritional modification. Patients who work with nutrition coaches not only lose weight, but have lower hemoglobin A1c and LDL levels, better glycemic control, and reduced hypertension. Research shows that energy-restricted diets are ineffective in the long term; behavioral treatment with a nutrition coach may be more effective in promoting long-term weight loss while maintaining healthy metabolic and endocrine function.

Team-based care is patient-centered, for instance expanding  access to services that embrace the whole-person approach, such as patient education and behavioral health. This functional medicine model of care can improve the patient-provider relationship and empower patients to take control of their health.