Cassil Alwyn
Issue Brief Cent Stud Health Syst Change. 2008 Nov(125):1-4.
The growing prevalence of chronic health conditions--about 60 percent of the adult U.S. population had at least one chronic condition in 2005--has added costs to the U.S. health care system. Prevention and better management of chronic conditions are often cited as ways to improve health outcomes and slow U.S. health care spending growth--or at least generate better value for the $2.1 trillion spent annually on health care in the United States. Yet, the health care system remains largely focused on acute, episodic care, according to experts at a Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) conference titled, Rising Rates of Chronic Health Conditions: What Can Be Done? Panelists explored the role of obesity in rising rates of chronic conditions, the need for better information on how to treat patients with multiple chronic conditions, how to help patients improve self-management skills and how difficult changing unhealthy behaviors can be.
慢性健康状况的患病率不断上升——2005年美国约60%的成年人口至少患有一种慢性病——这增加了美国医疗保健系统的成本。慢性病的预防和更好管理常被视为改善健康结果、减缓美国医疗保健支出增长的方法——或者至少为美国每年2.1万亿美元的医疗保健支出创造更高价值。然而，据健康系统变革研究中心（HSC）一场题为“慢性健康状况发病率上升：该如何应对？”的会议上的专家称，医疗保健系统在很大程度上仍专注于急性、偶发性护理。小组成员探讨了肥胖在慢性病发病率上升中的作用、获取如何治疗患有多种慢性病患者的更好信息的必要性、如何帮助患者提高自我管理技能以及改变不健康行为有多困难。
