It is well known that 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, five days a week, can over the long haul minimize the effects of many chronic diseases. Kaiser Permanente has made it a goal to ask all patients their exercise information – How many minutes per day? How many days per week? – in an effort to help them become more active and therefore more healthy.
This initiative is called Exercise as a Vital Sign, and while it may seem simple for all medical assistants and primary care providers to ask their patients those two questions and record the data in the electronic health record, it is more complex than that. Even now, five years since the first members were being questioned, EVS continues to be a work in progress
Read Dr. Latifat Apatira’s article, the second of a seven-part series, about how enthusiasm for the project remains high, despite the challenges. Learn from experts why Exercise as a Vital Sign is at the heart of Kaiser Permanente’s Total Health strategic vision, where Total Health is defined as a state of physical, mental, and social well being.
