HCH 360 Profile

This episode focused on the HCH 360 Profile, which is the foundation of our Mens Health, Connected by HCH program. Patients preparing for their first visit can listen to this for a preview of what their profile will look like and how to interpret the results.

Transcript

Kyle Simmons 0:01

Welcome back to Men's Health Connected by His Choice Health, a program designed to uniquely serve the needs of men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Today we're talking about something every patient at His Choice Health will see at their first visit: your HCH 360-degree profile. Now, if you've already opened one of these reports, hopefully your first reaction was this feels pretty simple and intuitive. Simplicity is the goal, and there's a lot of information that's included in here. So let's dig in to understand more of the details. The goal of today is simple. We want to help you to understand what this profile actually is, what the scores mean, and how your labs, questionnaires, and body composition data all come together before your first appointment.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 0:40

And this is Dr. Matt Zerdon joining Kyle. One of the most important things to understand right away is this your results are not just a comparison against standard laboratory reference ranges. Most traditional lab reports are designed to tell you whether you are technically quote unquote normal compared to the general population. But normal does not always mean healthy or optimized or low risk. And labs don't always tell the whole story, maybe not even half of it. Your lifestyle, family history, and body scan take this form from a set of numbers to real insight that drive real health decisions that will actually impact your life.

Kyle Simmons 1:16

At his choice health, our cardiovascular, metabolic, and male health experts chose specific questions, specific labs, and specific body measurements that really matter and built a scoring system to evaluate your holistic health and inform how it is all connected, not just whether you barely fall inside a reference range of a lab value. Now we're not selling you the best labs or the best analysis of labs. Let's be honest, that's a commodity. ChatGPT and any AI system can do that for you. We're here to focus on seeing the real you, connecting your lived life to your labs, your body, and your actions so that we can maintain and enhance your health through the most critical decades of your life.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 1:54

Exactly. Labs are often designed to detect disease. We're trying to identify risk earlier, optimize performance sooner, and understand the full picture before disease develops. That's why this profile uses a more customized scoring approach that incorporates expertise from cardiovascular medicine, metabolic health, hormone optimization, body composition, and lifestyle medicine.

Kyle Simmons 2:16

And that's really the point of VHCH360-degree profile. It's not just a pile of disconnected numbers, it's a framework and operating system that helps you organize your health into four functional areas: general wellness, cardiovascular health, metabolic health, and male systems health. And today we're going to walk you through those using my profile as an example. Now, Matt, before we jump in, you and I have completed this profile personally before we started this with others. Now, personally, I learned some new things about myself, some things that you and I are going to work on together. But what was your experience like?

Dr. Matthew Zerden 2:47

To be honest, when we first set out on this mission, I was really excited about what we could do. And it also felt hard to wrap our heads around everything. But then we did your labs and my labs and combined it all with our intake forms, our human body composition results. And it was like magic. All of a sudden, all of my information was on one page. I learned new things about myself and feel more prepared for how I can maintain and enhance my health over the next decade. Part of this new insight was positive for me, learning about my body composition and exercise capacity compared to other men my age. But information from the cardiovascular biomarkers identified risks that I was not aware of. I'm thankful that I'm aware of those aspects now.

Kyle Simmons 3:26

Thanks for sharing, Matt. Now, let's jump into the profile. Let's start with scoring. What is this all about?

Dr. Matthew Zerden 3:32

The scoring itself is intentionally simple. Each category scored on a scale of one to five. A score of one reflects optimal health. Two means that things are generally strong. A three tells us there's an area worth paying attention to. And a score of four or five suggests higher risk areas or priorities that deserve more immediate focus. The goal is not to overwhelm patients with lab details, it's to quickly identify patterns and priorities.

Kyle Simmons 3:58

Because let's be honest, most guys don't want a 20-page explanation of every biomarker. They want to know how am I doing? What should I pay attention to, and what matters most right now? Now, if you are some one of those people that likes the 20-page report, we've got that as well. And we're happy to be able to share that with you. Just ask for it. So let's start with the general wellness category. This is the first and probably the foundation of everything that we do. Now tell us a little bit more. Exactly.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 4:21

This category looks at the basics that support everything else: body composition, exercise habits, recovery, stress, mental health, lifestyle risk factors, and overall healthcare engagement.

Kyle Simmons 4:34

And one thing that stood out on my own profile was actually pretty simple. I don't currently have an ongoing physician that I visit regularly.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 4:40

Right. And that's a great example of how this profile looks at health more holistically beyond the numbers. Even if someone has strong labs overall, having no established physician relationship can still negatively affect overall wellness scoring because preventative care and continuity matters. Obviously, us working together, this his choice health program, is a large step in preventative care. But we are not replacing your primary care physician. So you might want to find one. Huh.

Kyle Simmons 5:08

Fair point. I'll get on that. Well, maybe. But seriously, I appreciated seeing that the report wasn't just evaluating the chemistry values. It was evaluating how I'm actually managing health as a whole person. The actions that I take, plus the labs, plus a physical assessment. Exactly.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 5:23

We want patients to think beyond isolated labs and think about overall health infrastructure. Are you exercising? Are you sleeping? How well are you sleeping? Are you following up on recommended screenings? Do you have continuity of care? Are there lifestyle habits increasing long-term risks? Those aspects of your health are relevant. We can't just rely on lab values.

Kyle Simmons 5:44

Okay, so let's move on to category number two, metabolic health. This is where many guys think metabolism and start hearing things like cholesterol and blood sugar.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 5:53

Right. But again, we're evaluating these through a holistic lens, not just a disease detection lens. So instead of asking, are you diabetic, we're asking, are there early signs of insulin resistance or inflammatory markers that are trending in the wrong direction? Are lipids optimized for long-term cardiovascular protection? These, this category incorporates markers like fast and glucose, hemoglobin A1C, triglycerides, various cholesterols and ratios of those cholesterols, inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein, looking at your blood pressure and body composition metrics.

Kyle Simmons 6:30

Okay. My eyes just glaved over Matt. Too many letters. I see that in my own profile. The metabolic section was pretty strong overall. And I see categories of general metabolic blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. What do those mean and why do I care?

Dr. Matthew Zerden 6:43

That's actually the perfect reaction because that's exactly how most patients feel when they first look at these reports. So let's simplify it. Metabolic health is basically asking one big question: how efficiently is your body running? And we break that into four easier buckets: general metabolic health, blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol health. General metabolic health looks at the overall environment inside your body, things like inflammation, body composition, recovery, and whether your system is functioning efficiently or under stress. Blood sugar health is really about how well your body handles energy. Are you processing carbohydrates normally? Are there early signs of insulin resistance? Are you headed towards diabetes years before you technically qualify as a diabetic? Blood pressure is pretty straightforward, but it's incredibly important because elevated blood pressure over time quietly increases risk for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and what will likely grab most men's attention, erectile dysfunction, which can be a consequence of long-term high blood pressure. And then cholesterol health is where we go deeper into the standard good cholesterol versus bad cholesterol conversation that most people grew up hearing. We're evaluating particle risk, inflammation, and long-term cardiovascular exposure, not just whether your numbers barely fit into a lab range. And the reason you should care is pretty simple. Metabolic dysfunction is one of the biggest drivers of aging, cardiovascular disease, fatigue, weight gain, hormone problems, and long-term health decline in men. The good news in your profile, Kyle, is that this section looks pretty strong overall. So your body is generally handling energy, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk appropriately. But even in a good profile, we still look for ways to learn instead of waiting until something becomes disease. Your metabolic health visits would be different than someone with an identified risk. We'd focus on what you've learned versus what we got from genetics and use that to inform where we should go next and continue on your health pathway, what we should add or remove, and how to continue your good health for the next decade.

Kyle Simmons 8:54

That's great. And this is a complete shift, frankly, from how I've engaged with healthcare in the past. I love to see both that I'm in an optimal zone of metabolic health, but also that you called out some flags here, like things like my vitamin D that we do need to address and we talk about later are connected to some of my other uh issues that may be going on. But I want to make sure I call this out for a moment here. When we talk about what is going on with your health and the positive aspects of this, this is a complete shift from how I've engaged other doctors. Nobody's ever tried to understand why I'm healthy. They just tell me, see you next year. You look good. So, men, listen up here. If you're stuck in the old way of healthcare, you may not think that you need this visit if you're in an optimal category. But honestly, this could be one of the most valuable visits you've ever had. So let's shift gears now. We're going to go over to the male systems category, which is probably a section that a lot of men are most curious about. Testosterone is a hot topic today. ED awareness is probably higher than ever. Things like Movember have over the years drawn attention to issues such as prostate cancer. But for the most part, personal healthcare still doesn't touch these issues proactively. Matt, share a little more.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 9:58

Yeah, that's what is unique about our approach, and it combines labs, family history, and lifestyle with specific questions that shed light on your risks. So we're not just asking what is your testosterone number, or do you have trouble getting it up? We're going deeper. So this category includes comprehensive labs like total testosterone, free testosterone, a binding globulin, estradiol, lupinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, prolactin, thyroid markers, and a prostate evaluation, and evidence-based symptoms questionnaires. We're also asking, how are you functioning? What about your energy? Recovery? How's your sexual performance? How's your urinary function? And importantly, we're connecting the dots from metabolic and cardiac health to male systems.

Kyle Simmons 10:44

Yeah, this is really interesting. And so in my profile here, one of the more interesting findings that you'll see and that we talked about is that my testosterone levels overall look decent, kind of middle of the range. But there are some supporting markers that told a much more nuanced story.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 10:58

Exactly. Your elevated uh binding globulin and thyroid levels are a good example of why expertise matters. A standard lab interpretation might say testosterone looks normal. But when you understand how the binding globulin influences free testosterone availability and how thyroid function may interact or modify with energy and hormone balance, you get a much more complete picture. And it's how all those pieces come together that inform if you should focus here and what the right treatment or next steps would be.

Kyle Simmons 11:28

Now, guys, what you'll see this on my profile is you'll see a little flag next to hormones that says, hey, while this is overall good, there are some risks here that we're going to talk about during our visit. So, Matt, this goes back to the big point on the profile, which is we're about to design identify patterns, not just isolated lab more abnormalities. So tell me a little bit more about how you may treat me differently in this category than another provider would.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 11:52

Well, I can never truly speak to another provider, but here's my quick take on our approach. A testosterone clinic sees low free testosterone and doesn't look at the binding globulin and says, hey, this is a great patient. It's low. Get them on the gel, the pellet, or the injections immediately. A primary care doctor sees the total testosterone and says, you're fine, because it's not drastically low. They typically don't have the time or expertise to dive into the nuance. We look at all of those things and say, this could be a testosterone issue in the future, even though there are no glaring symptoms now, but the root is probably your thyroid. We'll test a few more things like your T3 and T4 and address your vitamin D deficiency, which also affects this and hormones, and we'll see if we can free up more of your testosterone for your that your body already produces before we look at replacing you on medications that you ultimately may not need.

Kyle Simmons 12:44

Cool. This is a much more nuanced view. So I'm guessing that that male systems is probably going to be my next quarterly visit.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 12:49

Yes. And we're not wed to every three months. Uh you know something important here, so we'd schedule this soon and probably work on it over the next six months before we go to your next focus area.

Kyle Simmons 12:59

Great. Now I know I got ahead of myself there because that was a really interesting area for me personally. But let's get back to the big picture. Next up, we have the cardiovascular category. Last but certainly not least, this is the number one cause of preventable death for men, and one that no doctor has really spent any meaningful time talking to me about.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 13:16

Yes, and unfortunately that's common. Unless you've been referred to a cardiologist or you have really challenging numbers on a cholesterol screen, you probably don't get much exposure here. So in this section, we look at both inherited and modifiable cardiovascular risk. And this is a big area where proactive medic medicine often looks very different from standard screening medicine. Markers like APOB or LP little A give us a much better understanding of long-term cardiovascular risk than a standard cholesterol panel alone, which was the only thing that I had ever gotten prior to us creating this system.

Kyle Simmons 13:51

Yeah, and this is really important because many men assume that if the doctor hasn't told you that your cholesterol looks bad, or if they generally look and feel healthy, they're low risk. But we know that that's not true.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 14:04

Exactly. Cardiovascular risk, cardiovascular risk and disease develops over decades. And we're trying to identify risk much earlier and intervene sooner. And in your profile, Kyle, this category gave us useful insight into both what looked favorable and what deserved closer monitoring long term. Again, this category may include APO, B, LP little A, lipid ratios, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, family history, and an overall cardiovascular risk assessment. Again, there's a ton of stuff that goes into this, Matt, but what really matters? What really matters is this. We're trying to understand your long-term risk before something bad happens. Most heart disease doesn't show up overnight. It develops slowly over 20 or 30 years or even longer. So instead of waiting until something and a patient has actual symptoms, we're looking for early indicators that help us understand what risk you inherited, what risk is lifestyle driven, and what we can actually improve on now. A point B helps us understand how many potentially harmful cholesterol particles are circulating in your bloodstream. LP little A is mostly genetic. It tells us whether you may have inherited elevated cardiovascular risk, even if you otherwise looked healthy. Blood pressure tells us how much stress your cardiovascular system is under on a daily basis. Inflammation markers help us understand whether there's chronic underlying stress happening inside the body that can further contribute. And family history helps us connect all this into the bigger picture. So the real question isn't, are my labs normal? The real question is, what story do all these markers tell together about your long-term cardiovascular health? And in your profile, Kyle, there were a lot of favorable things overall. But there were also a few markers that tell us that we should continue monitoring proactively over time instead of reacting later. As I mentioned earlier, I learned something new about my health as well. I knew I had a family history of heart disease, but my doctors had never pushed me to really understand my long-term risks and how I can manage things today. Because of my family history and my high LP little A, aggressively managing my APOB is really important. But that is not what our healthcare system is designed to see and act on.

Kyle Simmons 16:20

That is really interesting. And thank you for breaking that down a little bit more. Now, guys, you can't see this because we're on audio only here. But Matt is a very fit man. I see this guy crushed stadium stairs at UNC's football stadium every month. He's up at 5 a.m. working out five plus days a week, eats well, and his lifestyle is great. You should see these calves, man. Johnny Drama would be so jealous. So it just reinforces what we're talking about here. In cardiovascular medicine, men's health is really important, and we're not always getting what we need from traditional healthcare. And we need to dive layers beneath the surface to really understand what our risks are and get ahead of managing them.

Dr. Matthew Zerden 16:58

That's right. Based on our analysis, I'm taking this opportunity to reconsider my own health goals and trajectory. So just like Kyle, I'm on this healthcare journey with you, and it's because of HCH.

Kyle Simmons 17:09

All right, and this is a good point to be able to pause because I think it's an area where our program truly shines. Now, for both of us, Matt, we identified for me hormonal deficiencies, and you're going to be able to help me to treat that with protocols that were developed in partnership with our two urologists. We also identified some long-term heart risks for you, and now you'll work with Dr. Kelly, an expert in preventative cardiology and a member of the His Choice team. How cool is it that we immediately get to take action? Man, I know I nerd out on some of this stuff, but this is really challenging the status quo of healthcare. Sure. Other labs or longevity providers could identify these issues, but they don't actually have anyone for us to see. Most urologists and cardiologists have so many other priorities. We'd see them maybe a few months from now, and we'd probably get five minutes with them. Not because they're bad doctors, but because the system is broken. And I think we're fixing it here. Exactly. Very cool indeed. And that's why I'm also thrilled to be working on this with you. Okay, guys, so let's bring this all back together. I think one of the biggest takeaways that we have here is that the HCH 360-degree profile is really about context. It's not just analyzing labs, it's not just your annual physical, it's measuring where your health really is, where risk may be developing, and where improvement opportunities exist. And it's connecting the dots between disparate information across traditional health specialties to make it valuable for you. Now, let me ask you a crazy question, Matt. What if we find no significant risk in someone's profile, no immediate action items? What should that patient be thinking?

Dr. Matthew Zerden 18:36

I mean, honestly, that's a great result and obviously what everyone's hoping for. It's certainly what I would love to see in most of the guys that I work with. But it doesn't mean that there is not value to be gained from this program. Your 30s and 50s are a time of change. If everything looked great, we're not go we're not going to pat you on the back and just say, see you next year. We're actually going to use the time together to learn why you're in a great place today, educate you on what you could face and the future, and develop a plan for how to stay strong for the next decade. We're not just a sick visit. Men's Health Connected is an operating system that gets you healthy and keeps you healthy over time.

Kyle Simmons 19:14

I couldn't have said it better myself. So here's the wrap-up, guys. The HCH 360-degree profile is designed by experts, scored simply, and combines labs, targeted lifestyle questions, and body measurements to provide a comprehensive view of your health today. It is the basis of the operating system of Men's Health Connected by HCH and gives you a clearer, more actual understanding of your health walking out of your first visit. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.