Dr Dean Ornish stated in an interview at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York: “Seventy five percent of the $2.7 trillion in health care costs, which are really ‘sick care’ costs, are from chronic diseases that can be largely prevented, or even reversed, through simply changing diet and lifestyle.“
Lifestyle changes can be a form of treatment that can reverse – not just help prevent – many of the most common and costly chronic diseases, including heart disease, prostate cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Ornish advocates integrative medicine – empowering patients to take control of their health and lifestyles – and only using drugs and surgery when appropriate.
The overarching principle of Dr. Ornish’s approach is to treat the underlying causes of chronic diseases rather than literally or figuratively bypassing them. (Side note: use Functional Medicine to determine the cause) “These causes are primarily the lifestyle choices we make each day – what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke, how much exercise we do, and how much love and support we have.”
After 16 years of internal and external review, Medicare agreed last year to cover “Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease” in hospitals, clinics and physician offices.
“This is a game-changer, because reimbursement is such a powerful determinant of medical practice,” Ornish said. “We are grateful to Medicare for making it possible for physicians and other health professionals to create sustainable models of health care that empower people to change their lives for the better.”
Read the full article at the link below:
dean-ornish-integrative-healthcare-symposium
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I’m glad to hear his treatment is covered by Medicare now. Did you see his comment on the new study of red meat and mortality in the Archives of Internal Medicine? He is spot on that the type of dietary change he advocates– good carbs, good fats (fish oil, flaxseed) little or no red meat— are not only good for our health but good for the planet. Read his comments here: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/archinternmed.2012.174