Health, Healthcare, Health Care, and Care
Posted on June 5, 2014
Type “healthcare versus health care” into any kind of search engine on the Internet, and you will find evidence of a battle royal¹ over the correct usage.
For the record, “health care” is listed as two words in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and elsewhere.
Why should you care about this? You shouldn’t. What we should all care about is the health of our citizenry, and the care they are receiving. The general health of the American populace is atrocious. We are overweight, smokers, excessive drinkers, etc. We rank near the bottom as compared to countries in our peer group (developed countries). Our life expectancy is shorter than other countries. And the costs of our general ill health are staggering! For more details, see: http://healthypeople.gov/2020/about/genhealthabout.aspx
That’s the bad news on the “health” front. What about the “care” side of things? The news there is not good either.
“For decades, the way we’ve paid doctors and hospitals has driven up health care costs. And while the pace of health care spending has slowed the last four years, it continues to rise faster and more noticeably than improvements in U.S. health care outcomes.”
This text did not come from some website that is pushing a political agenda for a single-payer model like that of Canada or Great Britain. This quote is from Forbes Magazine, produced by billionaire Steve Forbes’ organization. See more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2014/01/09/high-cost-of-american-health-care/
And what about the quality of that expensive care? Many people assume that the United States has the finest health care system in the world, but numerous studies show mixed results.
“High spending in the United States does not always translate into high-quality care. According to the report, the U.S. had the highest survival rates in the study for breast cancer, as well as the best survival rates, along with Norway, for colorectal cancer. However, cervical cancer survival rates in the U.S. were worse than average and well below those of Norway.
Compared to other countries in the study, the U.S. had high rates of asthma-related deaths among people ages 5 to 39 and, along with Germany, very high rates of amputations resulting from diabetes. U.S. rates of in-hospital deaths after heart attack and stroke were average.” From http://www.commonwealthfund.org
We’ve got lots of work to do as a country to improve the “health” and “care” of our people. So what can we, employees of Health New England, citizens of western Massachusetts, do about this issue? First of all, we can start by “thinking globally but acting locally”. We’re not going to eliminate poor health habits or inadequate care in Romania or Nigeria, but we can make a difference in our own community. For example, Health New England has a robust wellness program for its own employees. HNE is actively promoting this program to all of its employer groups. This program has resulted in significant increases in the number of HNE members participating in wellness activities and obtaining health screenings.
Again at a more local level, HNE and the State of Massachusetts led the way in introducing zero cost for preventive care items like screenings (for breast cancer, obesity, etc.), other tests, and certain vaccination and immunization shots.
Our parent company, the Baystate Health hospital system, has several initiatives going to improve the quality of health care delivery, including the following:
- A recently completed Community Health Needs Assessment and implementation strategy, document here: baystatehealth.com/…/Baystate/…/Community%20Health%20Planning/…/ BMC-Implementation-Strategy.pdf
- A focus on quality of care for which Baystate has received national recognition and numerous awards: http://baystatehealth.com/Baystate/Main+Nav/About+Us/Quality
- An emerging initiative on the concept of the Patient-Centered Medical Home: http://www.baystatehealth.org/Baystate/Main+Nav/About+Us/Quality/Quality+Report/Quality+Report/Z
Baystate+Medical+Practices/Patient-Centered+Medical+Home
Finally, there’s what we can do for ourselves, without the intervention of our insurance company or our providers. Are we doing the most we can do to stay in good health? Are we eating well, exercising, and drinking alcohol in moderation, reducing the stress in our lives? Are we doing the same for our children, our spouses and families? Good health starts with ourselves.
¹ The term “battle royal” was first coined by the Romansto refer to a form of gladiatorial combat involving a number of gladiators fighting, armed or unarmed, until only one remained standing, or alive. These fights tended to be particularly brutal, even by the standards of the Romans. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_royal, last updated 04/05/14