Disease Prevention Discussion

In health care, we refer to prevention as avoiding or lessening the effects of disease. In other words, prevention is an effort to prevent or control disease. Disease prevention is an essential element of managed care. However, according to experts, “less than 2% of the nation’s expenditure on health care is spent on population-based prevention.”

What is the value of disease prevention: why bother? Conduct some additional research on disease prevention. Please be specific in your post by using concrete examples or measures to support your thoughts. Specifically address your views of “why bother” with disease prevention and respond to a fellow classmate with an opposing view, than your own.

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The classic categories of prevention include primary prevention, controlling modifiable risk factors to avert the occurrence of disease; secondary prevention, the early detection of disease before it manifests clinical symptoms; and tertiary prevention, the control of existing diseases to prevent more serious complications.

With evidence that nearly 40 percent of all deaths in the United States are due to behavioral causes, attention to prevention has encompassed obesity and tobacco smoking prevention in addition to vaccinations and cancer screening. Rising health care costs, increasing numbers of uninsured, and the increasing burden of chronic illness in the United States compel policy makers to identify better means of improving the value of health care in the United States. Fortunately, interventions have been identified that have the potential to both improve clinical care and reduce health care spending.