Blue Zones and Healthly Partner to Launch Lifestyle Medicine Model
New Blue Zones Health model combines research-backed longevity principles with value-based healthcare delivery to help people live longer, healthier lives
Longevity research company Blue Zones has announced its partnership with Healthly, the creator of a successful value-based economic model of lifestyle medicine. In its new lifestyle medicine delivery model called Blue Zones Health, the combination of the two organizations aims to help people live their longest and best lives possible.
Blue Zones, founded by National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner in 2004, is rooted in research on individuals who live the longest and happiest lives in the world, their environments titled “Blue Zones.” Buettner has published numerous books on his research, The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones of Happiness and The Blue Zones.
Since 2004, Blue Zones has worked with numerous cities and counties to create healthier environments, reducing obesity and tobacco use rates as well as saving millions of dollars on healthcare expenses.
According to Blue Zones stakeholders, every few years, a new venture sets out to “disrupt healthcare,” an industry that costs the United States $4.5 trillion a year. However, despite best efforts, experts assert that healthcare stakeholders remain in siloes and disruptive transformation has been elusive.
Well Care, Not Sick Care
Best known for its Power 9® principles of longevity, Blue Zones will incorporate its over 20 years of research into Blue Zones Health, focusing on treating the roots of chronic diseases and offering virtual and in-person care across the country. In addition, Blue Zones Health will work with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) to provide evidence-based physician certifications and training.
Ben Quirk, the CEO of Healthly, says the two organizations share similar goals, including patient support and a focus on “well care” instead of just “sick care.”
“At Healthly, we are committed to providing physicians and patients the tools, support, and incentives to reverse and treat sickness and diseases with lifestyle medicine,” Quirk said. “This partnership with Blue Zones, with their proven expertise in reaching people and improving well-being at the population level, perfectly aligns with our mission to empower our patients and providers for better health, economic outcomes, and quality of life for all.”
CEO of Blue Zones Ben Leedle emphasizes that this collaboration is a game-changer for the lifestyle medicine industry.
“We are thrilled to partner with Healthly to make the lifesaving Blue Zones Power 9® principles even more accessible,” Leedle said.
“Our focus has been working outside clinic walls in applying the Blue Zones research to communities so cities, counties and regions get healthier together.” By joining forces with Healthly, we are merging medical care with the life-changing Blue Zones research to help people live better, longer. With Healthly’s unparalleled clinical expertise in delivering lifestyle medicine with improved patient outcomes, we can bridge the current chasm between the health of the community and the care of the individual.”
In addition to working with the ACLM for physician certifications, Blue Zones Health will also partner with workplace consulting and global research organization Gallup.