Predictive health [electronic resource] : how we can reinvent medicine to extend our best years

It's no stretch to claim that America is in the midst of a healthcare meltdown. Care is costly and unattainable for many, and often unsatisfactory even for those who can afford treatment. The medical system focuses on treating diseases and their symptoms, and spends so much effort and money in the last miserable month of patient's lives that little is left to make sure that the preceding years are as healthful as possible. In "Predictive Health," distinguished doctors Kenneth Brigham and Michael M.E. Johns propose to radically change the current model by restructuring the way patients receive care. They introduce the concept of predictive health, which will turn the existing paradigm on its head focusing on prediction instead of diagnosis, and health rather than disease. Rather than treating symptoms as they arise, doctors practicing predictive health would be involved in a patient's life right from the start. A drop of blood from a tiny heel prick at birth would be run through nanolabs, the resulting information assembled into a picture of the newborn's health. Any potential risk factors risk for type II diabetes, genetic propensity for obesity would be caught long before they became problematic, and strategies forged for treatment. In essence, health care professionals would become committed consultants, sticking with a patient for the entire course of their lives. The potential savings from this kind of partnership is staggering: the cost of lifelong health care would amount to less than the cost of a month-long stay in an early twenty-first century ICU. Interweaving descriptions of phenomenal advances in science and technology with illustrative anecdotes and personal experiences of the authors' combined century in academic medicine, "Predictive Health" translates the foundations of the new biomedicine into language accessible to a general audience, those who must understand the potential of the unprecedented opportunity confronting us if major change is to happen. The product of a decade-long collaboration between two of the leading figures in predictive health, "Predictive Health" offers a deeply knowledgeable, deeply humane look at the state of medicine today, and the potential for medicine tomorrow. Our Health Care System Is Crippled By Desperate Efforts To Prevent The Inevitable. A Third Of The National Medicare Budget{u2014}nearly $175 Billion{u2014}is Spent On The Final Year Of Life, And A Third Of That Amount On The Final Month, Often On Expensive (and Futile) Treatments. Such Efforts Betray A Fundamental Flaw In How We Think About Healthcare: We Squander Resources On Hopeless Situations, Instead Of Using Them To Actually Improve Health. In Predictive Health, Distinguished Doctors Kenneth Brigham And Michael M.e. Johns Propose A Solution: Invest Earlier{u2014}and Use Science And Technology To Make Healthcare More Available And Affordable. Every Child Would Begin Life With A Post-natal Genetic Screen, When Potential Risk{u2014}say For Type Ii Diabetes Or Heart Disease{u2014}would Be Found. More Data On Biology, Behavior, And Environment Would Be Captured Throughout Her Life. Using This Information, Health-care Workers And The People They Care For Could Forge Personal Strategies For Healthier Living Long Before A Small Glitch Blows Up Into Major Disease. This Real Health Care Wouldn{u2019}t Just Replace Much Of Modern Disease Care{u2014}it Would Make It Obsolete. The Result, According To Brigham And Johns, Will Be A Life Defined By A Long Stay At Top Physical And Mental Form, Rather Than An Early Peak And Long Decline. Accomplishing This Goal Will Require New Tools, New Clinics, Fewer Doctors And More Mentors, Smarter Companies, And Engaged Patients. In Short, It Will Require A Revolution. Thanks To A Decade-long Collaboration Between Brigham, Johns And Others, It Is Already Underway. An Optimistic Plan For Reducing Or Eliminating Many Chronic Diseases As Well As Reforming Our Faltering Medical System, Predictive Health Is A Deeply Knowledgeable, Deeply Humane Proposal For How We Can Reallocate Expenses And Resources To Prolong The Best Years Of Life, Rather Than Extending The Worst. The Challenge And The Opportunity : Ponce's Dream ; Disease As A Medical Failure : A Transforming Paradigm ; Toward Exemplary Health -- A Vortex Of Discovery : Health In The Age Of Omics ; Taming The Wild Genome ; The Epigenome: Disparate Identities And Kinky Mouse Tails ; Biomarkers And Biobanks ; Zip Codes And Genetic Codes ; Cyberhealth/technohealth: Realities, Fantasies, And Myths ; Truth And Consequences ; Resonance: Research = Health Care = Research = Health Care -- Health Vis-à-vis Disease: Moving The Target : The Devils We Know ; Evidence-based Health ; Good Drugs: Making Health Pills ; Disrupting Medical Care: Realizing Predictive Health -- The Broader View : The Tyranny Of Paradigm ; Healthy People, Healthy Planet ; Toward A Square Wave Life -- Epilogue: Life Is A Fatal Condition. Kenneth Brigham And Michael M.e. Johns. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Our health care system is crippled by desperate efforts to prevent the inevitable. A third of the national Medicare budget -- nearly 175 billion -- is spent on the final year of life, and a third of that amount on the final month, often on expensive (and futile) treatments. Such efforts betray a fundamental flaw in how we think about healthcare: we squander resources on hopeless situations, instead of using them to actually improve health. In Predictive Health, distinguished doctors Kenneth Brigham and Michael M.E. Johns propose a solution: invest earlier -- and use science and technology to make healthcare more available and affordable. Every child would begin life with a post-natal genetic screen, when potential risk -- say for type II diabetes or heart disease -- would be found. More data on biology, behavior, and environment would be captured throughout her life. Using this information, health-care workers and the people they care for could forge personal strategies for healthier living long before a small glitch blows up into major disease. This real health care wouldn't just replace much of modern disease care -- it would make it obsolete. The result, according to Brigham and Johns, will be a life defined by a long stay at top physical and mental form, rather than an early peak and long decline. Accomplishing this goal will require new tools, new clinics, fewer doctors and more mentors, smarter companies, and engaged patients. In short, it will require a revolution. Thanks to a decade-long collaboration between Brigham, Johns and others, it is already underway. An optimistic plan for reducing or eliminating many chronic diseases as well as reforming our faltering medical system, Predictive Health is a deeply knowledgeable, deeply humane proposal for how we can reallocate expenses and resources to prolong the best years of life, rather than extending the worst. "Our health care system is crippled by desperate efforts to prevent the inevitable. A third of the national Medicare budget--nearly $175 billion--spent on the final year of life, and a third of that amount on the final month, often on expensive (and futile) treatments. Such efforts betray a fundamental flaw in how we think about healthcare: we squander resources on hopeless situations, instead of using them to actually improve health. In Predictive Health, distinguished doctors Kenneth Brigham and Michael M.E. Johns propose a solution: invest earlier--and use science and technology to make healthcare more available and affordable. Every child would begin life with a post-natal genetic screen, when potential risk--say for type II diabetes or heart disease--would be found. More data on biology, behavior, and environment would be captured throughout her life. Using this information, health-care workers and the people they care for could forge personal strategies for healthier living long before a small glitch blows up into major disease. This real health care wouldn't just replace much of modern disease care--it would make it obsolete. The result, according to Brigham and Johns, will be a life defined by a long stay at top physical and mental form, rather than an early peak and long decline. Accomplishing this goal will require new tools, new clinics, fewer doctors and more mentors, smarter companies, and engaged patients. In short, it will require a revolution. Thanks to a decade-long collaboration between Brigham, Johns and others, it is already underway. An optimistic plan for reducing or eliminating many chronic diseases as well as reforming our faltering medical system, Predictive Health is a deeply knowledgeable, deeply humane proposal for how we can reallocate expenses and resources to prolong the best years of life, rather than extending the worst."--Jacket