It is always better to avoid getting sick or succumbing to injury than to end up needing treatment, however effective the latter might prove to be. This fact has combined with increasing costs of care to make the value of preventative health services amply clear in recent years.
Despite that fact, much of the research and activity in the healthcare industry still focuses on coming up with new or improved types of treatment. Leaders like Jim Plante have been making steady progress when it comes to bringing preventative health up to par.
The Undeniable Value of Prevention
Chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease threaten millions of lives and contribute directly to healthcare spending levels that are quickly becoming unsustainable. By the time one of these issues has become established, nothing but relatively superficial forms of treatment will often be available.
There are plenty of other health issues which are far better prevented in the first place than left to fester until they must be dealt with as-is. Preventing health problems not only makes for greatly improved quality of life for patients, it also helps support the efficient allocation of healthcare resources, in general.
As such, it might be thought that research into means of preventing common diseases would be a primary focus. In fact, though, momentum and various poorly aimed incentives have conspired to hold back progress in this truly important area.
Both drug companies and healthcare providers, for example, can seem better off treating diseases than trying to prevent them, at least in the short term. Profits are often higher when a life-threatening disease needs to be managed than if its development had been halted early on.
Visionary Entrepreneurs Dedicated to Making a Difference
Fortunately, blinkered, unproductive views like these are increasingly coming under fire from people who are committed to overturning the status quo. In some cases, researchers and healthcare professionals are taking up the torch of preventative healthcare.
Some of the most significant progress in recent years, though, has been made by businesspeople who understand that things have to start changing. Entrepreneurs who have focused on raising the profile of preventative healthcare have contributed to many of the most important results of recent times.
