Preventive healthcare has been gaining importance in the US because of the risk of chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, strokes, and another cardiovascular disease. These chronic diseases are responsible for the rising death toll increasing, hence, to avoid them and detect them at early stages, preventive healthcare has been adopted widely.
Preventive healthcare is taking preventive actions to stay away or detect signs of serious diseases.
There are three levels of Preventive Care
1. Primary prevention
It occurs through education and awareness on a very basic level. This includes nutrition knowledge, the importance of exercise, and safe preventive measures such as the dangers of smoking or unsafe sex, and immunization against infectious diseases.
2. Secondary prevention
It includes intervention after a patient has already been diagnosed and the purpose is to manage the illness before it worsens. Secondary prevention includes taking regular exams and screening tests for patients with known risk factors for illness, including mammograms for those who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
3. Tertiary prevention
Tertiary prevention allows patients with long-term health problems programs for their disease management. It includes cardiac or stroke rehabilitation programs, patient support groups, and other health management services.
In short, preventive healthcare is protecting the body from any unforeseen disease or problem that might cause serious damage to a person’s health and it includes activities like routine check-ups, immunizations, boosters, a balanced lifestyle, and avoiding bad health habits. Moreover, it identifies the risk factors associated with serious diseases which help in taking the next step towards avoidance of such factors.
Let’s understand about the rising importance of it in more details
Reasons for the increasing importance of preventive care in the US
High healthcare cost
In America, expenses related to hospital care constitute a huge amount, which approximately makes one-third of the overall healthcare cost in America. Hence people are also becoming more conscious of the hefty costs related to treating such chronic diseases and so the best one-shot method to avoid these costs is to spend on the prevention of such diseases and maintaining good health of the mind and body.
Ill effects
After-effects of chronic diseases are damaging the patient’s body even after getting treatment for the disease, repercussions are observed for a longer period which affects the normal functioning of the body.
Mental health awareness
One of the side effects of such threatening diseases is that it adversely affects a person’s mental condition and that causes serious harm hence awareness regarding mental health has increased because mental health problems are more difficult to get cured in comparison with physical health issues.
Covid-19
Due to covid, people have realized the importance of staying healthy and fit to avoid such contracting disease that drives patient’s spending to improve their immune system to fight against such disease.
Now let’s understand various trends in the business of preventive care due to technological advancement. Moreover, various healthcare organizations are adopting automation for better patient experience and revenue optimization.
Trends in preventive healthcare
Automation of mundane tasks
By automating tasks related to preventive healthcare, providers can provide a delightful experience to their patients like reminding them regarding next appointments and keeping a check on the last issues detected. Moreover, Artificial Intelligence in the healthcare system plays a crucial role in automation. With AI, healthcare systems can now deep dive into patient’s health and provide exhaustive reports related to present and future risk factors and related consequences of patient’s health.
Patient empowerment
Giving the hold of their health to patients is the new emerging trend in the healthcare industry, here patient feels they are in a situation to avoid harmful diseases and detect them at an early stage to avoid irrelevant costs. Different models are in development for providing such power to patients. Today, people are looking for wellness therapies and are likely to spend on wellness therapies instead of healthcare costs because they believe in the return of investment of such therapies which can help them to stay aware regarding their body and health.
Virtual consultations
To maximize the growth of preventive healthcare, providers are open to provide their services online. This virtual consultation can empower patients to take treatments as per their comfort. Virtual consultation is on the rise due to the covid-19 pandemic and stays for a long. Also, patient’s awareness of health technology is rising and patients are making effective use of it to track and monitor their health.
This new set of changes can be difficult for providers. However, by integrating new practices, protocols, and technologies into your existing workflows, providers can increase access and efficiency while improving the practice and overall patient care.
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