Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) in Lifestyle Medicine Practice: An Expert Consensus Statement From the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

OBJECTIVE

To identify statements of consensus on the use of shared medical appointments (SMAs) to improve quality of care and patient health outcomes in lifestyle medicine practice especially for prevention, treatment, and management of chronic disease.

METHODS

A multidisciplinary panel of experts in shared medical appointments (SMAs) followed an a priori protocol for developing consensus statements. Using an iterative, online Delphi process, panel members reported levels of agreement and statements were classified as consensus, near consensus, or no consensus.

RESULTS

The panel identified 106 candidate statements addressing: (1) Definitions and General Concepts, (2) Lifestyle Medicine and Behavior Change, (3) Research and Quality Improvement Outcomes, (4) Delivery Models, (5) Group Cohesiveness, (6) Billing and Documentation, (7) Staffing Models, and (8) Training. After 3 iterations of an online Delphi survey, revisions, and removal of duplicative statements, 56 statements met criteria for consensus. Nine statements met near consensus, and 41 statements did not reach consensus.

CONCLUSION

There is broad consensus among panel members that implementing SMAs highlighting lifestyle medicine has high patient satisfaction, is reimbursable, and can provide high-quality medical care. These specific consensus statements can be used to inform policy and prioritize areas for future research.