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Some very exciting news for NIWH graduates and learners! Now NIWH graduates can earn, in addition to having their NPI credential in patient health education, a national certification as a Patient Advocate, by sitting for the National Patient Advocate certification exam! Here is an excerpt from the PAC Board website: The Patient Advocate Certification Exam (Updated February 22, 2018) The Patient Advocate Certification Board is pleased, proud, and excited to announce the opening of registration for the inaugural examination for professionals involved in the practice of patient advocacy. The certification will allow professionals to achieve the credential Board Certified Patient Advocate (BCPA). For more information about this valuable certification or the NIWH programs available in Patient Advocacy you can contact us at 888-354-4325 or at National Institute of Whole Health - Accredited Holistic Health Programs

It seems that a lot of nurses don't understand what they legally can and can't do as a health coach. Coaching is a great concept and being trained in coaching skills can only benefit everyone who interacts with other human beings. However, many individuals (there are over 150,000 health coaches in the US) take a health coaching training only to discover that they can't make a living or get a job with the program they attended. If they don't have a health or medical related license or training its like pushing a rock up the hill. Why would someone pay you for a service their insurance company offers for free or their insurance company pays? There are at this point over 50 health coaching programs out there (and new ones popping up every day) and still no one needs to even take one to legally call themselves a health coach. Providence60 mentioned a program, Whole Health Training and Education - Accredited | Holistic Health Programs, that from my research is the only nationally accredited program (ICE - they accredit the ANA, ADA, NCHEC and many other professionals) that gives real healthcare provider credentials which allows for liability insurance and an NPI for insurance billing and coding. It's actually less than many of the other programs and provides real professional credentials and benefits. If you have a license, why take a program that isn't going to give you an additional scope of practice, provider credentials and other benefits over the programs that just give you coaching skills? Just my two cents.

Coaching patients to better health - American Nurse Today Coaching patients to better health February 2016 Vol. 11 No. 2 Author: Tracey Long RN, PhD©, MS, MSN, CDE, CNE, CHUC, CCRN How do I know when I'm supposed to get screening tests?” What do these labs mean and why did my nurse practitioner change my medication?” What am I supposed to eat to lose weight?” These are just some of the many questions nurses routinely answer for our patients. With half of our nation's population living with at least one chronic health disease such as diabetes, obesity, or cardiovascular disease, patients need help in preventing and managing these diseases, especially as treatments and technologies become increasingly complex. Patients also need to understand the rules and regulations related to health insurance that can be confusing to non-health professionals. The role of nurse health coach has emerged as one solution for assisting patients who are confused and frustrated with healthcare. In her article Nurse coach: Health resource for this millennium,” Susan Schenk writes, The nurse coach role can be defined as an expanded professional interaction based on mutual respect of the knowledge and skills that both nurse and client bring to the situation.” Several organizations have weighed in on the need for nurse health coaches, including Independence Blue Cross, Samueli Institute, University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing, International Council of Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau International, New York State Nurse Practice Act, Duke University, California Institute for Integral Studies, the National Nurses Health Institute, and the National Holistic Nurses Association. So what do nurse health coaches do? Role of nurse health coach Health education is a primary role for the registered nurse, but the nurse health coach uses the coaching model to expand on teaching disease prevention and health promotion strategies. He or she also coaches patients through an illness to encourage a transition from dependence to independence when possible. Coaching is a natural fit for health promotion. As Mary Jo Kreitzer, founder and director of the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota, explains, The concept of coaching is very consistent with the idea of encouraging and empowering individuals to take charge of their health.” Nurse health coaches focus on chronic disease prevention through lifestyle and integrative healthcare techniques. They conduct client visits, use motivational interviewing techniques, and model correct strategies necessary to help patients reach self-management goals. Nurse coaches also complete follow-up visits, track progress toward health goals, and serve as a resource or consultant for clients. Another important role is to act as the patient's liaison with the primary care provider and other health professionals. Becoming a nurse health coach Nurse health coaches can work for insurance companies, hospitals, clinics, and as private consultants in homes, clinics, fitness clubs, and business settings. Areas of expertise include chronic disease management and prevention, cardiac disease, congestive heart failure, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive lung diseases, kinesiology, exercise, nutrition, and behavior change theories as well as treatments and medications related to each topic. Although nurse coaching is not a new practice, as it had been promoted by nurse theorist Betty Neuman, nurses need to expand their visibility as our nation's healthcare focus moves towards the emerging wellness model. If you want to become a nurse health coach, consider becoming certified through the National Institute of Whole Health for this rewarding role. Selected references Luck S. Changing the health of our nation—the role of nurse coaches. Altern Ther Health Med. 2019;16(5):68-70. Schenk S. Nurse coach: Healthcare resource for this millennium. Nurs Forum. 2002;37(3):14-20. Tracey Long is the director of clinical education at DaVita HealthCare Partners.

Hello All, There has been a question floating around in the Holistic Nurse threads asking about "What jobs are available for Integrative Nurses?" In an attempt to provide specific, helpful information for those looking for positions I am cutting and pasting a comment in case you don't find that particular thread. Hope it is helpful: What is important to know if you are looking for employment in the "holistic" nursing field is that today you won't find a listing under "Holistic Nurse Wanted". "Holistic" is how all nurses are trained - to look at the whole person - just like Florence Nightingale did. What happened since her day is that specialization has taken over nursing just like it has with the physician's role. Today, being a Whole Health trained nurse or Integrated Health or Whole Person Health Nurse or a nurse educator trained with health coaching skills is what you will most likely find being asked for. The healthcare mandates have put a huge focus on disease prevention and patient health education, as well as patient advocacy. Many of our nurses are finding that being trained as a patient health educator and advocate, with coaching skills, is what the jobs are looking for. The insurance companies call patient health educators "health coaches" but they are looking for the nurse to be able to educate and facilitate the patients self-care from both a clinical as well as behavioral skill set. If you want to find a job in what is called "holistic health" field do consider having patient health education, coaching skills along with patient advocacy training. If you go to indeed.com or simplyhired.com and ask for "nurse coach" "patient educator" "nurse educator" "wellness educator nurse" "wellness nurse" "nurse advocate" or any combination thereof you will see where the jobs are in this field. Nurses are the #1 preferred educators, advocates and coaches so the good news is you're at least half way there! Hope this helps ~

What is important to know if you are looking for employment in the "holistic" nursing field is that today you won't find a listing under "Holistic Nurse Wanted". "Holistic" is how all nurses are trained - to look at the whole person - just like Florence Nightingale did. What happened since her day is that specialization has taken over nursing just like it has with the physician's role. Today, being a Whole Health trained nurse or Whole Person Health Nurse or a nurse trained with health coaching skills is what you will most likely find being asked for. The healthcare mandates have put a huge focus on disease prevention and patient health education as well as patient advocacy. Many of our nurses are finding that being trained as a patient health educator and advocate, with coaching skills, is what the jobs are looking for. The insurance companies call patient health educators "health coaches" but they are looking for the nurse to be able to educate and facilitate the patients self-care from both a clinical as well as behavioral skill set. If you want to find a job in what is called "holistic health" field do consider having patient health education, coaching skills along with patient advocacy training. If you go to indeed.com or simplyhired.com and ask for "nurse coach" "patient educator" "nurse educator" "wellness educator nurse" "wellness nurse" "nurse advocate" or any combination thereof you will see where the jobs are in this field.

Hello livtek, Want to share with you that our organization has as a consultant one of the 4 most recognized billing and coding compliance experts in the country and he has been asked by our learners and other learners from various coaching programs about health coaching, CCP and insurance billing. (we have a billing and coding manual for health education we provide our graduates) He has started emphatically that NO COACHING training including CCP will allow for the legal billing for coaching services and that if someone does bill for them and a random audit (which is very common) should occur the person who did the billing would be responsible for returning all monies charged. This is an important piece of information for you to research as people are getting into legal issues trying to bill for coaching. Health coaches cannot get liability insurance or NPI numbers. Hope this helps, Conor

You may find this Press Release very interesting regarding a new approach for addressing chronic disease diagnosis and treatment - and an application of the Whole Health training: Whole Health Pioneer Announces Partnership with CrowdMed.com, Innovators of Crowdsourced Medical Diagnosis Conor

Hello jjsc0204, Thanks for your question. The AHNCC Board Certified Nurse Coach exam provides a coaching certificate. If you are looking for a good coaching program there are several out there recommended by the American Holistic Nurses Association. Because we do provide whole health coaching skills in our 400 hour curriculum, NIWH is approved by both AHNA and AHNCC for our courses to be applied to both the Holistic Nurse Exam and the Board Certified Nurse Coach test. With the Nurse Coach you also need to have mentored hours with an AHNCC certified Nurse Coach. We have an RN, PhD mentor we refer our grads to and she provides a significant discount to NIWH learners. So, to more clearly answer your question the AHNCC Nurse Coach program is focused on providing nurses with coaching certification. We provide a disease prevention, patient health education and patient advocacy training, which we call our 3-in-1 program. It provides certificates in both Patient Health Advocacy and Whole Health Coaching Skills and a certification (this requires case studies and a Final Paper project) in Whole Health Education (patient education). Hope this is helpful for you, Conor

Hello PaleoNurse, Apologies, I forgot to identify that health coaching is not allowable for health insurance billing or reimbursement. While health coaching skills are an excellent tool to have in any practice, health coaching is not regulated in terms of prerequisites, length of training, the quality of the training or of the instructors, nor is there any national oversight or regulation. While there are attempts being made to regulate health coaching, it is believed the gasps among the many national coaching programs will make regulation very challenging. In addition, health coaching skills are now being co-opted into nursing and medical school trainings and many in the profession see health coaching as soon being integrated with and referred as Lifestyle Medicine, which is the domain of physicians and licensed medical professionals. Health Coaching is currently more of a skills training than a profession or career. At this time. any individual, can call themselves a health coach, and services offered under health coaching are not eligible for reimbursement. If a professional bills for their health care services, but they are actually providing health coaching instead, this is a red flag auditing issue and can have serious consequences. Currently, all services must be documented with patient medical records and treatment/office visit notes. With the Pay4Performance mandates, many practices require the patient sign for the services they have received for each visit. There is a free video on our website all about Health Care Reform Mandates and the services insurance companies cover, some under the title of "health coaches" but those health coaches are all providing disease prevention and patient education services and are duly credentialed and licensed. I hope this information is helpful, Conor from Program Services, National Institute of Whole Health

Hello PaleoNurse, Thank you for your interest in our patient health education program. I hope my response is helpful in clarifying your questions. The National Institute of Whole Health is an almost 40 year old, post professional medical continuing education, research and development program which offers peer-reviewed courses and programs in patient health education and disease prevention. While our curriculums do include health behavioral change skills and training (which is now called health coaching), our primary focus is on disease prevention, evidence-based patient health education and patient advocacy. We are not a coaching program and our certification is in Whole Health Education. Applicants, in order to be offered enrollment in the program, must have their professional credentials independently verified. Only licensed, credentials professionals qualify as this is a post-professional additional scope of practice that has professional liability and a secondary NPI number, for coding and billing, available to our qualified graduates. The coding and billing is done by the certified graduate, but physicians and other primary providers can also bill for the graduate's services. NIWH provides a coding and billing manual to its graduates for this purpose. There are many advantages to secondary billing (which includes Flex-Spending and other pre-tax dollars for health care spending) that include not having the cost of a billing service, not having to accept discounted reimbursement and having direct payment at the time of service. This is not a nursing specialty alone (although the vast majority of our learners are nurses). Rather this is a specialty for those with a scope of practice that includes patient health education. This training expands a nurses scope of practice either outside or inside her/his practice of nursing within a medical setting. Many nurses are practicing outside of a medical environment and in many states this can put their license in jeopardy, and can become a problem if they do not have a liability coverage to cover the services they are offering. We recommend to all nurses that they check with their state licensing board regarding their scope of practice in their state and often nurses do not know they cannot offer particular services. For instance, Aromatherapy or Reiki practitioners may have, in a specific state, to have specific training or certification to provide that service and cannot reply on their nurse training to do so. This is important regarding the legal and ethical aspects of any service being offered. I hope this information is helpful and if you would like more detailed information we would be happy to send you an e-mail with Quick Links to various pages, samples of courses, our research, accreditation, etc. All the best -