MDPrevent ‘Preventioneers’ Prepare To Save Medicare

Oct. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- Contact: Kimberly Whetsel
Director of Service, Marketing
561-807-2561
Kimberly.Whetsel@MDPrevent.net

MDPREVENT ‘PREVENTIONEERS’ PREPARE TO SAVE MEDICARE
Boca Raton Start-Up Offers New Solution to Growing Healthcare Problem

Boca Raton, Florida (October XX, 2011) –  As Washington struggles over health care reform, and Medicare’s increasing entitlement costs threaten the safety-net program for America’s seniors and disabled, MDPrevent, a new Preventive Medicine & Learning Center focused on how to live a healthy lifestyle, offers a much needed practical solution.

Medicare currently has more than 49 million beneficiaries. With 78 million Baby Boomers joining their ranks at a rate of about 11,000 per day, the program’s long-term sustainability is in jeopardy. The leading diseases in the U.S. include hypertension, heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and cancer, which account for over 50% of annual US deaths, according to the CDC.  They easily account for over 50% of Medicare’s annual expenditures. The CDC also states that the evidence for the power of prevention is now “indisputable.”

Recognizing that an ounce of prevention may well be worth a pound of cure, Medicare in 2011 implemented new reimbursement for an Annual Wellness Visit as part of the Affordable Care Act. For the first time in its history, Medicare now pays doctors to spend time with patients focused on preventing diseases as opposed to treating them. Unfortunately, as of August 2011, only about 5% of eligible Medicare beneficiaries had taken advantage of this new benefit.

“Instead of achieving much-needed increased access to preventive healthcare, the Act remains a mystery to seniors, who haven’t taken full advantage of it, and to most primary care physicians, for whom ‘wellness’ visits are contrary to traditional medical practice of diagnosing problems and treating them mostly with drugs,” says Steven Charlap, M.D., M.B.A., a pioneering physician, and the founder and Chief Service Officer of MDPrevent.

The Affordable Care Act was designed to offset cost barriers to preventive care and stave off chronic, long-term illness, like obesity, heart disease and dementia. Yet, consumers were left to figure out on their own how to access these services from an appropriate and knowledgeable source. MDPrevent provides easily accessible, innovative preventive care that can help change Medicare beneficiaries’ access to and perspectives about their long-term health and wellbeing.

The MDPrevent wellness visit is available to patients of all ages. For those not on Medicare, or those who’ve had a wellness visit, they receive the self-paid Baseline Health Assessment Program, which includes an initial two hour consultation with MDPrevent’s Preventioneers who are pioneering a new approach to prevention, including MDs, nurse practitioners, health psychologists, registered dietitians and nutritionists. Rounding out the team are fitness and yoga instructors and educators who lead interactive group courses on health, diet and nutrition, fitness and exercise, stress management, relationship and social network building. It also includes a blood pressure measurement, blood tests for cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose for heart disease or diabetes, and calculation of body mass index (BMI).

Dr. Charlap is no stranger to Medicare or the plight of seniors. He spent more than 20 years founding and building HealthDrive, a medical and dental practice company that during his tenure served some five million Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in more than 1,500 facilities across 13 states. He witnessed first-hand the consequences of chronic diseases that require the institutionalization of some two million people each year. After leaving HealthDrive in 2010, Dr. Charlap saw the Affordable Care Act as providing a springboard for a better approach.

“When there is great science that shows that chronic diseases are mostly avoidable, it is madness that millions of Americans must suffer the escalating costs of living with and dying from chronic diseases,” he says. “The tangible costs include prescriptions, doctor visits, diagnostic tests, hospitalizations and lost wages. Intangibles include pain and suffering, loss of independence, and needing to depend on others. I knew that something had to be done and the Affordable Care Act made now the time to do it.”

The solution is MDPrevent, which focuses exclusively on optimizing health, longevity and well-being through Medicare paid Annual Wellness Visits, Baseline Health Assessments, and ongoing, low-cost educational and fitness seminars. It’s a solution designed to serve Americans of all ages and the nation’s need to improve people’s overall health, while also lowering costs associated with treating an aging population.

Understanding that prevention requires a new mind-set, MDPrevent has developed one of its own. Its 4,500-square-foot, hospitality-like medical practice and learning center features a concierge desk, videos of entertainers like Abbott and Costello, Victor Borges and The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and inspiring quotes from celebrities and American heroes.

In the three, 25-person classrooms are an instructional kitchen, education and fitness facilities and state-of-the-art audio/visual technology. Through the Preventioneer-patient relationship, clinicians deliver an innovative approach to preventive medicine and interactive group education. Patients receive a five- to 10-year plan of health check-ups, and diet, nutrition, stress, relationships and sleep management, and fitness training classes – all held in an interactive, group setting.

MDPrevent doesn’t replace patients’ primary care providers and specialists. It complements those relationships with the free Annual Wellness Visit and consultations with health psychologists and dietitians. If during visits serious medical issues are discovered, patients are referred back to their primary care or specialist physicians.

“As America ages, it will be critical to our long-term prosperity that aging Americans reduce healthcare costs, stay healthy, and enjoy a life well lived,” Charlap says. “Working with wise patients and the Affordable Care Act, MDPrevent can help us all prevent, delay or mitigate serious illness and live healthier, more meaningful lives.”

MDPrevent opened on the campus of Delray Medical Center on October 20, 2011. For an interview or to schedule a private tour of the facility, please contact Kimberly Whetsel, Director of Service and Marketing, at 561-807-2561 or by email at Kimberly.Whetsel@MDPrevent.net.

About MDPrevent

MDPrevent is a new concept in preventive medicine. The healthcare practice helps America’s aging population reduce healthcare costs, stay healthy, and enjoy a life well lived through free Annual Wellness Visits (paid 100% by Medicare) and for non-Medicare beneficiaries, a Baseline Health Assessment Program, and the development of a five- to 10-year prevention plan.  Its MDs, nurse practitioners, health psychologists, registered dietitians and nutritionists, fitness and yoga instructors and educators also provide interactive group courses on health, diet and nutrition, fitness and exercise, stress management, relationship and social network building, and other key elements of a healthy life. The goal: to improve aging by identifying, preventing, delaying or mitigating the development of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and some forms of cancer. Learn more at www.MDPrevent.net.

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MDPrevent Preventive Medicine & Learning Center...because living well is more important than just living--learn how to live an exceptional life. Let us show you how to prevent, delay or decrease the severity of chronic diseases.