.jpg)
On Saturday, April 6th, 2024, David Rachal III, health and wellness expert and advisor at Vitala, hosted 'Healthy Moves NOLA - Using Exercise as Medicine' in collaboration with AmeriHealth. The event was attended by leaders in healthcare, including decision-makers, hospital managers, healthcare providers, and patients.
The presentation underscored the crucial role of incorporating exercise into patient care, emphasizing its significance as not only a supplemental activity but also as a primary treatment method for managing chronic diseases and promoting proactive care.
Exercise has a profound impact on improving health outcomes across a wide range of diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, osteoarthritis, COPD, depression, anxiety, chronic kidney disease, and chronic back pain.
Given the escalating prevalence of chronic diseases, which impact around 60% of the U.S. population, and the growing demand for healthcare, it's clear that solely addressing diseases as they already have arised is insufficient. Instead, we have to shift towards proactive care, using lifestyle interventions such as exercise as medicine to address the root causes of chronic diseases and prevent them from occurring. However, both healthcare providers and patients encounter various challenges in embracing this shift towards proactive care and exercise prescriptions. These obstacles include time constraints, financial considerations, inadequate educational training for prescribing exercise, as well as patients' difficulties with motivation and access to exercise opportunities.
Rachal has always been a passionate advocate for holistic health and wellness, dedicating his career to promoting exercise as medicine. As Rachal addressed the challenges healthcare providers face in prescribing exercise, he emphasized the need for innovative solutions. This is where Vitala comes into play. Vitala's platform empowers healthcare providers to seamlessly prescribe, monitor, and manage exercise as medicine. By leveraging evidence-based exercise prescriptions and continuous health progression monitoring, Vitala reshapes patient care and chronic condition management, leading to improved health outcomes and more cost-efficient care. Furthermore, with an evidence-based exercise generator that tailors daily physical activity to each patient's unique health condition, Vitala streamlines the prescription process, eliminating the need for prior knowledge by healthcare providers, and making it more accessible for patients.
“Exercise should be a fundamental component of treatment plans. By integrating exercise as medicine into patient care, we not only improve the health and well-being of individuals but also alleviate the burden on our healthcare system and pave the way for a healthier future for all.” - David Rachal III
To see a recording of the event, click here.