Cost & Quality Effectiveness of Preventive Health Care
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Primary Care Crisis
“California will have the worst shortage of primary care providers of all states.” Only 34% of active physicians reported practicing primary care in California in 2012. Future MDs are not enough: there has been a 51% decline in family practice from 1998 -2006. A viable solution is to have naturopathic doctors fill the gap as trained and licensed PCPs.
Effectiveness for Chronic Diseases
Chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer generate the greatest cost in health plans. “Studies have shown that cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer are all preventable through lifestyle modification”. “Naturopathic doctors (NDs) are experts in prevention.” What better way to control and reduce costs in health plans and Medicare than to have NDs included and covered in both programs.
ND Cost Effectiveness
Evidence shows that Naturopathic doctors treated 7 of the top 10 most expensive health conditions more cost effectively than MDs or other conventional providers.
Patient Experience
Patients Whose GP Knows CAM
Lifestyle Modification or Metformin in Preventing Type 2 Diabetes in Adults
“The cost per Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) was approximately $1,100 for the lifestyle intervention and $31,300 for the metformin intervention”.