AAFP, Ardmore Institute of Health partner on whole health to treat chronic conditions

Grants totaling more than $1 million are helping family physicians assist their patients in managing chronic conditions.

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the Ardmore Institute of Health (AIH) announced their ongoing partnership has resulted in grants worth more than $1 million to aid family doctors in addressing chronic conditions that hurt life expectancy across the nation.

“The AAFP and Ardmore Institute of Health have a long history of working together to solidify primary care’s place in a health care system focused on achieving whole health rather than thriving by treating disease​,” AAFP Executive Vice President and CEO R. Shawn Martin said in a news release. “We’re grateful for their continued partnership as we work to ensure physicians have the tools and resources they need to mitigate health disparities and build healthier communities.”

The Ardmore Institute aims to develop “a future where healthy environments and lifestyles provide equitable and preferred methods to prevent, treat and reverse chronic diseases,” such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, according to its website.

The institute has developed “Full Plate Living,” a dietary and nutrition program that guides people to add more whole, unprocessed fiber foods to their diets. The approach leads to lower weight and cholesterol, better blood sugar control, and greater energy. It is backed by research and available free with resources tailored for patients and for physicians and other clinicians.

Engaging doctors is part of AIH’s investment in AAFP. There will be scholarships for 15 family medicine residents to attend AAFP’s lifestyle medicine live course, which trains physicians to engage communities to create healthier habits.

“Ardmore Institute of Health’s continued partnership with the AAFP is instrumental in transforming the way people are cared for in America,” AHI President and CEO Ron Stout, MD, MPH, said in the news release. “By empowering family physicians to deliver whole person care, we are building a foundation for greater individual and collective health.”

The partnership involves at least two other resources:

• Education and resources that connect the dots between valuable lifestyle and behavioral health interventions and success in value-based care
• Tools that equip family physicians to implement whole-person health, screen and address social drivers of health in their communities and ensure lifestyle interventions are supported

The Ardmore Institute of Health, along with the Healing Works Foundation, have awarded grants to the AAFP Foundation “to ensure family physicians’ voices are reflected in the continued movement toward a system that rewards whole health approaches.” AAFP announced it will form a physician-led, multi-stakeholder advisory group to focus on changing primary care payment and training to empower the workforce needed for a new vision of the future involving patient whole health.