In 2007, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Medical Association (AMA) co-launched Exercise is Medicine® (EIM) – a United States-based health initiative that has since been coordinated by ACSM. The vision of EIM is to make physical activity assessment and promotion a standard in clinical care, connecting health care with evidence-based physical activity resources for people everywhere of all abilities. The scientifically proven benefits of physical activity remain indisputable, and they can be as powerful as any pharmaceutical agent in preventing and treating a range of chronic diseases and medical conditions.
Within two years of EIM's launch, representatives from international public health, medical and scientific associations asked ACSM to expand its initial scope beyond the United States and begin a multi-national collaboration. EIM now exists in ~40 countries around the globe.
Key EIM steps for health care providers (and their medical teams) include:
Using the principles of continuous improvement science to guide the efforts of ACSM/EIM staff, the focus areas or fundamentals of EIM are: