Source: Health is Primary
In July, Health is Primary is focusing on chronic disease and highlighting the role of primary care in preventing and managing chronic conditions. Health is Primary is sharing the facts about the prevalence of chronic conditions in the United States and how primary care integrated teams can provide better care, better outcomes at lower costs.
Health is Primary has developed a monthly toolkit which you can use in your practice to champion primary care. This toolkit includes patient information sheets on hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, in both English and Spanish.
Chronic disease facts from the Health is Primary website:
- As of 2012, about half of all adults—117 million people—had one or more chronic health conditions. One of four adults had two or more chronic health conditions. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))
- Seven of the top 10 causes of death in 2010 were chronic diseases. Two of these chronic diseases—heart disease and cancer—together accounted for nearly 48% of all deaths. (CDC)
- Prevention and management of chronic disease are best performed by multidisciplinary teams in primary care and public health. (Health Affairs, 2009)
- Primary care physicians, compared with specialists, provide equal quality of care at lower cost for patients with diabetes and hypertension. (Bodenheimer, T., & Grumbach, K., 2000)
- Continuity of care, which implies that individuals use their primary source of care over time for most of their health care needs, is associated with greater satisfaction, better compliance, and lower hospitalization and emergency room use. (Starfield, B., Shi, L., & Macinko, J., 2005).