Roundtable #17: How Health and Well-being Coaching Can Drive Brain Health and Workforce Resilience
In August, the Business Collaborative for Brain Health convened to discuss how health and well-being coaching can drive brain health and workforce resilience.
Featured speaker for this roundtable:
Dr. Margaret Moore AKA “Coach Meg” is the Founder & CEO of Wellcoaches Corporation, co-founder of the Institute of Coaching, McLean Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Wellcoaches has trained over 16,000 coaches in 50+ countries. Over the last 25 years, Coach Meg has co-led the creation of national standards for coach training and credentialing, authored foundational texts in the field and advocated for integration of coaching into clinical care and reimbursement frameworks.
Key Takeaways
Health and Well-being Coaching is Becoming a Recognized Profession
Establishing health and well-being coaching requires defining competencies, developing training programs, validating protocols and building certification standards.
Coaching is positioned to fill a major gap in healthcare by helping patients identify, set and achieve their personal health goals which is an area that has historically been overlooked in traditional clinical practice.
Exciting developments are underway to establish health coaching as a professional service within the healthcare system, particularly regarding billing and Medicare payment.
Health and well-being coaches now have an NPI code and Category III CPT codes are in place for an initial one-hour session, a planning session, ongoing 30-minute follow-up sessions, and group sessions.
A key strategy is to integrate coaching codes into the Medicare Chronic Care Management (CCM) program. Coach Meg proposes that coaches can deliver CCM services, particularly the "incident to" clinical staff services.
Coach Meg has completed a fifth submission to CMS in 2025, with a strategy to position the coach as the professional who helps patients deploy lifestyle medicine and well-being to prevent, manage, and treat lifestyle-related chronic conditions. The goal is to provide sustained support, as most coaching interventions show a need for maintenance and booster sessions over time.
The Evidence Behind Health and Well-being Coaching
More than 220 randomized controlled studies confirm that coaching interventions lead to sustained health improvements in conditions such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke prevention and dementia risk.
Studies demonstrate effectiveness across diverse populations, including Medicare beneficiaries and underserved groups.
Current data shows that less than 20% of people over 35 engage in four of the top five health behaviors (diet, exercise, weight, non-smoking, and low alcohol consumption)—underscoring the urgency of scaling coaching models.
Coaching Unlocks Optimal Brain Function and Leadership Capacity
Coach Meg emphasizes that “flow” states, or periods of deep focus, are as essential to the brain as exercise is to the body.
Coaching helps individuals build agility, resilience and creativity by intentionally engaging different brain networks.
These same capacities underpin effective leadership. Coach Meg’s framework outlines nine leadership competencies—from conscious and authentic to relational and transformational—that integrate well-being and performance.
Progress to Date
Reimbursement: Ongoing advocacy with CMS seeks to integrate coaching into Medicare chronic care management programs, enabling coaches to support patients with multiple chronic conditions at scale.
Workplace Impact: Randomized trials show that coaching can reduce physician burnout and improve professional well-being, signaling opportunities for broader employer adoption.
Measurement Tools: The new Well-Being Coaching Inventory offers a practical pre/post measure to track progress across mind, body, work and life domains.
Grand Scale Challenge: Doubling the percentage of Americans engaged in top health behaviors will require a coordinated approach, combining coaching with supportive technologies, policies and leadership.
From Coaching to Collective Brain Health
Coach Meg noted, “Changing human behavior is hard work and coaching provides the structure, compassion and creativity people need to succeed.”
The roundtable discussion also addressed the potential of AI to scale coaching, particularly in corporate environments, where mental health issues are prevalent. Robert from Milken noted that a senior leader at Google reported that 10% of his staff were on mental health leave at any given time, highlighting the urgent need for scalable solutions.
Coach Meg believes that AI, enriched with a broader psychological database, can provide more robust coaching support, working in a "nice blend" with human coaches. This hybrid model would allow for widespread access to coaching, even to those who may not currently be offered it.
Another key point was the importance of connecting brain health to work performance, a concept widely accepted in sports but less so in the knowledge-based workforce. Coach Meg reinforced the idea that brain performance is an intentional activity, and that practices like creating flow states are essential for energy and creativity. The conversation also touched upon the need for a viable business model to fund these services, with Coach Meg suggesting that integrating coaching into existing chronic care management programs could be a starting point at all ages, but particularly 35+.
Ultimately, the consensus was that a multi-lever approach, combining human expertise, technology, and supportive policies, is necessary to achieve a significant impact on population health.
Additional resources from Coach Meg
· Coaching in Medical Education
· Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life
· How a wellness coach changes your mind
Updates from the Collaborative
This month the Collaborative welcomed its newest member, BetterBrain. BetterBrain is a modern preventive neurology service that helps individuals assess and reduce their dementia and Alzheimer’s risk. Through a comprehensive at-home or in-lab blood panel, cognitive tests, and personalized coaching from dementia-prevention specialists, they create science-backed plans to help optimize brain health and delay—or even prevent—cognitive decline.
Collaborative members were also encouraged to join two key events focused on the future of brain health and the brain economy: the Brain Economy Summit and the EBC Brain Days. These events are part of the Science Summit at the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Brain Economy Summit – September 24 This invitation-only event will be held at the Steelcase building in NYC. It will spotlight cutting-edge ideas and investment strategies that are driving the brain economy forward. The summit is dedicated to shaping the "Global Brain Economy Strategy" and will focus on the investments required to unlock its full potential.
EBC Brain Days – September 25–26 Hosted at CURE, this global convening is in partnership with organizations such as the European Brain Council, the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC), and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s. The event will focus on global action around building brain health and brain capital. The event will feature discussions on science, policy, and economic factors related to brain health and will inform a Global Brain Health Action Plan.