To make physical activity and exercise a standard part of a global disease prevention and treatment medical paradigm.
For physical activity to be considered by all health care providers as a vital sign in every patient visit, and that patients are effectively counseled and referred as to their physical activity and health needs, thus leading to overall improvement in the public's health and long-term reduction in health care cost.
Exercise is Medicine will be a sustainable global initiative that:
1. Creates broad awareness that exercise is indeed medicine.
2. Makes "level of physical activity" a standard vital sign question in each patient visit.
3. Helps physicians and other health care providers to become consistently effective in counseling and referring patients as to their physical activity needs.
4. Leads to policy changes in public and private sectors that support physical activity counseling and referrals in clinical settings.
5. Produces an expectation among the public and patients that their health care providers should and will ask about and prescribe exercise.
6. Encourages physicians and other health care providers to be physically active themselves.