Health Affairs, 28, no. 5 (2009): 1554-1555 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.1554-a © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Senate Health Reform Bill   Rewarding Providers   Public Option Policy Brief   Health Reform & Abortion   Delivery System Reform

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Letters

Does Prevention Save Money?

If one focuses on interventions that preserve health (for example, immunizations and lifestyle interventions) rather than those that are intended to interrupt the progression of disease (for example, screening for disease), a set of efficacious preventive interventions that reduce the net cost of health care can be identified.

Michael Maciosek and colleagues have identified three efficacious preventive services that reduce costs (aspirin, pediatric immunization, and screening for tobacco),¹ and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expert panel has concluded that properly conducted worksite health promotion programs also result in a positive return on investment.² Worksite programs that address four lifestyle choices (poor nutrition, inadequate physical activity, using tobacco, and hazardous drinking) have great potential to halt the increase of chronic disease prevalence among middle-aged Americans.

It would be an unfortunate loss of opportunity if the only health reform strategy that has the potential to both reduce the burden of chronic disease and reduce health care costs were overlooked because the casual scanner of journal titles reaches the wrong conclusion.

Thomas E. Kottke, Nicolaas P. Pronk and George J. Isham
HealthPartners, Minneapolis, Minnesota

NOTES

 

1. Maciosek MV, Coffield AB, Edwards NM, Flottemesch TJ, Goodman MJ, Solberg LI. Priorities among effective clinical preventive services: results of a systematic review and analysis. Am J Prev Med. 2006;31(1):52–61.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
2. National Business Coalition on Health. Health risk appraisals at the worksite: basics for HRA decision making. Washington (DC): NBCH; 2008.

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