ChenMed, An Innovator in Primary Care, Improves Patient Outcomes with Nutrition Education from the Nonprofit Gaples Institute

DEERFIELD, Ill., Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicians have long struggled to integrate nutrition counseling into patient care, despite compelling evidence that links poor-quality diet with premature death and disability. Most physicians receive little or no training in nutrition during their medical training.

But ChenMed, which offers an innovative brand of preventive primary care for seniors, has prioritized nutrition education, calling it a "low-cost, high-impact intervention." During onboarding, ChenMed physicians earn continuing medical education credits when they complete the award-wining course developed by the nonprofit Gaples Institute: "Nutrition Science for Health and Longevity: What Every Clinician Needs to Know."

Organized into bite-sized modules, the course is rigorously evidence-based, self-paced, and clinically focused to help physicians respond to common nutrition questions from patients. "It's specifically designed to optimize learning in a busy medical setting," says Dr. Alina Ghany, an endocrinologist and director of physician training, talent, and development at ChenMed, "and the graphics are amazing." Most clinicians complete the course in 2-3 hours. The Gaples Institute course also includes interactive public-facing resources designed for clinicians to share with their patients.

Nonprofit Gaples Institute Fills a Gap
Developed by Dr. Stephen Devries, a preventive cardiologist and executive director of the Gaples Institute, the interactive course is vetted by leading nutrition scientists and educators, including Dr. Walter Willett, former Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

More than 3,000 clinicians have enrolled in the Gaples Institute nutrition course, now required learning in a growing list of leading medical institutions. Post-course assessments confirm that 97% of clinicians who complete the Gaples Institute's nutrition course report that it will change their practice.

Food as Medicine
According to Dr. Ghany, the Miami-based ChenMed, which made Fortune's "Change the World" companies list, has "taken the position that we're going to get rid of all of these terrible obstacles that make doctors into prescribers of drugs rather than health coaches to manage disease."

Since 2019, ChenMed has purchased over 500 Gaples Institute nutrition courses for its rapidly growing team of primary care physicians.

For more information about the Gaples Institute's nutrition course for physicians and other health professionals, as well as public-facing health resources, email [email protected].

SOURCE Gaples Institute