News

Chronic Disease Prevention And Health Promotion

The profile of diseases contributing most heavily to death, illness, and disability among Americans changed dramatically during the last century. Today, chronic diseases—such as cardiovascular disease (primarily heart disease and stroke), cancer, and diabetes—are among the most prevalent, costly, and preventable of all health problems. Seven of every 10 Americans who die each year, or more than 1.7 million people, die of a chronic disease. The prolonged course of illness and disability from such chronic diseases as diabetes and arthritis results in extended pain and suffering and decreased quality of life for millions of Americans. Chronic, disabling conditions cause major limitations in activity for more than one of every 10 Americans, or 25 million people.

Marketing Strategy

For Companies and Government

Many health care plan managers have begun to tackle long-term health care and benefits costs by integrating health and wellness programs into the health benefit plans offered to their beneficiaries. Overall, 81% of companies in the U.S. with 50 or more employees now have some form of health promotion program. The Ontario government initiated province-wide health promotion programs for smoking cessation and “inactivity” in 2006. These programs are “passive” in nature and will be effective counterparts for Preventive Medicine’s “push” technology.

Emerging trends in health care programs within companies and governments include:

Adopting approaches to prevention and wellness
Using emerging technology, Intranets, and the Internet as a way of reaching large numbers of employees
Encouraging employees to take active roles in their health care with prevention as a focus and creating incentives to reinforce accountability
Emphasizing behavior change programs to support healthy lifestyles
Using assessment tools to identify employees who are “at risk”

For Consumers

With more than 125 million Americans and 17 million Canadians suffering from chronic disease and conditions, a growing number of organizations and their employees are seeking innovative self-service solutions in the health care arena. However, consumer choices are limited and limiting. They often only have access to information member portals provided by their employers or insurance carriers. These are typically designed for disease management or at-risk individuals, which leaves little value for people outside these cohorts seeking to manage their health.

Increased awareness and demand for Preventive Medicine options among consumers is being driven by:

A well-established employer and government-funded and enabled employee health benefits marketplace.
A growing level of personal awareness as to the importance of individual and family health and well being.
An increasing body of medical science which affirms that the primary prevention of chronic disease development can be achieved through lifestyle change modalities.