From Sick Care to Health Care
The Need for Pro-Active Healthcare In today's fast-paced world, our approach to health often revolves around treating illnesses once they manifest—what many term as "sick care." This reactive approach, however, is not sustainable or efficient. As an example, the US leads the world in spending for medical care but lags in quality because it lacks a health care system. Instead, the US has a “sick care” system, one that is more adept at responding to acute illnesses than in undertaking the multifaceted care required to treat chronic disease. But chronic disease now dominates, and patients find themselves “shuttled” among specialists who rarely talk to one another. Patients are given too many drugs, devices, and procedures, each of which carries risks, including preventable errors. What we need is a proactive "health care" strategy that emphasizes prevention, well-being, and overall quality of life. Leading this paradigm shift is the innovative digital platform, myA...