Health Plans
Industry Surveys
Events
Departments
- Leadership
- Finance
- Technology
- Physicians
- Community Hospitals
- Health Plans
- Marketing
- Quality
- Nursing
- HR
- Service Lines
Health Reform Is Useless Without Behavior Change
I have come to a sobering conclusion. All of this talk about reducing healthcare costs through reform is a waste of time unless the American population takes responsibility for their own health. And I don't see much evidence of personal responsibility built into any of the reform plans.
This change will take more than health insurers and employers passing more costs to the individual through higher copays and deductibles—or conversely lowering costs for proper testing, counseling, and immunization. It will also take more than doctors telling patients to get active and eat better or payers reforming payments so that physicians are properly reimbursed for providing that guidance. It will even require more than the government spending millions on wellness and prevention programs that are part of healthcare reform proposals.
All of these ideas are steps in the right direction, but they won't be effective without more Americans taking responsibility for their health.
In an article I wrote for the August 2009 issue of HealthLeaders magazine, I explored the idea that prevention can reduce health costs. During my interviews, one of the most depressing—and truthful—lines about health came from Michael D. Parkinson, MD, MPH, FACPM, principal at P3 Health LLC, which promotes personal and organization prevention, performance, and productivity improvements. Parkinson told me “there is no such thing as a healthy American any more.”
Parkinson, who is also past president of the American College of Preventive Medicine, and former executive vice president and chief health and medical officer at Lumenos, a pioneer consumer-driven health plan, pointed to the recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that found only 8% of the population eats five fruits and vegetables a day, doesn't smoke, spends 30 minutes on physical activity a day, and is within 5 pounds of their ideal body weight.
You might consider that too high of a threshold, but how many people even meet two of those healthy living ideals? Stop by your local breakfast joint and you'll see what I mean.
- Little-Known Medicare Pay Code Change Will Hurt Specialists
- Obama Plans to Sign Executive Order to Target Medicare Waste, Fraud
- Why Do Some Hospitals Successfully Implement EHRs and Others Fail?
- Electronic Medical Records Don't Save Money, Says Study
- Nursing Department Improves Quality and Patient Satisfaction With Culture Change
- What Breast Cancer Screenings Reveal about Cost Control
- Beware of Medicaid Expansion Pitfalls
- The Foundation of Quality Is Safety
- Chiropractic Care Could Reduce Health Costs, Says Report
- Retail Clinic Market Showing Signs of Growth
Drs. Evelien van der Vinne MSc. MM. (Netherlands) (9/25/2009 at 4:32 AM)
Yes health reform is useless without behavior change. Bute legal changes are firsdt needed to get people (providers/payers/consumers) changed. Not only in the USA people need to take their responsibility also in Europe (NL). But wich responsibility? Financiel? How much can we pay for health or should we pay for? Healthy food is more expensive than fastfood. I think we should sponsor healthy product and stimulate MacDonalds to serve us with more healthy products! Lifestyle? If we live healthy are we at first in doctors room, no waiting time? I promote a healthcare system with airmiles for healty living ideals! Government like Japan with their tight and strict prevention plan, which in their culture. I promote a population exchange (like students, a group of obese Americans to Japan) to learn from other countries. Last, I know a celebrity to spark fitness: Obama, he looks already good in a suit, so what about spandex? Wasn't he fitnessing on his first day of presidency? Serious, it is to balans governement /medical pressure and peoples responsitbility and autonomy. There is only 1 motivation for healthy living and that is a better quality of life, you will enjoy it and feel better in healthy living. Sports and fruits are fruitful for a energetic life!
Deb Fiscus (8/24/2009 at 3:31 PM)
Well said. Baby Boomers can be the worst offenders. Don't try to tell them to give up their cheeseburgers, fries, salt or desserts. It ain't gonna happen. What ever happened to personal responsibility? While I am not one of the 8% who meet all the criteria, as I approach my 6th decade of life as a grandmother, I want to be there to dance at my granddaughters' weddings. I have lost 20#, I am virtually on no medications except for glaucoma (Blast that gene pool!!), and exercise at least 3 times a week. I am still working, but retirement will allow me to be more active and pursue outdoor activities that I love. I wholeheartedly agree, unless Americans embrace changing their habits and decreasing their girth, and stop insisting on a pill for every little ailment, any changes made in healthcare will not succeed.
Jan Kreitler (8/24/2009 at 8:35 AM)
Bravo! Finally an article that at least brings in individual responsibility as part of the health [care] reform debate. As a wellness professional who has been trying to change peoples' behaviors for over 25 years, we must engage individuals as part of the solution for the ever-rising problem of escalating healthcare costs. Carrots or incentives seem to work for some, sticks or penalties for others. We can't begin to control costs unless we reduce the demand for services...much of which is driven by poor lifestyle choices! David Leonhardt also expressed a similar view in recent NY Times Magazine article on 8-16-09 entitled "Fat Tax: Should Overweight People Pay More for Health Insurance."