Healthcare Costs: What You Can Do To Make A Difference

By Greg Griggs

The cost of healthcare has certainly dominated the news in recent years with much finger pointing and blame to go around. Quite frankly, there are several things we can all do to help with the healthcare cost crisis, and most of them are pretty easy.

First and foremost, have a medical home. Some people wonder what a medical home is, and rightfully so. But it’s really simple. A medical home is where you go for regular care: where you have a primary care physician who knows you, your family and your history. It’s a continuous, ongoing relationship to help you navigate the complicated healthcare system. Of course, as the Executive Vice President of the NC Academy of Family Physicians, I would love for each of you to see a family doctor, but there are other physicians who provide primary care as well, such as a general internist or a general pediatrician for your child. The important thing: have a medical home.

You may ask how having a medical home will lower costs, and that answer is quite simple as well.

First and foremost, a primary care physician will help ensure you get the preventive screenings and tests that you need. In the case of many chronic diseases, early detection is the key, whether its diabetes, high blood pressure or even detection of cancer. Having an ongoing relationship with a family physician who knows you, your personal medical history and your family history can be critical in ordering the appropriate tests at the appropriate time. It also is helpful to determine what tests you may not need. Increasingly, excess healthcare spending can be related to unnecessary tests and procedures. Having an in depth conversation with a physician who knows you is key to making sure you get the care you need but not care that isn’t needed or cost effective.

Having a primary care physician will also reduce unnecessary emergency room utilization. While there are certainly times you need to go to the hospital, routine primary care and management of chronic conditions should not occur in an ER. Finally, increasing the supply of family physicians has been shown to reduce healthcare costs and increase quality, both in studies in the United States and abroad.

Second, you should know your numbers -- aka, your Body Mass Index (BMI), cholesterol, blood pressure and more. And don’t simply know them, understand what they mean – that goes back to having a relationship with your family physician. It’s important to understand what your blood pressure means to you. Slightly elevated blood pressure may be much more of a concern for one person than another, so it’s important to become educated about how they impact you individually.

Unfortunately, too many North Carolinians have a Body Mass Index (BMI) that would indicate they are overweight or even obese. A BMI is simply a number calculated from a person’s weight and height that provides a reliable indicator of body fatness and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered to be overweight, and someone with a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. Ask your doctor to learn more.

Third, take personal responsibility. We all must work to improve our own health and this is as simple as 5-3-2-1-almost none.

• Eat at least FIVE servings of fruit and vegetables each day.
• Eat THREE structured meals every day.
• Keep screen time (television/computer/video games) to TWO hours a day or less.
• Be active at least ONE hour a day.
• And finally, limit sugar-sweetened beverages to almost NONE.

We’ve entered into a partnership with NC SPIN and several other organizations to help make all of this easier for you. Go to www.ahealthiernc.com to take advantage of free online health journaling tools; learn more about community programs, events and health care resources; and more. Our collective goal: involve at least one million North Carolinians, record 15 million hours of activity and transform lives by collectively losing 10 million pounds. If you sign up at the website, you will receive personal health journal pages, have the ability to form or join a private group, share progress with an accountability partner and have access to extensive resources on healthy eating, exercise and more.

We can all make a difference, and I challenge you to take at least these three simple steps:

1. Make sure you have a medical home.
2. Know and understand your numbers.
3. Take personal responsibility and join the Healthier NC Challenge.

Remember, it truly is all up to us!

Gregory K. Griggs, MPA, CAE

Executive Vice President, NC Academy of Family Physicians