How can You Become a Board-Certified In-List Medicine?

Lifestyle medicine (LM) is an evidence-based supplementary specialty for PCP's and specialists that emphasizes educating patients on lifestyle-based interventions for managing and eliminating chronic disease. LM may be a useful clinical approach for doctors who have patients who want (or need) more holistic care. LM involves a certification process that most physicians will find familiar, including a maintenance of certification option. Doctors must still maintain certification in their primary specialty. If you don’t know a physician who practices lifestyle medicine (LM) already, chances are you will. Founded in 2004, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACL M) created a new board certification program and currently has more than 6,000 practicing members representing every continent. According to the physicians interviewed for this article, the results achieved for patients and their practices speak for themselves. LM relies on lifestyle modification as the frontline intervention for chronic diseases such as CVD, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. It’s not a standalone board certification, but a supplemental one for PCP's and specialists. Sandra MD, an endocrinologist practicing in Pittsburgh, PA, said that while research supports pharmaceutical interventions for metabolic health, many of her patients wanted other evidence-based options. “If we only focus on using medicines to treat disease without talking about the lifestyle component, we're also limiting the efficacy of the medicine, and we're also missing a huge opportunity to engage patients in their own care,” Sandra said. Of course, many patients know that diet, exercise, stress reduction, and better sleep are conducive to better health. What many don’t know is how to achieve these health goals sustainably. Sandra said that earlier in her career, a patient asked her for specifics on these lifestyle modifications—and she didn’t have any. LM certification equipped her to have patient-specific conversations about stress, exercise, sleep, and other personalized health topics. “I can’t tell you how many times in those conversations that the proverbial light bulb goes off, and a patient says, ‘Nobody ever explained that to me,’” Sandra said. If you’re considering picking up LM certification, Sandra and Sosa said the process isn’t onerous. After passing an initial exam, ACCM offers a CME model that most physicians will find familiar. This maintenance of certification approach typically involves reading a few journal articles and answering questions based on them. ACCM also offers an exam every 10 years for doctors who prefer a more traditional process. Of course, doctors will still need to maintain certification in their primary specialties. The effort, according to Sandra and Sosa, is well worth it. For Sosa, his pursuit of LM clarified his mission as a physician and his personal health philosophy. He doesn’t just preach the six pillars of LM—he lives by them. LM may offer physicians an opportunity to expand their clinical knowledge to include evidence-based  lifestyle-based interventions that really help their patients. LM certification also doesn’t add substantially to practitioners’ clinical education burdens. Moreover, doctors who pick up the certification may just find that they learn more effective ways of managing their own well-being. LM may be a useful clinical approach for doctors who have patients who want (or need) more holistic care.