Preventive services save lives. Please help spread the message.

Everyone has the right to the preventive care and testing that is essential to living a healthy life.

By Anand Parekh, MD, MPH, and Kate Berry, Senior Vice President of Clinical Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at AHIP.

Imagine a world where deadly diseases are detected early, lives are saved, and healthcare costs are drastically reduced. This vision can become a reality if we prioritize prevention and significantly increase access to high-value, evidence-based preventive services.

Everyone has the right to the preventive care and testing that is essential to living a healthy life. Cancer screenings, smoking cessation interventions, and vaccinations are all important for keeping people of all ages healthy and identifying potential problems early.

However, uptake of recommended preventive services remains alarmingly low; some estimates suggest that uptake of recommended preventive services is: 10% of adults Receive all recommended high-priority services.

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Consider this: Approximately 80% While adults are screened for heart disease and 60-70% are screened for cancer, only 30-40% are screened or referred for substance use or mental health conditions. And the COVID-19 pandemic has set us back even further.

Why do we miss out? Healthcare professionals have limited time with patients, and patients may not know what is recommended for them or that preventive services are available for free. Some patients face social barriers to receiving treatment that prevent them from making an appointment, such as the need for transportation or childcare.

Missing a screening is significant. For example, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths for both men and women in the United States; 140,000 new diagnoses Every year. The risk of colorectal cancer increases with age, and people who have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, have a family history of colorectal cancer, smoke, drink alcohol, and do not exercise regularly are more likely to develop colorectal cancer. the risk is even higher.

Screening for colorectal cancer reduces mortality, and certain screening tools can reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer. but, More than 1 in 3 people Adults over the age of 45 do not receive the recommended test.

Since 2010, influenza-related hospitalizations have ranged from 140,000 to 710,000, and deaths have ranged from 12,000 to 56,000. estimate From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 320,000 people Additionally, more than 150,000 people are hospitalized each year due to pneumococcal pneumonia, and more than 5,000 people, most of them elderly, die. 880,000 people People with chronic hepatitis B can develop serious health problems such as liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and even death.

Vaccines against these infections are safe and widely effective in preventing a wide range of illnesses from childhood to adulthood.

That's why we're so excited about our recent releases. Health promotion through prevention (PHtP)a national campaign that brings together insurance companies, medical professional associations, scientific institutions, and patient organizations to provide access to evidence-based preventive services at no out-of-pocket cost.

Our goal is to increase awareness and use of recommended preventive services that are available to consumers at no cost to them. We want to encourage people to take advantage of the benefits available to them to stay healthy.

One of the tools we use is My Health Finderdeveloped by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The tool allows consumers to enter their age and gender and learn what tests and vaccines they need to stay healthy. For individuals who do not have a primary care provider to discuss these results with, this tool can also help locate nearby community health centers, volunteer clinics, and community health departments.

Preventive health exams and services promote timely, whole-person care and help detect more serious conditions earlier when they are more treatable. By working together to advance access to preventive services, we improve affordable access and high-value care so everyone can get the care they need, when they need it, and achieve their best health. You can make it possible.