Preventive healthcare cuts costs, study finds
Preventive health programs work in lowering healthcare costs, according to a new study.
Published in Population Health Management, "The Impact of The Prevention Plan on Employee Health Risk Reduction" reveals that programs based on the clinical practice of preventive medicine are able to achieve measurable health risk reduction in just one year.
"The U.S. is facing a severe healthcare cost crisis today – in large part, caused by a health crisis from an increasing burden of chronic illness. Lurking below the surface in society are the true drivers of healthcare cost increases: health risks," said Ronald Loeppke, MD, vice chairman of U.S. Preventive Medicine and lead author of the study. "More and more Americans today are succumbing to preventable lifestyle risks that erode the quality and length of their life – and this trend will create a tsunami of increased utilization of medical services, flooding our healthcare system and leaving an overwhelming economic burden on our society."
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 75 percent of healthcare costs stem from preventable chronic conditions such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes.
The study reviewed the health of participants in U.S. Preventive Medicine's The Prevention Plan, a program based on the clinical practice of preventive medicine. It found that after one year 42 percent of the approximately 2,600 plan participants experienced a decrease in the number of high health risks they faced, with 64 percent of high-risk participants lowering their risk status and 87 percent of low-risk participants maintaining their health status. Among the high risk health factors that underwent the greatest declines were blood pressure (43 percent), fasting blood sugar (31 percent), stress (25 percent), alcohol consumption (24 percent) and cholesterol (23 percent).
"These results are compelling and demonstrate a significant reduction of employee health risks within one year of being on The Prevention Plan. This is scientific proof that wellness works when structured on the pillars of prevention," said Loeppke.
According to Loeppke, employees with chronic illness problems are also a drain on business profitability.
"Let's face it: Good health is good business," said Christopher Fey, chairman and CEO of U.S. Preventive Medicine. "Employers realize this and are beginning to shift the healthcare benefits paradigm from a focus on the treatment of illness to the proactive preservation of health. While the concept of prevention is not new, this research proves that, when offered as a comprehensive program, prevention plans do offer employers the first silver bullet to shrink costs and boost productivity."
