Total Health: A Social Movement

I thought I was dreaming…

…when Dr Phil Tuso took the stage at the International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference. And let me tell you, it was a good dream!

Dr Tuso is the National Clinical Lead for Total Health with the Care Management Institute of Kaiser Permanente, the largest health maintenance organisation (HMO) in the United States.

For readers who aren’t familiar with the US healthcare system, here’s a quick rundown:

Unlike Australia, the UK, Canada and most Western European countries, there is no universal health insurance scheme in the United States. Retired and disabled people’s medical treatment is covered by the Medicare scheme; Medicaid provides medical care for low-income earners; and everyone else takes out health insurance – either directly or through an employer-funded package – with an HMO, which either directly provides or arranges for any medical treatment they require.

Kaiser Permanente (KP) is the largest HMO in the US. It insures 9 million Americans, owns and operates 37 medical centres, and has 15 000 doctors on its books to provide medical treatment to members. KP encourages its doctors to carry out research, especially on preventative health care, and publishes its own peer-reviewed journal, The Permanente Journal.

And it was in that journal that Phil Tuso and 3 KP colleagues published an article titled ‘Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets’, in the Northern Hemisphere spring of 2013.

The article’s abstract read:

“The objective of this article is to present to physicians an update on plant-based diets. Concerns about the rising cost of health care are being voiced nationwide, even as unhealthy lifestyles are contributing to the spread of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. For these reasons, physicians looking for cost-effective interventions to improve health outcomes are becoming more involved in helping their patients adopt healthier lifestyles. Healthy eating may be best achieved with a plant-based diet, which we define as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meats, dairy products, and eggs as well as all refined and processed foods… Research shows that plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, HbA_1C, and cholesterol levels. They may also reduce the number of medications needed to treat chronic diseases and lower ischemic heart disease mortality rates. Physicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity.“ [emphasis added]

KP is renowned as an industry leader in the provision of managed care – that is, reducing the cost of providing medical treatment while ensuring quality patient care – so much so that its operations have been studied by the UK Department of Health to improve the operation of the NHS (Britain’s publicly funded medical care system). It’s also renowned for its strong emphasis on preventive medicine, to rein in future costs and improve patient outcomes. 

So when KP tells its doctors they should be advising ALL their patients to adopt a plant-based diet, it’s a big deal, which is likely to have a ripple effect throughout the US health care industry… and eventually the rest of the world!  

Naturally, as a health insurer, KP benefits financially if it takes effective steps to improve its members’ health status. Healthy patients keep paying their insurance premiums, but cost KP far less than sick patients, because they don’t require frequent doctor visits, drug prescriptions or expensive hospital stays. Clearly, the bean-counters at KP have done their sums and figured out that training their doctors and ancillary care providers to teach patients how to switch to a plant-based diet, is going to pay off for them big time in the long run.

But listening to the passion with which Phil Tuso described the projects he’s working on to transition KP’s operations from an illness and treatment model to a wellness and prevention model, it was easy to see that it’s not all about the money, at least for him!

Phil was the driving force behind the Save EC video which presents life-saving information on preventive health in a form that everyone – even children – can understand. His aim is to build communities that promote and facilitate healthy eating and activity for all members, from the youngest to the oldest. Beyond saving money for KP, this mission will improve the quality of life of every person insured by KP, as well as creating a ripple effect that spreads to their family, friends and community members.

You can view my summary of Dr Tuso’s presentation in the International PBNHC Round-Up Webinar (1:53:20). Then take the Pledge to Save EC and share it with everyone you care about!

Would you like expert guidance in implementing the kind of eating plan that Kaiser Permanente recommends to drastically lower risk of chronic disease and need for medications and procedures? Become an EmpowerEd member today!