Transforming Healthcare Through Shared Medical Appointments: A Conversation with Dr. Kathleen Findlay

What does it take to build a thriving lifestyle medicine practice in rural America? Dr. Kathleen Findlay takes us behind the scenes of her remarkable journey establishing a comprehensive lifestyle medicine program in her small Wisconsin hometown.After 20 years away, Dr. Findlay returned home with a vision to transform healthcare delivery in her community. Starting with a simple knock on the CEO's door, she secured permission to create an integrative medicine practice that eventually evolved into a full-fledged lifestyle medicine program at a critical access hospital with rural health clinics. Despite the significant regulatory hurdles—from space limitations to coding restrictions that seemed to prohibit group visits—Dr. Findlay and her team found creative solutions to make lifestyle medicine work within the constraints of government-funded healthcare.The heart of their success? Shared medical appointments that Dr. Findlay describes as creating a "family" among participants. These group sessions not only work financially within the Rural Health Clinic model but generate the community connections critically missing in rural healthcare. Their 12-session intensive lifestyle program expanded organically as patients wanted more, leading to innovations like culinary medicine without a teaching kitchen and partnerships with local fitness centers. Perhaps most impressive is how their model expanded to pediatrics, helping children struggling with anxiety and obesity through lifestyle interventions.Looking for inspiration in healthcare transformation? Dr. Findlay's story shows that with leadership support, creative problem-solving, and unwavering dedication, lifestyle medicine can thrive even where it seems most improbable.