How Does Preventive Medicine Stack Up Versus Primary Care?

In preventive medicine, a holistic, client-centered approach is taken into the testing process.

Typically, a wide array of tests are selected between the doctor and client to determine the most effective for understanding health and budget.

Since insurance plans have not historically covered preventive medicine, most costs are out-of-pocket expenses.

Through preventive testing, you can discover the unique aspects of your profile and begin a treatment or lifestyle plan tailored to your individual needs.

Think of this as the opposite of a “cookie-cutter” approach to medicine.

After testing, a lifestyle plan is provided to guide you in optimal health and wellness. These steps are often directly related to your unique needs based on your health profile.

The goal of the lifestyle plan is to make minor adjustments in your daily habits and routines to promote your best possible health.

In a traditional approach, testing is done in incremental stages based on symptoms.

In a preventive approach, testing is done based on your budget and desire to gain knowledge of your health - it’s done comprehensively to see the big picture.

With this information, you gain a more robust understanding of the root cause behind the symptom (i.e., sleep issues, chronic fatigue, pain, bowel issues, etc.) rather than a more reactive symptom = pill approach.

With this knowledge, you can work with your doctor and health coach to find the subtle lifestyle adjustments that will make the most significant difference in your long-term health.

In traditional medicine, a specific event must first occur before treatment.

Whether it’s an acute injury, accident, incident, or developing illness, the event comes first, then treatment.

In preventive medicine, it’s just the opposite.

The idea with preventive medicine is to simply prevent the event from ever occurring or significantly reduce the severity or long-term implications.

In this process, you begin with comprehensive testing, gain access to your results then, with a vastly improved understanding of your unique health profile, begin to implement new habits alongside your health and wellness coach.

The process promotes long-term health.

Preventive medicine can be a very beneficial approach to consider in your health and wellness journey.

Beginning with a great understanding of your unique health profile through comprehensive testing followed by systematic, process-driven help from a health coach, you can be on your way to a life filled with health optimization.

For further reading on how you can optimize your health through preventive medicine, view the following articles on our learning center: