Health care woes and what to do

I just returned from the 2011 National Training Summit for work site wellness in Omaha. The conference was presented by WELCOA (Wellness Council of America) and the entire focus was How to Integrate Self-Care and Wellness. At first I thought the topic seemed a bit dull, but I actually learned a lot and found many things quite interesting. Medical self-care is not something we have touched on at work, but we now have many ideas on how to integrate it.

The first presentation by Dr. David Hunnicut was amazing. Here are some VERY interesting points {in case you didn't know we were in a health care crisis (wink, wink)}...

• 80 million baby boomers are entering the health care system
• 130 million people in the US with a chronic disease (diabetes, heart disease, metabolic abnormalities, etc)
• In 2009 we spent 2.4 trillion dollars on health care in the US (2X that of other nations)
• It is anticipated that in 2016 we will spend 4.2 trillion dollars on health care
• An estimated 1/3 of health care is completely wasted
• 91% of hospitals report overcrowding
• 20 million unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed annually 
• 70 million Americans take at least one prescription daily
• 50 million people don't have health insurance
• There are about 1.5 trillion insurance claims filed, of those 33% contained errors
• 33% of medical treatment does not improve health
• About 140 million prescriptions are illegible
• Hospitals report about 1.2 million staph infections - WASH HANDS!
• 1 in 3 patients will have an adverse outcome at the hospital
• 5% of people consume 50% of health care, 50% of people consume 3% of health care
• 49% of Americans have employer-sponsored health insurance
• Companies are recklessly responding  and they are shifting the cost to employees

We know all this, this is the health care crisis that we are in. This is why so many companies have turned to wellness to get their employees healthy and drive the cost of health care down. However, EVEN healthy people get sick, which hinders work site wellness initiatives. 

• If you don't have a Primary Care Physician (PCP) and you get sick, the average time to see one is 55 days. Most people won't wait and will go to the ER instead. 
• In 2008 there were about 123 million ER visits averaging at $1265 for one visit.
• 17% of those who went to the ER with a headache received an imaging test.
• 30% of ER visits are unnecessary.
• 7 out to 10 doctor visits result in at least one prescription.
• 95% of diagnosis come from a personal health record

If we can educate ourselves on medical self-care, find a PCP, and keep a personal health record we can drive down health care costs. This is the new wave in work site wellness programs. If your company has a wellness program, I bet you will be seeing more about medical self-care. I believe it is so important...eat healthy, be active, and learn the best ways to take care of yourself when you are sick and when is the appropriate time to see the doctor. 

For more information: WELCOA,  WELCOA Training Summit

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This is an exciting one!!!