Abstract:
Our society is seeing a sharp rise in the number of people
suffering from complicated chronic diseases. Presently, 6 in 10 adults in the
United States have a chronic disease. This is the leading cause of death and
the leading driver of the Nation's $3.8 Trillion in Annual Health Care Costs.
With that figure predicted to grow, clearly, something is lacking from the
one-size. the fits-all paradigm of traditional medicine. Caring for this new
population requires an entirely different mindset; this is where functional
medicine steps in. Functional medication can help prevent disease thus
potentially proving to be more cost-effective for the insured and insurer
overall in the long term. However, there are approximately 1400 functional
medicine practitioners across the U.S., and a little under 350 that accept
insurance. We analyze health data from a new point in this research.