A landmark week for transforming our health care system

Dr Hyman, Dr Oz, Dr Weil and others are going to the senate to propose functional medicine to them as a health care solution. This can be a step in the right direction.

I especially like the line that says:
We must change not only the WAY we do medicine, but also the medicine we DO. Read Dr Hyman’s article below.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This is a landmark week for transforming our health care system.

The Senate is having hearings on transforming health care and integrative and Functional medicine and the National Academy of Sciences is hosting an Institute of Medicine Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public http://www.iom.edu/integrativemedicine.

I am also honored to let you know that on Thursday, February 26th between 10 am and 12 pm, I will be testifying on how Functional medicine can help solve our health care crisis before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at the invitation of Senators Kennedy, Harkin and Mikulski.

You can view this testimony, along with that of Drs. Oz, Ornish and Weil online at:

http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_02_26/2009_02_26.html

I am not clear on whether the hearing will be streamed live or available for viewing afterward, so please check back for the recorded version if it's not streamed live.

Here is some of what I will be sharing with them.
The current medical and scientific paradigm of acute care medicine has been unable to effectively address the epidemic of chronic disease and its associated costs.
There is a new paradigm which addresses the fundamental underlying causes of chronic disease, and can form the basis for a more effective model of medical education, practice, and research that over time will generate dramatic cost savings and improved health outcomes.
There are specific initiatives and strategies based on this new paradigm that can help quickly transform our sick care system into a health care system.

Even if we get everything else right in health care reform, it won't matter unless we address the underlying causes of illness that drive both costs and the development of chronic disease. This innovative approach to chronic disease cannot only prevent but also more effectively TREAT chronic disease.

We must change not only the WAY we do medicine, but also the medicine we DO.

We must improve not only financing and delivery of health care, but also our fundamental scientific approach to chronic disease-an epidemic that now affects 133 million Americans and accounts for 78% of health care costs.

This way of doing medicine, or Functional medicine, is a system of personalized, patient centered care based on how our environment and lifestyle choices act on our genes to create imbalances in our core biologic systems. Those imbalances show up as the signs and symptoms we call disease.

It is best solution for our health care crisis. The solution is not our current acute care model, which though extremely effective for acute disease, leads to worse outcomes and higher costs when applied to chronic disease because it doesn't address WHY people are sick.

This new paradigm is personalized, preventive, participatory, predictive, prospective, and patient centered.

It is proactive rather than reactive.

It is based on addressing the causes of disease and optimizing biologic function in the body's core physiologic systems, not only treating the symptoms.

It based on systems biology or medicine.

That model exists today, and is called Functional Medicine.

****Key Avenues for Change: Recommendations ****
Re-tooling medical education and research to match the science of systems medicine. I recommend the establishment of a sustainably funded Institute for Lifestyle and Systems Medicine/Functional Medicine.
Creation of Functional medicine demonstration projects in federally funded community health centers, with integrated health care teams focusing on treating chronic disease and providing education about lifestyle and wellness
The establishment of a White House and/or Congressional Office for Health and Wellness to coordinate all efforts in this area.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement in this critical time.

If you want to help, please contact your congressman, Senators and the White House to advocate for this type of change and share your stories of how this has impacted you.

We all can change our health care system together!

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD