Since there is no comprehensive care coordination in traditional Medicare, rates of preventable use of services are high and provide a ripe target for reforms that the IPAB cannot address.
I wish that during those dark days, I had access to a book that so well articulated not only how I felt, but also how I could actually come to change my viewpoint. It took me years to begin a proactive path of psychological and spiritual healing.
Knowledge could be power. A way to health -- for us, and our kids -- could be allied to the will we have for it. But only if we come together, and do something.
We have created a seething stew of opinion about everything to do with nutrition, including, presumably, stew. That leaves us with far too many cooks, many lacking credentials to be in the kitchen in the first place.
My promise to my patients and their families -- and to my family and to myself -- is to spend more time prescribing and living life, to honor the power of food, activity, rest and mindfulness to promote healing and prevent illness. I am fully and authentically committed to walking this walk.
It's time for New York State to pony up and pass the Restroom Access Act. The quality of life of the thousands of New Yorkers living every day with inflammatory bowel disease depend on it.
Anyone living and eating in the modern world, and paying even a little attention, knows that we are a very long way from eating food, not too much, mostly plants. Not only does our food come mostly in bags, boxes, bottles, jars and cans -- but mostly, it isn't really food.
The heroes of our flavor-of-the-day news cycles are not those who prove to be right or actually know what they are talking about. The heroes on any given day are the iconoclasts, conspiracy theorists, and -- just plain wing nuts. Affliction is the plat du jour, and these -- its master chefs.
We believe it would be unfortunate if the idea that employee wellness programs bring no return on investment took hold and became conventional wisdom. These initiatives are critical weapons in the ongoing war against chronic disease.
With the help of a cameo appearance by a friend you are likely to know, a preventionist reflects on vulnerability -- and the opportunity to take arms against a sea of troubles imperiling our children, and by opposing -- end them!
Epidemic obesity and chronic disease is, like a perfect storm, the product of massive and protean forces. It is an emergency in slow motion, but an emergency just the same. Like any other storm, these threats call for a brisk and well-coordinated crisis response that has yet to materialize fully.
Smart investments now in effective therapies, personalized medicine, early interventions and health literacy, particularly among at-risk populations, can pay significant dividends down the road in healthier communities and a reduced need for hospitalizations, surgeries, emergency room visits and acute care episodes.
Remember Muhammad Ali's great fight against George Foreman? The odds were overwhelmingly against Ali. Huge-armed Foreman was young, strong to uproot t...
Our health is a product of our genetic inheritance and our environmental exposures. Creating the healthiest possible environment, eating the right foods, and liming stress are all things we can do to optimize our genetic predispositions.
If we got down to the bedrock of true prevention -- lifestyle as preventive medicine -- we could add years to life, add life to years, and save a whole lot of money by putting to use the science and sense long at our disposal.
I don't want to be a statistic any longer. I don't want to be a "baby boomer" that is living longer but sicker than my parents. I don't want the illnesses that can be prevented by simply moving more and eating right.
Why is it so difficult to incorporate healthy lifestyle choices into the way we live? Although many of us know what the right choices are with regards to diet and exercise, many people find it challenging to adhere to healthier behaviors.
We are taking way too many drugs for dubious or exaggerated ailments. What the drug companies are doing now is promoting drugs for long-term use to essentially healthy people.
The surprising revelation in a recent report is that the rising burden of disease is similar among all countries regardless of socioeconomic status, and these increases are in cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases, which have historically been considered "Western diseases."
At the population level, epidemic obesity is incontrovertibly established as a clear and all-but-omnipresent danger. It is absurd to suggest otherwise. And it's those who do so -- who play ping-pong with science -- who frighten the hell out of me.
As you look to your own list of resolutions this year, consider taking that first step to using technology to take control of your health and gaining a better quality of life.
There have been 29 mass shootings in the United States between the events of April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School and the Dec. 14, 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I propose these shootings were, in part, a health care issue.
One in two Americans is coping with a chronic disease, and many require rehabilitation. That's why I'm suggesting this year your New Year's resolution be "prehabilitation," a term defined by Wikipedia as, "a form of strength training, aims to prevent injuries before the actual occurrence."
When Democrats and Republicans debate over how best to "cut" the Medicare benefit, we're not hearing nearly enough about the impact these potential cuts could have on the health and wellness of the patient in this process.
My career is devoted to the use of lifestyle practices -- and above all, diet and physical activity -- to the promotion of health and the prevention of disease. Feet and forks, along with fingers that do or don't hold cigarettes, are well established as the master levers of medical destiny.
