The 7 Best Executive Wellness Programs for Women (2023)

Miller Familienpavillon at the Cleveland Clinic

AndWertcoveredExecutive health programsFive years ago, our story was largely based on the experiences of male patients. Today, some of the nation's leading hospitals and medical entrepreneurs address the specific screening and healthcare needs of leading women, including birth control, perimenopause, menopause, bone density, breast cancer and gynecological.

READ MORE: 10 Best Executive Wellness Programs

"Women want to feel that they are being heard, that their needs are being met, and that they are part of a program that was not designed just for men and rigged for women," says Dr. Roxanne Sukol of the Cleveland Clinic. "Women shouldn't have to wear a man's golf shirt to receive excellent medical treatment through a leadership health program."

Here are some of C-Suite's best women's health resources:

cleveland clinic

Cleveland Clinic's Executive Health program measures patients' vital statistics and uses sophisticated tests to assess their risk of disease, but also focuses on self-care and emotional well-being. “In addition to work and home, my patients also think about how it all fits together so that everyone feels included and a part of the whole. They do it at home, at work and wherever they go," says preventive medicine specialist Dr. Roxana Sukol. "Women tend to have different presentations of stress, depression, anxiety and cardiovascular risk factors. One of the overall goals of our program is to help patients understand, identify, and implement changes that reduce risk factors.” The Cleveland Clinic also has locations in Toronto, Canada, and Weston, Florida.

Contact: 216.444.5707,my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/wellness/executive-health

Cooper Clinic

The Dallas-based Cooper Clinic places a high priority on evaluating heart health, so patients can look forward to a treadmill stress test, which gives doctors information about cardiovascular risk, blood pressure, and heart rate. blood pressure, blood pressure response to exercise, physical condition, and other subtle indicators of risk. like poor heart rate recovery, says Dr. Riva Rahl, a preventive medicine physician at Cooper Clinic. Female patients also undergo bone density testing because "many women with osteoporosis or osteopenia have no idea that their bones are not as strong as they were or could be." Rahl checks vitamin D levels for a deficiency that is very common, can cause fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and "has many health implications related to the risk of heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disease, and bone health."

Contact: 866.906.2667,cooperaerobics.com/Cooper-Clinic.aspx

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medicine woman

Yale-trained internist, Dr. Lisa Larkin is dedicated to providing gender-specific healthcare services at the C-suite level to women ages 45-65. “It became very clear to me that traditional health executive programs don't really address women's health needs. The focus in medicine and research has always been that women are 'little men'. That's clearly not the case," said Larkin, director of corporate women's health at Cincinnati'strisaluHealth Care System. Last year, Larkin launched Ms. Medicine, a Cincinnati-based medical concierge service for women's health. She hopes to open another office in the Washington DC/N.Virginia area in early 2020.

Like other traditional executive health programs, Larkin's includes assessments of a patient's weight, blood pressure and cardiovascular health. In addition to a complete physical exam, lab tests, cardiac imaging, and mammograms, Larkin gives patients a comprehensive questionnaire about aging, pelvic floor problems, and hormonal changes. She then guides her patients through concerns about perimenopause, menopause, and bone health. As a breast cancer survivor, Larkin is passionate about assessing her patients' breast cancer risk by assessing their risks using a series of complex algorithms. He also addresses sexual health and aging pelvic floor issues. “In traditional executive health programs, nobody touches them with a 10-foot pole,” she says, adding that traditional medicine still lags behind in training internists to care for middle-aged women. "When more women are educated and empowered to say, 'I need primary gender care,' we will see more training and better care."

Contact:513.760.5511,msmedicine.com

MDVIP

Consistency is key to care at MDVIP, a private service that connects executives with one of 1,000 physicians nationwide and boasts of giving patients same-day appointments, even while traveling. “Our patients undergo a variety of different exams and sit with their doctor several times a year for an hour or two. The doctor helps them make the best health plan throughout the year,” says Dr. Andrea Klemes, MDVIP's medical director. In patients, Klemes focuses on testing levels of vitamin D, which affects bone health; educate patients about cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, and inflammation; and preliminary screening for diabetes, as well as screening for gastrointestinal problems and food intolerance. Another important step for many women: creating nutrition and exercise plans to counteract the drop in basal metabolic rate during menopause. MDVIP doctors use a women's health lab to check for things like hormone levels and thyroid disorders, which are more common in women. A former Procter & Gamble executive specializing in personal health care, women's health, digestive health, and bone health, Klemes and her colleagues have become increasingly interested in inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, as well as the study of inflammation. and the microbiome.

Contact: 844-393-6070,mdvip.com

Northwest Executive Health

“Women have far more screening issues to discuss than our male patients, and they are becoming increasingly complex. Should you get a mammogram at 40 and 50? How often? What is the correct frequency for Pap tests and pelvic exams? Do you have low bone density and when do we start treatment?” says Dr. Lorrie Elliott, medical director of Northwestern Executive Health in Chicago. Patients begin with a detailed questionnaire and 30-minute phone call with a physician six weeks prior to their full-day visit, which includes lab work, discussions of medical issues, meetings with an exercise physiologist and nutritionist, a review of lab results, and a plan for sleep, nutrition, and stress management.

A crucial part of the approach, Elliott says, is distilling complex and sometimes conflicting medical guidelines for procedures like mammograms, genetic testing and bone density scans, while maintaining a healthy skepticism about the latest screening equipment. “The conversations we have around detection and new technologies are becoming more complex. With healthcare being competitive and technology advancing, every hospital wants something new and shiny, but they are often marketed to the public without much data behind it.”

Maintaining daily well-being is increasingly challenging for executives who frequently suffer from jet lag and lack of sleep, cross multiple time zones for meetings, and rise early and stay up late to make phone calls across continents. Family commitments, Elliott says, exacerbate his patients' fatigue. “While many male executives have housewives to take care of the home, the vast majority of female executives do not have housewives. They run their business, their home, their children. Even with housekeeping, the vast majority of my bosses can tell me how much milk is left in the fridge.”

Contact: 312.926.1300,nordwesternexecutivehealth.com

Johns Hopkins Executive and Preventive Health Program

The newly renovated Johns Hopkins Executive & Preventive Health Program Center takes the same holistic approach for male and female patients, says Dr. Sarah Clever, an internist who has treated executives for 16 years. "One of the things I focus on the most is helping patients realize that their behavior makes a much bigger difference than any test or evaluation I can offer them. Regular vigorous exercise and maintaining a healthy weight will do more by a woman than regular mammograms," says Clever. "The data supports mammography for early diagnosis, but I always try to steer the conversation toward the question, 'What can we do to keep you healthier?'" Clever, for For example, he advises executives who travel constantly to include a seven-minute workout in their integration into daily life rather than stop training because they don't have time for the gym All the patients at the center go to an internist, they are draws blood, sees a dermatologist, ophthalmologist, nutritionist and exercise consultant, as well as diagnostic and lab tests.Still, Clever says, the core value of the program ma is to work with business leaders to identify stressors and implement the necessary lifestyle changes. “More tests canto feelmore thoroughly, but not necessarily alwaysbetterInformation."

Contact: 410.955.9819,hopkinsmedicine.org/executive_health

Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health, NYU

dr. Caren Behar, Director of Clinical Operations at the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at NYU, is proud to include extensive patient records. “You get a lot more in two hours than you do in 20 minutes. The collection of personal, family and social histories puts patients in context. Someone who is a CEO has different stressors than an artist or a doctor,” says Behar, a 35-year-old practicing physician. After an in-depth interview, Behar oversees an extensive testing program for her primary patients, beginning with a mammogram, which she believes is essential. "I tell most of my patients, if you get a test, forget everything else and get a mammogram, even for women in their 40s." The second most important test, she says, is a hemoglobin A1C test, which measures the average of the measurements. blood sugar for three months and is an important indicator of prediabetes, especially after menopause.

One of the benefits of executive-level testing, Behar says, is that it includes once-standard preventative screening tools like chest X-rays and EKGs, which health insurance today typically doesn't cover unless the patient have a qualifying medical condition. Another benefit, Behar adds, is the ability to refer high-risk patients to NYU's cancer screening center. “I send patients for genetic testing or screening every week. If people have mutations, we can take preventative measures."

With all the impressive technology, perhaps the Behar's true value lies in its accessible approach. “I give my cell phone number to most patients. You text me all the time. I prefer. I'd rather they had access to me any day of the week."

Contact: 646.754.3300,nyulangone.org/locations/joan-h-tisch-center-for-womens-health