P R O V I D E R
IFM is pleased to announce our newest partner, Dr. Stephen Hoelscher, a double board certified physician in internal medicine and obesity and weight loss.
During the years that Dr. Stephen has been practicing as an Internal Medicine Physician, he’s discovered something important, something that he believes can make a difference not only in peoples’ lives, but also in our culture. He’s seen how weight gain exacerbates a myriad of health problems, illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and COPD, and even secondary diseases like heart disease and stroke. That’s when he became board certified as a weight loss specialist. “I want to keep people out of the hospital,” he says. Part of the Iowa Obesity Society, he has a multipronged approach. “Obesity isn’t just a choice. It’s a disease. Some weight gain factors are out of the patient’s control. It’s complicated.” And his method works. Some of his patients have lost 30 to 40 percent of their body weight. His affiliation with IFM allows him to use all of the weight loss tools available, but his biggest ally is the patient themselves. A proponent of informed consent, he wants to get people the entire picture of medications and treatments, presenting both sides of the topic. IFM promotes that same mentality. “That’s what I want to be a part of. I want to really get the education part down right, gathering a lot of information, working with IFM’s health coaches and psychology department to train a patient’s brain to make weight loss sustainable. I want patients to take home their own care.”. Actually, Dr. Stephen wants to change the world. What rewards him most is seeing patients perk up and start to enjoy life. He maintains that “Every primary care physician should be doing this stuff. It’s that important. We can change our culture for the better.” He’s found the right place. |
More About Stephen
Specialty: Internal Medicine with certification in Weight Loss Medicine Ages seen: 16 and above. Men/Women/both: Both, men and women. Education:
My Certifications:
Conditions I treat:
Services I offer:
Professional Approach to the Holistic and Integrative care model: I prioritize learning the most I can from a patient when first meeting them so I can be able to incorporate as comprehensive of an approach in a person’s care as I can moving forward. I care very much about educating patients about conditions they have in order to better understand them. I believe this helps one to be more involved with their care which will lead to better outcomes with their health. I also value informed consent and patient autonomy when making decisions regarding their health. One of the most important parts of my job is to do no harm to anyone. I believe fostering a good and professional relationship with each other creates more trust leading to better adherence to the treatment plan we decide to implement together and overall better health. I always challenge my patients to be the best they can be so they can live as full of a life as possible. |