GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Spectrum Health has launched its Lifestyle Medicine Practice at the Downtown Market in Grand Rapids. The practice is designed to prevent illness and allow patients to manage chronic diseases.
Two physicians are on-site, along with other staff such as lifestyle coaches.
The goal is to empower patients to make positive behavior changes to improve health and quality of life surrounding food, relationships, exercise, sleep, and stress. Services include consults, group programs, and virtual offerings personalized per patient.
"We know that lifestyle is the most critical piece of health. It is the most important piece to reducing the cost of care, to improving health, and really starting to reverse this increased prevalence of chronic disease," said Dr. Leanne Maurello, director of lifestyle medicine. "Now with a specialty focus on that, it’s really allowing folks to embrace it as the future of medicine."
The practice opened just a few months ago in the same space as Spectrum's Teaching Kitchen located on the second floor of the Downtown Market on Ionia Avenue SW.
Visits are billable and can be submitted to insurance for coverage.
"Lifestyle medicine does kind of tip medicine on its head, and we do really think of a pivot where we are adding health to sick care," said Dr. Leanne Maurello.
Patients have already had success with the program. Dr. Maurello says many patients had meaningful improvements during the first eight weeks of their six-month programs, such as reducing cholesterol levels and glucose levels. They found many patients reduced or eliminated medicine by Week 8 as well.
