Listen to this articleWebFMD, is an online community focused on providing evidence-based health information on Functional Medicine. Their goal is to increase public awareness about the functional medicine approach and create a knowledge base both patients and physicians can use. Below is our recent interview with Amir Ginsberg, the Founder of WebFMD:
Q: Amir, could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to WebFMD?
A: WebFMD, is an online Functional Medicine evidence-based community. Our goal is to create an extensive knowledge base that increases public awareness about the functional medicine approach.
Our site is a place where the public can learn about safe and effective treatment options for their health concerns, find functional medicine physicians near them, or speak directly with a doctor online.
It is also a centralized data hub for physicians to stay updated with the latest functional and integrative medicine trends, as well as share their research, clinical experience and approach with others.
To make this a reality, we have partnered with the nation’s leading functional medicine experts. This collaboration provides a platform for the doctors to share their experience and expertise with our community and their colleagues. Many of these physicians are utilizing new and innovative approaches with their patients with remarkable results. These cutting-edge treatments are expected to become mainstream in the future. We want to help doctors share these treatments so that true health can become a reality for more patients.
We are very grateful for the opportunity to share this life changing information.
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Q: Can anyone have access to your functional medicine community? What services do you offer?
A: Our functional medicine community is and will always be open to the public.
At our core, we are a research-based health technology company. We have the technology and the talent to capture future health gaps, and the best methods and format to deliver the information to the right audience, in the way it will be best perceived.
Our proprietary “effortless process” makes it easy for doctors to write and publish their clinical experiences and share their approach with the public. The result are highly engaging articles that deliver the best online experience for both humans, social media and search engines, while still keeping the information accurate.
Our process saves the doctors from having to spend so much time creating high quality content to share their message with the public. Whether it is a new treatment they have developed, a book they have written or other innovative insights they want to share, we know how to seamlessly combine the medical and the online patient experience to deliver the most engaging and accurate health content.
This means the doctors can focus and use their time, skills and talent to save and improve people’s lives.
Q: What exactly is Functional Medicine? Can you walk us through the concept?
A: Functional medicine is an evidence-based approach that focuses on identifying the root cause of disease, and addressing it with personalized, patient-centered treatment.
Conventional symptom-based medicine offers valuable solutions for short term acute conditions. You break your arm, for example, the doctor at the ER knows exactly how to diagnose and treat the problem.
Caring for chronic conditions, however, is a different story, especially when the root cause of the health issue is unclear. The number of people who suffer from complex chronic diseases such as type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s, autoimmunity, and others continues to rise. Many people find themselves dealing with an endless health journey, going from one doctor to another, just to end up more confused.
The functional medicine approach sees patients as complex whole beings, not as diagnostic label associated with a collection of symptoms. As such, the treatment that two people need for the same disease can be completely different. For truly effective and individualized treatment, factors such as genetics, environment, nutrition and lifestyle are evaluated to determine the best approach for each patient.
The ability to personalize treatment is a very powerful concept especially since certain lifestyle and dietary choices can activate or suppress genes that cause disease. With the right lifestyle choices, you can turn off “bad” genes, and turn on protective genes.
The functional medicine approach gives doctors the tools to create a tailored plan that considers genetic variations and other individual factors.
Functional medicine does not exclude conventional medicine. Instead, it combines the scientific knowledge of the Western approach with a holistic view of health to treat the root cause of disease. In fact, most of the functional medicine doctors we work with, are medical doctors that combine conventional practice with a functional medicine approach so they can provide better care for their patients
Q: There’s an option for a “virtual meeting” with the functional medicine practitioners. How does it work and what are the benefits compared to visiting a doctor’s office?
A: Telemedicine’s role in healthcare has grown and is expected to continue to rise in popularity to make receiving care more efficient.
Many functional medicine physicians offer the option of a “virtual meeting” via the phone, skype, and other online communication methods. Meeting your doctor without having to drive all the way to their office (or wait for an appointment) is very convenient and can be very helpful in certain situations. It makes it easy for example, to touch base, ask questions, or give patients a peace of mind during times where they need immediate answers to their concerns. When properly used, virtual meeting can strengthen the patient-physician relationships, which is a key functional medicine principle.
Some conditions, however, may require physical examination. During the physical examination, your doctor may find physical signs you may not be aware of. These signs may be critical in order to correctly diagnose the root cause of your issues.
To learn more about these two options:
Q: What are your core values?
A: At our core, we are a research company. We are extremely passionate and committed to the quality of the information we publish on our website. In our process to ensure we are creating the highest quality content, we have defined five core values that every article we publish must meet:
- Evidence based, written by high authority medical professionals.
- Safety: First, to do no harm (Primum non nocere). We will not publish unsafe information.
- Actionable. We see so many health articles on the web that do not help the reader. When possible, we are always looking for safe actions the reader can take after reading the article. Even if there are no actual things you can do, you will always gain high quality information to share with your doctor or a list of medical experts that can help you in your journey.
- Treat the cause, not the symptoms.
- Unbiased.
With these five values in mind, we believe we have created a very powerful resource to guide people on their path to lifelong wellness.
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Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: We see ourselves as the main functional and integrative medicine hub on the web, with a focus on increasing the awareness of these different options to improve people’s health and well-being, in any easy to digest format anyone can read.
We are very excited to keep sharing the amazing work of some of the best functional medicine doctors in the country with those in need of effective health solutions.
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