Live Better Longer

Healthcare sites, blogs and resources have never been more available and well trafficked on the web. While still well below levels that we would all like, healthcare literacy is actually improving as we all have easier access to quality information, health information technology, peer support and expert guidance from a growing number of quality sites and resources. A leading driver of internet activity is the large volume of consumers searching health related subjects on general and specifics sites.

While it is great to see our culture getting more interested in health, fitness and wellbeing, there is much evidence that that interest is not translating into better outcomes. We spend more on healthcare than any nation on earth, and yet on many measures, we are far behind countries that spend far less.

Clearly, there are a number of culprits including wasted treatment, under-treatment and over treatment. Part of the blame can be placed on our toxic lifestyles that make it too easy to eat poorly, exercise infrequently, smoke cigarettes, drink excessively and manage stress unproductively. Part of the blame can be placed on a healthcare industry that favors specialty medicine and under-rewards primary care and preventative medicine. Together, our culture and our healthcare system condition us to worry about health only when it fails us and to shop specialists and procedures looking for episodic care.

It appears that much of what passes as preventative medicine today is no better. Fully body scans and batteries of tests that do not adhere to evidence based guidelines are expensive and even dangerous as their extreme sensitivity can lead to false positive results and risky follow up procedures. Early detection is a great concept, but not if it continues to drive a care regimen based on specialists and procedures.

Equally unproductive is the focus on longevity at all costs. Episodic, after-the-fact medicine leaves us to cope with more chronic conditions for more of our lifespan. The standard of care then becomes even more procedure intensive, more expensive and more detrimental to our quality of life.

But isn't it best for all of us to avoid chronic conditions and their array of co-morbidities that so tax our health and well being? C ompressed morbidity is the fashionable term, but the concept is really simply living better longer.

Living better longer includes means true disease avoidance as opposed to expensive vigilance and early detection. Living better longer means working with a primary care physician and achieving a truly collaborative and coordinated level of care that avoids waste, duplication and under-treatment. Living better longer means understanding how chronic conditions and their co-morbidities are closely tied to our modifiable lifestyle choices. Living better longer means being empowered to make the right decisions that reduce our health risks and improve our quality of life and well being.

The MyHealthVillage.com community is here to help us all achieve the goal of living better longer. Like any village, it is only as strong as the commitment of its inhabitants. Our professional HealthGuides are here to help but we hope that you will make the village your village. Share your opportunities and your challenges. Reach out to help with your expertise, passion and experience. Seek out other villagers who can share their expertise, passion and experience with you. Together we can all live better longer.

- Tracy