Comprehensive preventative care is more than annual checkups; it is an approach to care that supports patients in establishing a health-forward routine that includes proper nutrition and exercise, mental and emotional health, and chronic condition management. Numerous studies have shown that such care produces wide-ranging benefits from improved health outcomes to lower care utilization to lower healthcare costs.
Yet while the virtues of preventive care are common knowledge, the US still lags in its provision for most patients. Just 8% of Americans currently undergo routine preventive screenings and care and an estimated 63% of deaths are attributed at least in part to chronic diseases that are exacerbated by unhealthy lifestyle behaviors—and despite indications that nearly 80% of chronic disease could be prevented by healthy lifestyle behaviors.
As a result, the US loses about $55 billion each year—about $0.30 for every dollar spent on healthcare services—due to missed prevention opportunities.
Reversing these trends is the driving force behind the growing interest in lifestyle or preventive medicine and adopting technology tools to support both physicians and patients in adopting this approach.
A lifestyle medicine primer Lifestyle medicine uses evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive behavioral and therapeutic lifestyle interventions to prevent, treat and manage chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. By integrating the six pillars of lifestyle medicine—nutrition, physical activity, stress management, restorative sleep, social connection, and avoidance of risky substances—into patient care, they help patients make lasting improvements in their health and wellbeing.
A lifestyle or preventive approach to medicine can address up to 80% of chronic diseases and has the potential to reverse the decades-long rise in the prevalence of chronic conditions and associated costs. It can also improve both patient and provider satisfaction. All of which aligns with the Quintuple Aim of better health outcomes, lower cost, improved patient satisfaction, improved provider well-being, and advancement of health equity.
Lifestyle medicine is considered by many to be the foundation for a redesigned, value-based and equitable healthcare delivery system for its focus on the lifestyle choices that lead to preventable chronic conditions.
