American College Of Lifestyle Medicine

Research: aclm's research department led an expert panel in the publication of aclm's first performance measures to identify remission and evaluate effectiveness of lifestyle medicine treatments. A 24-article "food as medicine" series developed by aclm was published in the frontiers of nutrition journal. Aclm's diet screener debuted, a free 27-item assessment tool to help assess and track patients' propostion of whole, unrefined plant-based foods and water intake, with work underway for it and aclm's short form assessment to be itnegrated into the epic electronic health record (ehr). Select publications included: lifestyle medicine performance measures: an expert consensus statement defining metrics to identify remission or long- term progress following lifestyle medicine treatment (american journal of lifestyle medicine. 2024:15598276241230237); american college of lifestyle medicine expert consensus statement: lifestyle medicine for optimal outcomes in primary care (am j lifestyle med. 2024;18(2):269-293); lifestyle medicine implementation in 8 health systems: protocol for a multiple case study investigation. (jmir res protoc. 2024;13:e51562); evaluation of the reach and utilization of the american college of lifestyle medicine's culinary medicine curriculum (front nutr. 2024;11:1338620). Work continues on the development of aclm's first clinical practice guideline titled "lifestyle interventions for treatment of type 2 diabetes and prediabetes in adults," targeted for q2 2025 publication.

Practice advancement & addressing health disparities: january 2024 marked the debut of aclm's practice advancement department, with oversight of aclm's health systems council (hsc), lifestyle medicine clinical practice integration, workforce development, and addressing lifestyle-related chronic disease health disparities. Aclm's hsc expanded to 114 members in just its third year, bringing together systems united in the pursuit of healthcare transformation to address unsustainable levels of chronic disease through integration of lifestyle medicine. A curated repository of lifestyle medicine clinical practice implementation briefs is amassing as means of sharing best practices with the goal of replication. Practice advancement plays a key role in aclm's advocacy efforts on capitol hill and in our work with key advocacy partners. Advocacy priorities include integration of lifestyle medicine, including optimal nutrition, in all medical education; addressing misaligned quality measures, advocating for measures that incent and reward lifestyle medicine root cause intervention that treats and results in remission (reversal) of disease; and payment models that support the physician-led interprofessional team and group shared medical appointments that data show as efficacious in addressing our epidemic of chronic disease-from pediatrics (families) to geriatrics. New advocacy partnerships forged this year include the association of clinicians for the underserved and the national medical association. Aclm's health equity achieved through lifestyle medicine (heal) initiative expanded in 2024, with a continued focus on outreach to historically black colleges and universities (hbcus) and expansion of aclm's heal scholarship, equipping underrepresented in medicine (uim) clinicians with training and the opportunity for certification in the field of lifestyle medicine. 26 heal scholarships were awarded in 2024, with the goal of reducing health disparities and diversifying the medical workforce. Aclm awarded 112 inaugural national training initiative (nti) scholarships, a lifestyle medicine training and certification scholarship program, delivered in partnership with the american board of lifestyle medicine (ablm), designed to educate and equip primary care providers (pcps) in each of our nation's ~1,400 federally qualified health centers (fqhcs). The objective is to ensure that all people, including those in our nation's underserved communities, have the opportunity to benefit from lifestyle medicine root cause treatment and the care delivered by a lifestyle medicine-trained pcp-care that will improve health literacy, food literacy, and strive for whole person health.

Membership, partnerships & operations: led by a passionate and visionary 15-member board of directors, aclm continues to experience rapid membership growth, nearing the 14,000-member mark. 30 member interest groups (migs), a journal club, a robust webinar series, and more facilitate active member engagement. Aclm's 12-month "new member experience" received three awards in 2024: american association of medical society executives (aamse) profiles of excellence award, as well as two awards from the american society of association executives (asae): power of associations gold award and the gold circle award. Aclm connect, our online member community continues to experience tremendous growth in engagement, considered one of aclm's most valued member benefits. In 2024, there were over 100k downloads from aclm's extensive library of educational tools and resources. Aclm continued to forge key strategic partnerships throughout 2024, announcing a major global impact partnership with blue zones to address our nation's unsustainable chronic disease trends and associated costs. This partnership represents the intersection of clinical and community, essential for ushering in sustianable health and healthcare. The innovators council was unveiled in 2024, bringing together risk-bearing entities. Inaugural members include health systems, health plans, accountable care organizations, and self-funded employers. Aclm now works with 70+ corporations and organizations dedicated to healthcare transformation. This includes our ongoing work with the department of defense (dod) that resulted in a space force partnership to train and equip clinicians who are delivering care to within this branch of our armed forces. Aclm's jobs board continues to grow, with job opening posts from many of healthcare's most prominent brands. In order to assist patients searching for a lifestyle medicine-trained clinician, lmpros.com, aclm's directory of certified lifestyle medicine clinicians, saw continued expansion. Aclm earned many high-visibility media placements in 2024, including the wall street journal, new york times, becker's hospital review, consumer affairs, medscape, and healio. Aclm's blog expanded, and our monthly curated newsletter, insider, was published for the fifth year, consistently exceeding industry averages for readership and clicks. Aclm's staff expanded this year to 40 dedicated professionals across 21 states, vital to supporting the growth in size and scope of aclm's membership and mission-advance initiatives. Our virtual workplace is secure and enabled by aclm's multi-factor authentication office environment and website hosting on a tier 4 server, ensuring the highest level of cyber security. Our enhanced customer service software and capacity is also intended to provide optimal member and customer support.