WHAT TO DO WITH THE "WELL" HALF...
AN EXPANDED ROLE OF THE POPULATION MANAGER
In the doom & gloom discussions on healthcare finance and the constant media attention on chronic disease it is easy to lose site of one key population-- the “healthy.” Most American’s are not sick and incur little healthcare cost. In 2010, the lowest utilizing 50% of Americans accounted for only 2.8% of healthcare spending. By comparison, the top 1% of the population accounted for 21.4% of total cost.(1) Even when looking just at Medicare, in 2008 the least costly half o
THE OTHER 85.7%... PAST SUCCESS & WORK TO BE DONE IN DIABETES CARE
The recent Occupy Wall Street movement brought significant attention to “the other 99%”-- the vast majority of Americans who, as protestors argued, had their voices muted while being victimized by special interests. Veracity of this specific claim aside, Ali, et al., in the April 25, 2013, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine sheds light on a true at-risk majority, the 85.7% of diabetics who do not meet the recommended targets for glycemic control, blood pressure,