Going to the gym and seeing your primary care provider — it seems like if you’re doing those two things even semi-regularly, you should be good, right?
Wrong. The gym industry is booming with more people purchasing memberships than ever before. Unfortunately in America, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic health conditions are rising right along with gym memberships. Less than half of Americans see their primary care provider each year, and when they do, they get at MOST 25 minutes (a year!) to speak with their provider about their health.
We believe exercise is important. We believe having a primary care provider for early detection is important. But to truly manage your health, you need more and deserve more. It starts with ensuring you have the right data – your personal health data– and engaging with it more than once a year (if you even are at all right now) to make informed, intentional decisions when it comes to how you’ll manage your health. You should also work with an expert for more than 25 minutes a year to ensure success.
Engaging with your health data more than once a year (spoiler alert, we recommend a minimum of once per quarter) is important to stay in touch with things that are going well, and to catch when things are trending in the wrong direction. Additionally, when you’re engaged with your health data, you:
- Have a higher success rate with your goals
- Have the ability to catch potential problems before they become an issue
- Can identify what we call your “goal blind spots,” by finding out if there are health and wellness goals you didn’t realize you should have in addition to the ones you already know you want to achieve
- Can ensure you’re spending your time on the right health related behaviors to get the best outcomes, and ditch the things that aren’t working
- Can challenge yourself to continue to grow once you’ve hit your initial goals
We asked our Medical Director Dr. Susan Echt to elaborate on our model of care at WellWay and weigh in on why we think it’s important for us to assess our health data beyond once per year. Here’s what she has to say:
“Unfortunately our healthcare system tends to focus on sick care and some limited preventative care, which means the value of an annual physical can be limited to some basic blood work and cancer screening. While these tests are important, there’s much more we can do to prevent disease and actually optimize health to help you live life at your best.
It’s easy for us all to develop daily habits that may not be serving us optimally. Having more frequent check-ins with a health-minded provider or Wellness Advisor can serve as an opportunity to assess your lifestyle and identify room for improvements. Furthermore, typical annual offerings are often restricted to services covered by insurers and these tend not to be focused on health optimization.
Additional lab testing and discussion can help dive deeper into your health status, identifying early signs of disease, nutrient deficiencies, and inflammation, providing a starting point to make positive changes.”
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The WellWay Approach.
Let’s dive into how WellWay can help fill in the missing pieces and compliment both the work you’re doing with your physician and the work you’re doing at the gym. (Spoiler alert #2, our assessment and a personal Wellness Advisor are INCLUDED in your membership – no additional fees to pay for these baseline services).
First, let’s look at what is commonly covered in an annual wellness visit and how that compares to the WellWay Assessment.
These metrics are commonly included in your annual appointment with your PCP:
- Weight and BMI
- Physical exam
- Blood pressure and heart rate
- Lipid panel, glucose, CMP and CBC (and potentially other markers that are of particular concern to the client)
- Review of medications and medication management
- Referral to speciality care
Weight and BMI:
Limitation: Your “weight” doesn’t tell you how much is body fat and how much is muscle, which can dramatically impact your actual state of health. BMI is great for measuring the status of a population, but not so great for understanding the health of the individual.
Labs:
Limitation: These are run during the exam and you’re sent a review after your appointment, instead of running the labs beforehand so you can discuss with your provider during your appointment. Also, I think we can all agree the “no news is good news” approach isn’t comforting, pro-active or educational.
Goals:
Limitation: They aren’t discussed. Even with the best of intentions (which we know most PCPs have!) they simply don’t have the time to really dive into what’s important to you, nor do they have time (or often the nutrition education) to give you guidance for your wellness. They are great for early detection, but outside of that, your annual exam isn’t going to provide much for your overall health and wellness plan.
Let’s compare that to what is included in an assessment with WellWay:
Initial Health Assessment
The Initial Health Assessment is the initial entry point and gives you a baseline for 8 important screenings. It gives you and your team at WellWay data to reassess to ensure your plan is working.
You’ll start with in-depth intake forms so we can best understand your goals, health history, and other important information to get to know you.
- Symptoms: digestion, mood, pain, energy, cravings, movement quality, balance, sleep quality, cognition, joint health
- Body composition
- Grip strength
- Balance
- Perfusion Index
- 02 saturation
- Blood pressure
- Seated to standing pulse
Your Initial Health Assessment will identify your health status for the first time. Your Health Status is a way to define how your body is currently responding to your environment, and if the stressors you’re exposed to are getting you the desired outcomes.
Our Assessment process uses clinically validated markers to compliment what’s assessed at your annual physical, vetted by our Medical Director and team of experts.
Ongoing Reassessments:
We recommend reassessing after your Initial Assessment every 90 days at a minimum so that we can make sure your plan is working. Reassessments also come with a 15-minute reassessment review appointment with your Wellness Advisor to review the data and help you adjust your goals as needed.
Wellness Advisor Support:
Following your Initial Health Assessment, you will meet with your Wellness Advisor who is a Registered Dietitian and trained health coach. They will review your Initial Assessment results and dive deep into your goals and habits related to nutrition, stress management and sleep. You will walk away from that appointment with recommendations for nutrition and lifestyle habits to compliment your exercise goals.
Our Wellness Advisors can offer support throughout the year. As part of your membership (if you belong to one of our health clubs), they will meet with you every 90 days after your quarterly reassessment reviews and touch base with you monthly through a virtual chat. To take it to the next level, you can engage in additional services to up your time and guidance with your advisor.
Our Wellness Advisors want to see you succeed and are here to help guide you on your health journey whether you’re just starting out or are working to optimize your health.
Lab Testing
Depending on your health history or current symptoms, your doctor will likely recommend lab testing at your annual physical – and at At WellWay we agree that comprehensive lab testing can offer invaluable insights that help you understand your health at a deeper level. We offer a number of different lab testing options to compliment what is tested at your doctor, including Custom Panels. All Lab Testing includes:
- Review by Dr. Echt and a physician’s note
- 60-minute interpretation by a Registered Dietitian, where we will tell you what each marker means, how it’s clinically significant and an Action Plan to help you take action. We look at the optimal ranges for each lab to help you catch any markers that may become a bigger issue down the road.
If appropriate, your Wellness Advisor may make a recommendation for a lab testing panel during your Custom Health Plan appointment. If you would like to meet with a Wellness Advisor or schedule a complimentary 15-minute lab consult appointment, stop by the Health Services Desk at your club location.
Wellness Panels:
Our Wellness Panels are comprehensive and provide insights into:
- Hormone health
- Cardiovascular health
- Diabetes risk
- Inflammation
- Nutrient status
- Adrenal function
- Thyroid health
Hormone Panels
Our hormone panels can provide insights into women suffering from:
- Infertility
- Weight gain
- Hair loss
- Fatigue and energy issues
- PCOS
- Irregular cycles
- PMS
- Low libido
Digestive Health
Digestive health is a hot topic with a growing body of research supporting the importance of a healthy gut microbiome. Imbalances or disturbances in the gut can lead to obvious symptoms like gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation, but many people are unaware that it can also lead to systemic issues like fatigue, inflammation, autoimmune conditions, skin issues, brain fog, depression, nutrient deficiencies and more. We offer a few different panels to assess your GI health:
GI MAP ($411)
The GI MAP is a stool test that can indicate if there is something off with the gut microbiome, like not enough “good” bacteria or the presence of “bad” bacteria. It also looks at the physical tissue and digestive function of the GI tract. Many people with GI issues will be told “nothing’s wrong” after getting a colonoscopy or endoscopy but still suffer with symptoms. Those tests are important as they look at the physical tissue of the gut. What they can’t see though are the actual organisms living inside of the digestive tract. The GI MAP is a good compliment to those tests to give you the big picture as to what could be contributing to your GI symptoms.
Genetic Testing
3X4 Genetic Test
Genetic testing can be a powerful tool in your short and long term plan to manage your health. You are born with your genes – your genes don’t change, but what genes are “expressed” can be impacted by your lifestyle and environment. Conversely, your genes dictate what you are predisposed to, which is powerful information to shape your lifestyle, eating habits, movement patterns, stress management strategies and more. The 3X4 genetic test is designed to give you a thorough understanding of your genes, and helps to identify specific areas of focus you should give to your lifestyle to manage your short and long term health, and be as preventative as possible when it comes to your health.
This test also comes with actionable items that you can start with right away based on your results.
Lab Redraws (Price varies)
We offer custom lab re-draws to help you monitor your progress. We recommend starting with a full, comprehensive panel and then doing a re-draw every 3-6 months to keep an eye on individual markers of concern. Cost will vary depending on what markers are being retested, but it’s an affordable option to monitor and catch things before becoming a bigger problem.
Visit wellway.com/lab-testing to learn more about our panels.
Let’s Recap
Your health journey may start with your annual physical, but we want to fill in the gaps to support you with your health year over year. At WellWay, we start by supporting you by providing you with your own personal Wellness Advisor and ongoing health assessments to stay engaged in your health data, and adjust your plan as needed to ensure ongoing results.
Let’s take a look at how re-assessing your health throughout the year with WellWay might look like, including some real life examples.
