KentuckyOne Health Launches Non-Invasive Program for Reversing Heart Disease in Kentucky - Archived

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KentuckyOne Health Launches Non-Invasive Program for Reversing Heart Disease in Kentucky

Nationally Renowned Ornish Reversal Program Addresses Underlying Causes of Disease Through Lifestyle Change

Louisville, Ky. (May 27, 2015)—KentuckyOne Health is now offering Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease™ (the Ornish Reversal Program), the first program scientifically proven to not only prevent heart disease and other chronic conditions, but also to undo it.

KentuckyOne Health is the first and only health provider in the state providing the Ornish Reversal Program, which is grounded in more than three decades of peer-reviewed studies by Dr. Ornish and others. It uses lifestyle changes to make its impact, altering the way participants eat, move, manage stress, and find emotional support to improve overall well-being. It is delivered in18 four-hour group sessions over a nine-week period in cohorts of up to 15 people, with a focus on improvement in four key areas:
    •    Fitness emphasizes regular, moderate, and sustainable exercise.
    •    Stress management helps participants cope with and manage stress while also fostering an increased level of physical and emotional self-awareness. 

    •    Group support connects individuals with others who are participating in the program and facilitates long-lasting relationships.
    •    Nutrition develops and cultivates a low-fat, whole foods, plant-based eating plan.
The first site to offer the Ornish Reversal Program is KentuckyOne’s Healthy Lifestyle Center at Medical Center Jewish Northeast off Old Henry Road beginning July 7. Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington will open the second location in late 2015.

The Ornish Reversal Program and Dr. Ornish’s research have been featured widely in national media, including cover stories in Newsweek, TIME, U.S. News & World Report and The New York Times. “My colleagues and I are helping to create a new paradigm of health care—one based on addressing the underlying causes of heart disease and many other chronic diseases,” said Dr. Ornish. “My vision has always been to sustainably transform lives for the better by making simple lifestyle choices. With each new site to offer our program, we continue to make that vision a reality, expanding access to a greater number of people suffering from a disease that we have found can often be reversed without drugs or surgery. Participants embrace the program because they have more energy, less stress, more emotional support, much less pain, and greater physical endurance—in short, they feel empowered to regain control of their lives.”

KentuckyOne’s medical leaders echoed the importance of this changing paradigm. “We have to start getting at the root causes of poor health rather than relying on prescriptions and medical procedures to address symptoms,” said cardiologist Paul Rogers, MD, co-medical director of the Ornish program in Louisville “Compared to even the best medical therapy, we know we can decrease heart attacks, strokes and death by between 35 percent and 45 percent by changing lifestyle. The Ornish Reversal Program builds on KentuckyOne’s excellence in heart care and emerging focus on wellness and gives us a new evidence-based tool to effectively treat and reverse disease.”

The Ornish Reversal Program is facilitated by a dedicated six-person team that includes a medical director, program leader, nurse case manager and experts in stress management, behavioral health, fitness and nutrition. “We are working together to help participants take control of their health by providing the knowledge, training and community resources to sustain a healthier lifestyle,” said Deborah Ballard, MD, MPH, an internal medicine specialist and co-medical director for the Ornish Reversal Program in Louisville. She noted one unique aspect of the service is the opportunity to be a part of the Ornish community after the program ends. “This alumni concept helps people maintain their gains and adhere to lifestyle changes over the long run. In some communities, participants are still in touch after 20 years or more.”

KentuckyOne Health is offering the Ornish Reversal Program through global well-being improvement leader Healthways, Inc.  Healthways partnered with Dr. Ornish in 2013 to bring his innovative, evidence-based approach to health systems across the United States in response to growing demand from consumers and providers for approaches that address the underlying causes of disease through lifestyle changes.

The Ornish Reversal Program is reimbursed by Medicare, Anthem and other commercial payers for individuals with qualifying heart conditions (acute myocardial infarction within the preceding 12 months, coronary artery bypass surgery, stable angina, heart valve repair or replacement, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or coronary stenting, and heart or heart-lung transplant). In addition, there is a discounted rate for individuals who choose to pay out-of-pocket.

The KentuckyOne Healthy Lifestyle Center staff can assist in determining eligibility and insurance coverage, and in obtaining the required physician order. For more information, contact 502.210.4520 or visit http://www.kentuckyonehealth.org/ornish.

KentuckyOne Health will offer a series of physician-led open house events to help interested individuals explore the program through interactive discussions, tours of the Healthy Lifestyle Center and healthy appetizers. Open house guests will also be entered into a drawing for a free one-hour massage. Open house events will be held on the following dates and times:
    •    Tuesday, June 9, 2015 from 6-7:30 p.m.
    •    Thursday, June 11, 2015 from 10-11:30 a.m.
    •    Wednesday, June 17 from 6-7:30 p.m.
    •    Tuesday, June 23, 2015 from 10-11:30 a.m.
All open house events will be held at the Healthy Lifestyle Center at Medical Center Jewish Northeast, 2401 Terra Crossing Blvd., Suite 302, which is easily accessed off the Gene Snyder freeway at Old Henry Rd. To make a reservation, call 502.210.4520.

About KentuckyOne Health
KentuckyOne Health, the largest and most comprehensive health system in the Commonwealth, has more than 200 locations including, hospitals, physician groups, clinics, primary care centers, specialty institutes and home health agencies in Kentucky and southern Indiana. KentuckyOne Health is dedicated to bringing wellness, healing and hope to all, including the underserved.  The system is made up of the former Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare and Saint Joseph Health System, along with the University of Louisville Hospital and James Graham Brown Cancer Center. KentuckyOne Health is proud of and strengthened by its Catholic, Jewish and academic heritages.

About Dean Ornish, M.D.
Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ornish received his M.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine, was a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He earned a B.A. in humanities summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin, where he gave the baccalaureate address.

Dr. Ornish was appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health in 2010 and, previously, by President Clinton to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy in 2000. He chaired the Google Health Advisory Council 2007-2009.He has received numerous national and professional awards including being honored by LIFE magazine as “one of the fifty most influential members of his generation,” being recognized as “one of the most interesting people of 1996” by People; and having been described in Forbes magazine as “one of the seven most powerful teachers in the world.”

The Ornish diet, a critical component of the Ornish Program, was rated #1 for heart health by U.S. News & World Report in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

About Healthways
Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY) is the largest independent global provider of well-being improvement solutions. Dedicated to creating a healthier world one person at a time, the Company uses the science of behavior change to produce and measure positive change in well-being for our customers, which include employers, integrated health systems, hospitals, physicians, health plans, communities and government entities. We provide highly specific and personalized support for each individual and their team of experts to optimize each participant’s health and productivity and to reduce health-related costs. Results are achieved by addressing longitudinal health risks and care needs of everyone in a given population. The Company has scaled its proprietary technology infrastructure and delivery capabilities developed over 30 years and now serves approximately 68 million people on four continents. Learn more at www.healthways.com.