Prevention to Take More Precedence in Health Care | L&T Health ...

Posted by L&T Health and Fitness on 16 Sep 2012 /
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Health care in the United States has historically concentrated on acute care, treating people when they get sick. But now a confluence of factors indicates that providers and patients will have to shift their focus toward prevention and wellness, out of sheer necessity.

That?s the conclusion of an article recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled From Sick Care to Health Care ? Reengineering Prevention into the U.S. System. According to the authors, Dr. Farshad Fani Marvasti and Dr. Randall Stafford, the old model of treating patients only after they?ve become sick is becoming too expensive to remain sustainable, given the high rate of preventable chronic disease combined with rising health care costs.

?With the aging of the population, the shift in the burden of disease toward chronic conditions has accelerated,? the article notes. ?The most prevalent preventable causes of death are now obesity and smoking, which result in delayed but progressive disease. Even in the developing world, increases in the prevalence of chronic disease are outstripping reductions in acute infectious diseases. Such epidemiologic evolution demands a focus on public health and prevention.?

Read the complete article.

Source: http://www.ltwell.com/blog/prevention-to-take-more-precedence-in-health-care/

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