In what is undoubtedly a growing trend amongst primary care providers, the first two McLaren Health Care family medicine providers have earned an additional, special accreditation after successfully completing their training and examination for the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.
The supplementary certification is an avenue for providers to enhance their overall patient care — preventing, treating, and reversing chronic conditions and promoting wellness through the discipline’s four core pillars: nutrition, exercise, rest, and social connectivity.
Credentialed by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine, family medicine providers Dr. Rose Hall and Dr. Sowmya Bekkam have become the most recently accredited McLaren-affiliated providers to earn their certification, with Dr. Bekkam marking the first graduate to obtain the certification through her training at McLaren Flint Family Medicine Residency.
“This is a rapidly growing, much needed field of medicine, and we will only be seeing more of this,” said Dr. Sara Elsayed, an ABLM-certified physician and family medicine GME Program Director at McLaren Flint. “Their knowledge and competency of these six pillars will not only enhance their ability to treat and heal the whole patient, but it will also empower patients to take ownership of their health by incorporating more holistic, health-centric aspects into their lives.”
Introduced in 2017, the credential is eligible only to those who have previously passed their family medicine or internal medicine boards and have maintained that certification for two years.
Though currently an optional supplemental credential, lifestyle medicine boards will ultimately become a requirement for primary care providers.