Research published in the January issue of Health Affairs showed that a community-based lifestyle intervention program could prevent nearly 885,000 cases of type 2 diabetes and save $5.7 billion over the next 25 years.

“The rising burden of type 2 diabetes in the United States has made its prevention a priority for public health agencies, healthcare professionals, private insurers and community organizations,” says Xiaohui Zhou, PhD, a health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and one of the authors of the study. Therefore, implementation of a community-wide prevention program for type 2 diabetes could improve health and reduce healthcare costs over time.

“The number of people in the U.S. with diabetes is projected to nearly double by 2034, to 44 million, with health care spending attributable to diabetes nearly tripling, to $336 billion,” he continued. “To prevent human suffering and reduce healthcare costs, policy makers have called for additional efforts to prevent type 2 diabetes.”

Under the intervention program proposed in the study, nearly 100 million Americans ages 18 to 84 would be screened over the next 25 years and nearly 23 million of those would have pre-diabetes. Another 13 million would be expected to be enrolled in a lifestyle intervention program.

The authors estimated that the program would cost $24.1 billion – almost assuredly an insurmountable obstacle in today’s economy. However, there’s a new trend in health care called concierge medicine that offers the type of patient-first, preventive health care envisioned in the study. And the approach to patient care used by concierge medicine is particularly useful in treating chronic diseases like diabetes, and preventing those at risk of disease from getting it.

Concierge, or personalized, medicine turns conventional health care on its head by addressing long-term medical goals, rather than treating symptoms. Upon entering a concierge program, patients are given a complete “executive-style” physical exam, which results in a customized wellness plan. The patient’s “health care blueprint” is revisited throughout the year to monitor progress in ongoing chronic disease ailments – like diabetes  – and overall health goals, until the patient’s next annual physical when the entire plan is revised.

“The current system of health care in the U.S. approaches patient care like a factory production line, treating symptoms rather than the patient. As a result, the U.S. leads per capita among Western nations in almost every major chronic disease,” says Matt Jacobson, CEO, SignatureMD, a leading provider of concierge medicine nationwide. “Ironically, 72% of all chronic diseases are preventable, but just three cents of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. is on prevention.”