Ā Ivan Oransky, Global Editorial Director, MedPage Today, did a Q-and-A with Pritpal Tamber about his Wellthcare project.
When we talk about the costs and value of healthcare, are we actually ignoring most of what contributes? And how will that affect medical practice?
Pritpal Tamber, MBChB, has a theory on that. Tamber's concept, Wellthcare, is "an attempt to find new ways to value health."
I asked him to answer five questions about Wellthcare and his plans.
1. What is Wellthcare?
It's an exploration to find new ways to value health above and beyond the deficit model used by the healthcare professions and industry. Right now, we wait for people to get sick -- the so-called deficit -- to intervene, the aggregate cost of which is the healthcare budget. However, with the ever-increasing need for care -- due to aging, the rise of lifestyle related chronic conditions, and increased consumerism -- the deficit model has become financially unsustainable. Furthermore, we know that healthcare contributes only about 20% to our overall health; the rest comes from our genes, our behaviors, social factors, and the environment. We need to stop relying solely on the financially unsustainable deficit model and find new ways to create health by influencing the 80%. At Wellthcare we believe that much of this value resides in our networks and communities. We call that value Wellth.
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