The United States spends 40% more per patient than other developed countries but suffers the worse overall health outcomes. There is general consensus that a major solution lies in better managing and preventing adult chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart failure. But starting in adulthood is too late. Many adult health care outcomes are shaped in childhood. This means that the effort to improve those outcomes must begin in childhood. Radically new models of holistic pediatric primary care — which such organizations as Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Harriet Lane Clinic, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Partners for Kids accountable care organization are pioneering — can play an important role.
Fighting Chronic Disease Starts with Better Pediatric Care
The United States spends 40% more per patient than other developed countries but suffers the worse overall health outcomes. There is general consensus that a major solution lies in better managing and preventing adult chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart failure. But starting in adulthood is too late. Many adult health care outcomes are shaped in childhood. This means that the effort to improve those outcomes must begin in childhood. Radically new models of holistic pediatric primary care — which such organizations as Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Harriet Lane Clinic, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Partners for Kids accountable care organization are pioneering — can play an important role. The goal should be to keep children on a trajectory to becoming productive, successful, healthy adults rather than just treating them when they are sick.