Navigating the Wild West of Wellness Law [Podcast Series]
[:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Barbara Zabawa
Barbara Zabawa is a Wellness Lawyer, Entrepreneur, Author and Law Professor.
[1:08] Differences between healthcare and wellness law
“Well, the glaring perspective on the surface between healthcare and wellness is that, from a legal perspective, healthcare is highly regulated, wellness is not, which is why we call it the Wild West. From a regulatory perspective, no one is from really paying close attention to what's going on in the wellness world. So there's a lot of nefarious activity that is happening.”
[7:01] Use of HSAs/FSAs to pay for wellness expenses
“And then with the IRS, if you spend money on fitness or diet programs that doesn't have any sort of medical element to it, so no prescription or recommendation by a licensed physician that you engage in that activity as part of a treatment protocol, then you're on your own. There's, you're not going to be able to use your HSA or your FSA dollars to pay for those expenses.”
[10:49] The impact of the PHIT Act on wellness law
“I celebrate things like the PHIT Act, but at the same time, the lawyer in me doesn't want to see a slippery slope and have…it's the the beginning of well, now people are using tax dollars, tax-favored accounts, to spend on wellness. Maybe we need to start looking more closely at regulating wellness. Now, I'm, don't want the Wild West necessarily. I mean, I don't think that's a good thing either. But again, as I said at the beginning, I'd like to see a balance, and not go into the complete direction that healthcare went, which is a law that pretty much, that dictates everything on how it needs to be done.”
[14:51] Working within the law as an exercise professional
“If you try to treat, diagnose, cure, some illness, injury, disease, that's the practice of medicine. And as a fitness professional, you are not licensed to practice medicine.”
[18:56] Establishing trust through standards
“The law does permit these otherwise competing individuals or organizations to convene to develop standards to improve the trustworthiness and effectiveness of whatever industry that they're working In.”
[22:45] Developing standards for exercise professionals
“It's having those accredited credentials that would then lead to this recognition by others outside of the industry that, Oh, you, I see that you have met these standards, that you're affiliated with this group, with this, you have this certification, and that's recognized as credible. So I can trust you more, because that is an important piece of it.”
[25:59] Meeting the wellness needs of empowered consumers
“The nefarious wellness practitioner, the ones that are going to give wellness a bad name, wouldn't turn away the vulnerable patient. In fact, they may prey upon the vulnerable patient, and that is wrong and should not be tolerated, and…so the wellness practitioner that wants to give wellness a good name will focus on the empowered consumer, the consumer that even if they have some kind of ailment or condition, they are seeing someone in conventional medical care, they are doing what they can on that side of things, but they want to just empower themselves with additional information, additional tools, additional resources to elevate their well being.”
