Okay, so the previous posting on obesity & lifestyle is a long, but perfect set-up to say that preventative health has been cited as a promising strategy to deliver us from our healthcare woes. People say, "if we just get people to take care of themselves, make better lifestyle decisions, blah blah blah, the entire health care system would cost xx% less."

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals CEO George Halvorson wrote a tremendous article in HFM on the coming "tipping point in healthcare." He cited how taking care of 1% of the sickest among us makes up 30% of the cost. Not all of those are lifestyle-driven, but some surely are. As quoted in Fast Company, Dr. Raphael Levey, of the Global Medical Forum, noted that "even as far back as when I was in medical school [Harvard, 1955], many articles demonstrated that 80% of the health-care budget was consumed by five behavioral issues." Yeah, you guessed it: too much smoking, drinking, eating, and stress, and not enough exercise.

I love the beauty and simplicity of these ideas. Just think: if everyone in America decided to eat right, exercise, refrain from smoking, how many trillions of dollars would be chopped off?!?

Sigh... I hate bursting my own bubble. As much as I would love to see this happen, I don't have much faith in this strategy at all. People are people, and I am constantly amazed at how most people (yours truly included) never change no matter how badly we need to. The Fast Company article continued,

"Some 90% of heart-bypass patients can't change their lifestyles - even at the risk of dying."

This inability to change people's behavior has tremendous implications on our health and our hospitals.
(1) Any preventative health program rolled out at any level has to do battle with this inertia/complacency. Simple websites sponsored by the government at best are a weak start.

It might be good PR, but it isn't making any kind of impact.

(2) Related, but in a different way, any change management initiative rolled out at your hospital requires staff to work/think/act in a new way. How will you get your organization to care about / re-align towards [fill in the blank]? In fact, isn't this how you would describe leadership? Being able to influence others to change? How do we become effective change agents in our organization and in our society?

We covered some of this in the If Disney Ran Your Hospital series (book by Fred Lee). But, I think there is still quite a bit to cover. In the next few weeks, let's dissect Fast Company's article on Change or Die by Alan Deutschman. While you're there, also check out Fast Company's 5 Myths about changing behavior.

Change Agent Series:
101 Why preventative health doesn't work
102 Give people a new frame (not a new picture)
103 Revolutions easier than evolutions
104 Learn to play the accordian