Agents of Change

Site Certification

A proven lifestyle program that is professionally gratifying, emotionally satisfying, and economically rewarding.

Sharecare trains teams in each element and certifies sites to deliver the Dr. Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease®. The comprehensive training process consists of the following:

o   Attendance by all key program personnel at a 4-day experiential training retreat.

o   Follow up training sessions via WebEx.

o   Access to program materials and other digital platform resources on a private portal.

o   Ongoing support and quality assurance via regular monthly tele-conference meetings.

(Please note: Sharecare does not provide training & certification for individual providers at this time)

Annual Re-Certification

Clinical specialist consultants assess the integrity of a sites’ program delivery during the year.  Sites are evaluated for re-certification on their annual anniversary date using the following assessments:

o   Aggregate clinical outcomes reports

o   Clinical delivery team competency

o   Engagement effectiveness

o   Patient and provider satisfaction

o   Fidelity to contract terms and conditions

Here are the latest findings from the nearly 4,000 patients as of 2011 who went through Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease® in a study via Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and West Virginia:

• Overall attendance after 1 year was 87.9%.

• 45.2% of these patients had heart disease– 34.0% had type 2 diabetes, and the others had only risk factors (high blood pressure, cholesterol, or weight), yet adherence was comparable in all categories of patients (85-90% after 1 year).

• The average patient lost 13.3 pounds in the first 12 weeks and 15.9 pounds after 1 year.

• Significant reductions in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL-cholesterol after 12 weeks were still significant after 1 year.

• Exercise capacity increased from 8.7 to 10.6 METS after 12 weeks (18% increase) and to 10.8 METS after one year (24% increase).

• Significant reductions in depression and hostility (the emotions most strongly linked with heart disease) after 12 weeks that were still significant after 1 year.

• Hemoglobin A1C in diabetics decreased from 7.4% at baseline to 6.5% after 12 weeks and 6.8% after one year (complications of diabetes such as blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, and amputations can be prevented when hemoglobin A1C is less than 7.0%).

• 96.5% of patients reported improvement in severity of angina (chest pain) after 1 year.

These findings are giving millions of people worldwide new hope and new choices. These options are not only more caring and compassionate, but are also more cost effective and competent. These studies show how powerful comprehensive lifestyle changes can be, how dynamic these mechanisms are, and how quickly benefits may occur.

The Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease® is the first integrative lifestyle program for reversing heart disease and other chronic conditions that Medicare is covering under the specially created category of ‘Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation’.  The Ornish network is growing rapidly, including national partnerships with many private insurers such as Highmark Inc, Anthem and HMSA.  Some of these private insurers are also reimbursing for patients who have risk factors for coronary heart disease, and other conditions such as diabetes and early prostate cancer.