One potential solution for soaring health care expenses may not be limiting access or reducing the cost of care but avoiding the need for expensive treatments through prevention. Much of what the nation currently spends on health care is devoted to managing diseases that often could have been delayed, minimized or even avoided altogether.
“The future of health care isn’t simply treating disease more effectively — it’s helping people remain healthier and happier for longer,” said Dr. Michael Ramcharan of the Southern California University of Health Sciences. “When we address nutrition, movement, sleep, mental health, social connection and purpose alongside clinical care, we’re not just keeping people symptom-free. We’re changing the trajectory of their lives.”
Ninety percent of the nation’s $5.3 trillion in annual health care expenditures goes for treating patients with chronic and mental health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many of these conditions develop gradually over a period of years before a diagnosis is made and patients often require costly surgery, multiple medications or repeated hospitalizations.
This is why value-based care is becoming both a clinical and financial priority, according to a new report from the university. Each dollar invested in preventing noncommunicable diseases can result in approximately $7 in economic returns through improved productivity, reduced health care costs and longer, healthier lives, the World Health Organization estimates.
Along with annual physicals, vaccinations, cancer screenings and routine lab tests, research shows that the strongest predictors of long-term health include:
- Nutrition
- Physical activity
- Sleep quality
- Mental and emotional wellbeing
- Stress management
- Social connection
- Reduced tobacco and alcohol use
- Purpose and meaning in life
This focus on prevention requires a paradigm shift in the way health care professionals are trained. Medication, surgery, rehabilitation, behavioral health, nutrition, physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, occupational therapy, lifestyle medicine and health coaching can supplement existing evidence-based medicine, not replace it.
“Health care is shifting toward proactive longevity rather than reactive treatment,” Ramcharan said. “We must equip graduates with deep knowledge of human physiology and the science of healthy aging so they can help people and communities extend not just lifespan but health-span.”
Although the health care system of the future will continue to save lives in emergency departments and operating rooms, its greatest achievement may be the lives that never reach these places because risk was recognized early, healthy behaviors were supported and care focused on the whole person, not simply the disease.
“Ultimately, the future of health care will be measured not only by how well we treat disease but by how often we prevent it,” the report concluded. “That is an investment our health care system can no longer afford to postpone.”