ACLM Offers Free Course

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), in support of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, committed $22 million to provide 5.5 hours of free accredited CME/CE coursework to 100,000 physicians and other clinicians as a foundational, evidence-based introduction to the growing field of lifestyle medicine.

Called “Lifestyle Medicine & Food as Medicine Essentials,” the three-module, four-presentation online course bundle includes an introduction to lifestyle medicine and baseline nutrition education on prevention and treatment of chronic disease. This opportunity is a major step forward in filling the gaping void of lifestyle medicine, including food as medicine, in medical education. The course, otherwise valued at $220, is accredited for 5.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs, along with a variety of other CE/CME accreditation.

Click here for more information and to register.

MFA Industry Partner, Club Automation, Launches New Medical Fitness Blog Series

Check out the new blog series from MFA Industry Partner, Club Automation! It’s a whole series dedicated to the medical fitness industry.

Their first in this series is entitled, Growing Your Medical Fitness Center – Click on the title to read the whole blog…here’s a sneak peek:

Growing Your Medical Fitness Center

It’s easy to fall into the comparison game and come out feeling frustrated. “The fitness club on the other side of town has an enormous exercise studio compared to ours.” “The gym down the street has a giant weightlifting floor compared to us.” These realizations are important, but they bypass the strength of your medical fitness facility. Sure, the gym down the road may have more equipment, but are their members healthier?

The challenge for medical fitness facilities is not proving your value on people’s long-term health, the numbers speak for themselves. People in your community trust medical establishments like yours as a reliable source of health and wellness.

The challenge is ensuring you have the right offerings that appeal to your community, get them in your doors, and keep them engaged for the long haul. Use this blog as a resource to kickstart new offerings at your medical fitness facility so you can become an even bigger part of improving the overall health of your community.

CLICK HERE to keep reading!

Study Shows Health Benefits from Membership at a Medical Fitness Facility

The Medical Fitness Association is pleased to share that a recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine concludes that “membership at a medical fitness facility was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality and hospitalizations.”

Physical inactivity is a known risk factor for mortality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about half of the population in the United States achieves the recommended level of physical activity. The economic burden of physical inactivity is approximately 27 billion dollars per year.

The study was conducted over a ten-year period from 2005 to 2015 with two certified medical fitness facilities, The Wellness Institute and Reh-Fit Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to look at the link between membership at a medical fitness facility and health outcomes. Both facilities are certified by the Medical Fitness Association.

The medical fitness model is designed to improve health status by providing evidence-based, medically integrated programming to promote health. Unlike traditional fitness facilities, this model incorporates medical oversight; clinical integration with a health system; a higher level of staff education and training; health assessments; and health education.

Researchers were permitted to access over 500,000 deidentified provincial health records to use as the control group. The intervention group included over 19,000 members of The Wellness Institute and Reh-Fit Centre medical fitness facilities combined.

The study showed that:
• Medical fitness facility members had a 60 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality during the first 651 days and 48 percent lower after 651 days.
• Membership was also associated with a 13 percent lower risk of hospitalizations.
• Medical fitness members who attended more frequently (3 or more visits per week), the hospitalization rate was even lower.

“We are pleased to see the validation of what we have seen in the growing medical fitness industry,” said David Flench, CEO of the Medical Fitness Association. He added that certified medical fitness facilities provide a safe environment for older adults and those facing chronic diseases, while still serving the overall community for their health and wellness needs. “Medical fitness is defining the future of the fitness industry,” said Flench. “Over the past few years, we have seen an influx of commercial fitness facilities that are incorporating medical oversight and a broader offering of health and wellness services. As we now know, the benefit to members is significant.”

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About the Study
This study was supported by Seven Oaks General Hospital Foundation, Chronic Disease Innovation Centre, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, University of Manitoba, Research Manitoba and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Click here to view the article. 

Click here to download the infographic.

 

Sue Boreski of Reh-Fit on the Future of Medical Fitness

Check out the cover story of the September issue of Club Solutions magazine! Sue Boreski of the MFA Certified Facility, The Reh-Fit Centre in Manitoba, Canada, and her 40-year journey through medical fitness.

Note: The Reh-Fit Centre was the first in Canada to be MFA Certified AND they received the MFA Certified Facility of the Year Award in 2012 and 2020!

Click here to read the article.

Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2021 from ACSM

2020 will go down in the books as the most memorable. ACSM has published their 15th annual survey of fitness trends for 2021. You will see that online training rose to the no. 1 trend for 2021. Check out the entire report.

Click here to read and/or download the report.

From this report, the reader should understand the following concepts:

  • Use the worldwide fitness trends in the commercial, corporate, clinical (including medical fitness), and community health fitness industry to further promote physical activity
  • Study expert opinions about identified fitness trends for 2021
  • Explain the differences between a fad and a trend

HealthWell Solutions Offers Comprehensive COVID Solutions

Introducing Gym Health Check the most comprehensive, customizable, and clinical resources to support member health and safety.

Gym Health Check can be private labeled to support current CDC Guidelines and integrates temperature readings, contact tracing, and testing results to provide immediate notification to members and real- time reporting to your facility. We support total member health and wellbeing with Nurse Triage and Telehealth services that can be offered as part of your membership benefits.

MFA Members: Try out the Gym Health Check system with a 60-day complimentary trial.

To learn more, please contact info@healthwellcorp.com.
Visit us at www.gymhealthcheck.com or www.healthwellcorp.com.

HealthWell Solutions is a population health management company that provides evidence-based solutions for the fitness industry as well as employers, benefit consultants, and healthcare organizations. We provide customized programs and technology solutions such as wellness portals, benefits apps and landing pages as well as onsite and remote health screenings, health coaching and emotional health programs.

For more info, contact HealthWell Solutions today!
Mark Mulray, MBA, M.Ed.
COO
888-935-4434, Ext. 701
info@healthwellcorp.com

HealthWell Solutions supports the Medical Fitness Association as an Industry Partner.

Nebraska Methodist College Offers Grad Degree in Wellness & Health Promotion Mgmt

Nebraska Methodist College offers an MS in Wellness & Health Promotion Management WITH a concentration in Medical Fitness Management. Want to learn more? Check out their Virtual Information Session on Wed, Oct 21 at Noon CT

Click here for more information.

MFA Statement on COVID-19

As the new coronavirus spreads throughout the US, it is disrupting many medical association meetings and conferences. After much thought and discussion, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the MFA Regional Conferences in Elkhart, IN (April 15-17) and Jackson, TN (May 20-22) and we will not be planning a Northeast Regional Conference for June. With many of our MFA member facilities facing travel bans and increased pressure on their time as this health crisis is changing so rapidly, we felt it would be irresponsible to hold an event at this time for our members and sponsors. If you had registered for either Conference, we are currently processing full refunds this week. If you paid via credit card, we will refund the card. If you paid via check, we will issue you a refund check.

We will hold our online Regional Conference on Thursday, March 26, with four webinars that day. Everyone is welcome! We are also reaching out to our Regional Conference speakers to see if they would be interested in sharing their knowledge in a future MFA webinar. We currently have two more webinars scheduled for March 18 and 25. Stay tuned to our website and email for a webinar update. As your Medical Fitness Association, we are doing everything we can to offer you multiple opportunities for your continuing education!

At this time, our Annual Conference, to be held in Baltimore, MD on Nov 3-5, is still on. We will continue to diligently monitor this situation through the CDC. If anything changes, we will let you know immediately. In light of this unknown, we are pleased to offer a 100% risk-free cancellation policy for our 2020 Annual Conference. If the Annual Conference needs to be cancelled, you will receive a 100% refund of your registration fee. We will endeavor to make that decision by October 2nd. At this point, we have a robust agenda and look forward to some great networking!

While member facilities have increased their outreach to their own members, we encourage you to work with your facility’s or hospital’s marketing/public relations department. This is an opportunity to support your local community by reassuring them on how you are handling the coronavirus and to support your members who are putting their memberships on hold by providing them with ideas for exercising at home. It’s also an opportunity to raise awareness in your community as a medical fitness thought leader. Here are a couple examples:

Article on a fitness facility in CT: CLICK HERE

ACE’s article on “Top 25 At-Home Exercises”: CLICK HERE

We’d like to thank everyone who participated in our COVID-19 Response Survey. There is still time to participate in the survey. We will be sending out the preliminary results today. The full report will be sent out by this Friday, 3/20. One of the many benefits of being a Medical Fitness Association member is that you have the opportunity to learn what other medical fitness facilities are doing without handling the legwork yourself!