Holistic Health can be defined as an approach to life. Rather than focusing on illness or specific parts of the body, this ancient approach to health considers the whole person and how he or she interacts with his or her environment. Holistic health emphasizes the connection between mind, body, and spirit.

As market forces create new value-based healthcare delivery models, it is increasingly apparent that treating a patient’s clinical issues alone is just not going to cut it. In a study, 85% of physicians said, it is as important to address a patient’s psycho-social needs as their medical conditions to achieve optimal health. Conversely, 80 per cent of the same respondents said they don’t know how to do that.[1]

A truly holistic approach to care management incorporates an individual’s social determinants – Do they understand their medications? Are they taking them? If not, why not? Can they get transportation to the dialysis centre? Are they ready to quit smoking? Do they live alone? This can be more easily achieved with information technology tools that provide comprehensive clinical protocols and assessments that capture these psycho-social variables and help drive individualized care plans that capture those things the patient is ready to focus on and remove barriers to treatment compliance.

A holistic doctor may use all forms of health care, from conventional medication to alternative therapies, to treat a patient. For example, when a person suffering from migraine headaches pays a visit to a holistic doctor, instead of walking out solely with medications, the doctor will likely take a look at all the potential factors that may be causing the person’s headaches, such as other health problems, diet and sleep habits, stress and personal problems, and preferred spiritual practices. The treatment plan may involve drugs to relieve symptoms, but also lifestyle modifications to help prevent the headaches from recurring.

Protocols can be built that are highly tuned to a holistic approach to care management and offer the best opportunity to achieve triple aim goals of improved patient experience, optimize health outcomes, and lower cost. They also enable social workers, nurses, pharmacists, and other care team members to focus on the very patients who most need their support. Workshops and courses can also be conducted to create awareness and improve knowledge about holistic medicine.

Eventually, we can utilize this concept on a larger scale to assess an entire population’s health status and apply data that provides context-sensitive information about the people in that population and their readiness to change. This can help healthcare providers more accurately target interventions where and when they are most likely going to make a difference.

Holistic healthcare is already impacting our healthcare system and is bound to have greater importance going forward. It’s no longer enough to know what a person is. We need to know who they are, what made them that way, and why. Only then can we truly make an impact.

[1] Health care’s blindside, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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