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An ounce of prevention is worth $12,000 in treatment
Teddy Burger
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Commentary
Forget socioeconomic identity right now; imagine instead that you're a poor and uninsured woman in your 40s in a poverty-stricken district of Bridgeport. You suffer from hypertension, a chronic illness where your blood pressure exceeds the healthy range. Eventually, the damage to your arteries becomes too severe and whoop! - you're in the hospital being treated for a stroke by a costly regime of physicians, nurses, and equipment.
After envisioning this situation, the natural conclusion is, "Why wasn't I keeping better track of my blood pressure and diet? Could this stroke have been avoided?"
Well, it definitely could have been avoided. It could have been avoided through preventative health care. The thing is though, this imaginary woman is one of more than 300,000 uninsured Connecticut residents who have to rely on community health centers and emergency rooms for primary care. These providers receive reimbursement from public funds primarily for treatment of acute and urgent problems, not for prevention.
These facts are easily observable: despite the fact that in 2007 there were 20,434 patients for hypertension and heart disease in the Connecticut Community Health Centers, the National Association of Community Health Centers lists that these centers have literally no preventative services for chronic illness. And further, treatment-based care is the more emphasized mission of the health care system: the average hospitalization cost for a stroke and congestive heart failure patient in the state during 2006 were $12,013 and $11,248 respectively. So you can do the math: there were 43,340 stroke hospitalizations in Connecticut from just 1995 to 2002.
Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't have these systems to treat urgent medical issues. However, (and it's a big "however"), this system is unbelievably inefficient and there is a vastly superior method. It's called the Department of Public Health. It is a proactive and reactive epidemiological institution that creates programs to actively prevent chronic illnesses and monitor them when they occur. My argument is that the DPH needs to be expanded through increased collaboration with the private health care industry, and especially the community health centers. If this were done, there would be far fewer occurrences of chronic illness. Secondly, it would save the state and tax payers huge sums of money.
After envisioning this situation, the natural conclusion is, "Why wasn't I keeping better track of my blood pressure and diet? Could this stroke have been avoided?"
Well, it definitely could have been avoided. It could have been avoided through preventative health care. The thing is though, this imaginary woman is one of more than 300,000 uninsured Connecticut residents who have to rely on community health centers and emergency rooms for primary care. These providers receive reimbursement from public funds primarily for treatment of acute and urgent problems, not for prevention.
These facts are easily observable: despite the fact that in 2007 there were 20,434 patients for hypertension and heart disease in the Connecticut Community Health Centers, the National Association of Community Health Centers lists that these centers have literally no preventative services for chronic illness. And further, treatment-based care is the more emphasized mission of the health care system: the average hospitalization cost for a stroke and congestive heart failure patient in the state during 2006 were $12,013 and $11,248 respectively. So you can do the math: there were 43,340 stroke hospitalizations in Connecticut from just 1995 to 2002.
Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't have these systems to treat urgent medical issues. However, (and it's a big "however"), this system is unbelievably inefficient and there is a vastly superior method. It's called the Department of Public Health. It is a proactive and reactive epidemiological institution that creates programs to actively prevent chronic illnesses and monitor them when they occur. My argument is that the DPH needs to be expanded through increased collaboration with the private health care industry, and especially the community health centers. If this were done, there would be far fewer occurrences of chronic illness. Secondly, it would save the state and tax payers huge sums of money.
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Hypavera
posted 5/23/09 @ 10:56 AM EST
A low intake of omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium and vitamin C can also lead to high blood pressure, as can excessive caffeine intake. The dietary factor that has received the most attention is salt intake. (Continued…)
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