The initiative aims to create prospective health care for patients -- or customized health planning. Included in this initiative is the launch of a government-funded one-year pilot study to determine the efficacy of an intensive patient intervention called "strategic health planning."

The new model greatly expands what medicine has conventionally offered and, for example, includes "health care coaches" to help make real changes in people's lives. This type of care could help people reduce their risk for heart attack, stroke or developing diabetes.

"What has been missing in America is a health system designed to facilitate the ability of individuals to promote their health by being more involved in their care and to help them focus on preventing illnesses most likely to cause them great harm. We need to get physicians and health care systems to think and act prospectively. Designing individualized health plans for patients and providing the means for preventing disease is an important start," said Ralph Snyderman, M.D., chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of Duke University Health System.

The randomized, controlled trial is part of the larger prospective health care initiative at Duke that emphasizes early detection and disease prevention methods rather than waiting until people become sick before seeing a doctor. Duke's vision is that with the latest advances in the fields of genomics and the understanding of disease origins and risk factors, it is possible for a new paradigm of interaction between people and their health care system.

"We currently spend $1.4 trillion a year on health care, but we aren't getting our money's worth. Our health care system is inefficient and needs to be fixed. We are convi
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Contact: Jeff Molter
molte001@mc.duke.edu
919-684-4148
Duke University Medical Center
26-Sep-2002