Dr. Weiss on the importance of blood tests in preventative care
Ronald Weiss, MD, MBA, executive vice president of corporate communication at ARUP Laboratories, discusses reducing costs associated with health care by focusing on preventative care, including blood tests. Dr. Weiss states that 22.5 percent of Utah elementary school students are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Growing along with the rate of childhood obesity is the rate at which children develope type 2 diabetes, once considered exclusively an adult disease. According to Dr. Weiss, "The American Diabetes Association estimates that almost one-half of all new childhood diabetes cases are classified as type 2....Our federal and state budgets are facing a ticking time bomb in the form of chronic disease and lengthy, expensive hospitalizations." However, a simple hemoglobin A1c blood test, which costs about $13, measures a patient's blood-sugar control and has the potential to serve as an "early warning system for the potential onset of diabetes complications, enabling preventive steps that can avert years of misery."
- It costs less to keep people healthy than to treat them when they become seriously ill. Despite that, the very sad fact is we spend only about 5 percent of our national health expenditures on preventing disease and promoting health. See more
(Deseret News. "A Simple Prick of the Finger Might Slow Health-Care Bleeding." January 27, 2008.)