Optimal Data Collection in Lifestyle Medicine at the Point of Care: A Position Statement From the American College of Lifestyle Medicine

The full potential of lifestyle medicine has yet to be realized within the healthcare system, and it is hindered by the lack of systematic data collection focused on modifiable lifestyle factors that influence chronic disease. It is the position of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) that (1) current data collection practices at point of care are typically inconsistent across practice settings, electronic health record (EHR) environments, and specialties, limiting usability of data collected; (2) optimal data collection across all settings will demonstrate the effectiveness of lifestyle medicine (LM) for patient health improvements, enhance patient care, identify preventive and treatment strategies, illustrate cost-effectiveness, and establish performance measure standards for consistent evaluation, and supplement our national surveillance systems; (3) standardized data collection in the field of lifestyle medicine can include but is not limited to patient visit information, lifestyle-specific biometrics, anthropometrics, self-reported lifestyle behavior assessments, lifestyle interventions, patient goals, and when possible, reimbursement/healthcare claims data and patient experience; (4) a critical need exists for terminological codes for data capture and interoperability to integrate LM terminologies into existing biomedical terminologies, with an ultimate goal of national health digital infrastructure to support LM practice.