keep people out of costly hospitals and clinics

keep people out of costly hospitals and clinicsAt one panel, Nancy Turett, an executiveTarpsat Edelman, the big PRMicrofiber clothfirm, said the company’s public opinion polling showed that health and wellness was now like “green,” meaning both a personal and social issue in America.

The business case, of course, is that an aging population, new Internet-era technology, and changing attitudes and reimbursement policies will increasingly focus on preventive health and wellness.

Dr. David M. Lawrence, former chief executive of Kaiser Permanente, explains the trend as an inevitable shift of resources. He estimates that more than 95 percent of the financial resources in America are spent in the “sick-care system” in hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices, where patients turn up ill, often with chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

Dr. Lawrence, who attended the conference, figures that half the money in the sick-care system is misspent, and that much of health spending needs to move to wellness — to keep people out of costlyMicrofiber clothhospitals and clinics.

New technology — low-cost computing, sensors, the Web and genetics — will play a crucial role in the transition. And in a current Health Affairs article, Dr. Lawrence mentions a few representative examples of new companies that have entered the wellness business, including Social Kinetics, MedExpert, Proteus Biomed, SomaLogic and RedBrick.

“It’s not that any one solution is going to be revolutionary,” Dr. Lawrence said in an interview last week. “But when there are all sorts of apps, that will drive the opportunity for disruption.”

In short, a big jolt to the health care status quo from new technology, new economics and the resulting entrepreneurial ferment. Others share that view, notably Clayton M. Christensen, the Harvard professor, author of “The Innovator’s Dilemma” and co-author of “The Innovator’s Prescription:TarpsA Disruptive Solution forMicrofiber clothHealth Care.”