Global healthcare systems are at a crossroads, and the increasing rates of chronic diseases, rising costs, and growing dissatisfaction among patients are forcing insurers and healthcare providers to fundamentally rethink the delivery of healthcare services. For a long time, the illness care system has focused on reactive, sick care services, which only offered services after people became ill. However, positive changes are taking place. The focus is shifting to preventative measures, early interventions, and providing care from a whole-person perspective. One of the new changes being offered is the addition of preventative naturopathic care to the health plans offered to patients.
As patients become more demanding and seek services that focus on the root cause of problems, health insurance companies and employers are interested in incorporating naturopathic services into the available conventional services. This is an indication that sustainable prevention-focused health care is on the horizon.
What is Preventive Naturopathic Care?
Preventive naturopathic care is based on the premise that the human body is capable of healing itself if the body is properly supported. The focus of naturopathic medicine is less about suppression of symptoms and more about finding what is out of balance and contributing to the disease process. There is an emphasis on the identification of underlying problems that cause disease and offer holistic solutions. This may include nutritional counseling, lifestyle changes, stress management, botanical medicine, and appropriate nutritional supplements.
A starting point of preventive strategies consists of detailed evaluations involving diet, sleep, stress, digestion, hormones, and environment. Most chronic disease events are preventable, and addressing these fundamentals first could optimize long-term health and vitality.
The integration of this type of care with primary health care services promotes access to care that supports health before problems occur. This approach is consistent with the dominant focus of contemporary health care on improving the health of communities while managing costs.
The Case for Prevention from an Economic Perspective
The increasing costs associated with health care are primarily a result of the growing prevalence of chronic illnesses including diabetes, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases. These diseases tend to develop insidiously over many years as a result of lifestyle-related stresses. Once a disease has progressed to this point, managing it is resource-intensive, involving numerous surgical interventions, in-patient care, and expensive drug therapies.
The potential of preventive naturopathic care is to manage these risks early, thereby addressing the burden of chronic disease. Optimizing nutrition, managing weight, and addressing stress and gut health issues are critical to the regulation of certain metabolic and inflammatory markers. With the support of health-care professionals, there is often a greater likelihood of health habit adoption coupled with a reduction in the need for costly health interventions.
Employers may experience a positive impact on productivity and a reduction in absenteeism and insurance claims related to advanced disease management if preventative health insurance is adopted.
Consumer Sentiment and Individualized Healthcare
Today’s consumers are proactive in researching healthcare options and making informed decisions. Digital health information and wellness platforms have prompted healthcare consumers to seek providers who offer a holistic approach instead of addressing problems in a piecemeal fashion. Patients are increasingly requesting and expecting healthcare providers to offer services related to nutrition, stress management, and natural therapy in addition to mainstream medical treatment.
The integration of naturopathic services in insurance plans represents a positive trend in addressing patient demand for a wider range of services. Patients appreciate plans that cover consultations, lab tests, and preventative treatments in addition to demonstrating an insurance plan’s commitment to patient-centered care.
Natural Med Doc in Chandler is an example of naturopathic care providing evidence based therapies to complement conventional medicine. Having direct access to these types of providers within an insurance plan provides patients with additional treatment options while ensuring the plan adheres to medical oversight and accountability. This, along with expanded access to evidence based care, is expected to improve patient outcomes.
Integrating Conventional and Naturopathic Medicine
Collaboration is a key component to the successful integration of systems. Naturopathic and allopathic practitioners can integrate treatment plans. For instance, a patient with hypertension could be prescribed antihypertensives by the allopathic primary care physician and work with the Naturopathic physician to modify his diet, reduce stress, and manage inflammation.
This model of care promotes collaboration, communication, and continuity of care. Empathy, shared information systems, respect, and care integration increase efficiencies and improve patient experience. Instead of positioning Naturopathic Medicine as an alternative option, it can be a primary component of a modern, preventative health care strategy.
Integrating Naturopathic Care with Insurance
Chronic disease management is one of the most significant reasons for advocating the integration of Naturopathic care with insurance. Spending for lifestyle-related chronic diseases is one of the highest contributors to health care costs. Conditions such as insulin resistance, digestive issues, and chronic fatigue can be challenging and frustrating for patients.
An in-depth assessment and treatment can be pivotal in response to the patient’s dissatisfaction with their health status. The identification of issues, such as food sensitivities, micronutrient depletion, and hormonal irregularities, can trigger targeted interventions and more effective health care. The goal is to improve the patient’s quality of life and to reduce the risk of disease progression.
When health plans offer these services, people are more inclined to utilize early intervention services instead of postponing treatment because of the financial burden of out-of-pocket costs.
Preventive diagnostics and functional evaluations
The additional benefit of incorporating naturopathic care is the expanded scope of screening and evaluation. Functional evaluations that assess various biomarkers, such as those related to inflammation, the gastrointestinal tract, metabolic function, and nutrient metabolism, are of value. Regardless of the importance of conventional testing, these more advanced functional evaluations can demonstrate an increase on the spectrum of health that precedes an overt expression of disease.
When health insurers include functional evaluations as covered services, they are incentivizing more active participation and patients are more likely to take an active role. By covering these tests, patients are more likely to monitor their health. Covered services afford the opportunity to monitor health more closely and facilitate intervention to resolve or minimize the risk of an increasing spectrum of health challenges that are likely to complicate the patient’s health in the future.
Preserving emotional and mental health
Preventive health care is largely, and in many cases solely, focused on the physical health of the individual. Mental health, stress, and burnout are issues that can (and often do) deteriorate all areas of a person’s well-being. Incorporating stress management, mindfulness, and sleep hygiene are all part of naturopathic care. These intervention can increase an individual’s resiliency and emotional control.
The focus on mental health is an important and positive change to health plans; the addition of stress management services in a naturopathic framework is a welcomed addition. Patients now can receive care more seamlessly as services integrate across this physical and mental health continuum.
Facing the Hurdles of Integration
Integrating naturopathic services into health plans requires a solid organizational framework. Transparency and quality assurance hinge on unambiguous provider credentialing, practice guidelines based on rigorously assessed evidence, and demonstrable outcomes in the tracking of patient progress. Insurers are obliged to ensure that the services rendered and included in the health benefit plan are compliant with the law and sufficiently justify their utility.
The education of patients and providers on the treatment modality of naturopathic services becomes relevant to the integration process. There should be open dialogue and communication to build trust and encourage consumers to use covered services responsibly.
The immediate health care concerns of patients and the eventual health care costs to the healthcare system will be the center of attention when health systems that are in the planning phase of integrating services start collecting and assessing health system data related to costs, patient satisfaction, and health outcomes over time. Once health outcomes are assessed, stakeholders can justify the integration of services.
Digital health features will substantially contribute to the integration of healthcare services. Virtual Naturopathic consults can be delivered via the Naturopathic care Health Plan and the Telehealth platform. Wearable trackers will help Naturopathic practitioners assess and recommend changes instantaneously.
Naturopathy will be used in a more modern, technology-based, and innovative way. The combination will improve Lifestyle Medicine and Traditional Medicine.
Integrative care systems are crucial to Public Health. Naturopathy services will be more widely used the greater the integration of healthcare services and the availability of digital health features.
A Vision for the Future
Future sustainable patient-centered medicine requires the collaboration of modern medicine and preventive naturopathic care. Early interventions by health practitioners and insurers demonstrate the shift from reactive care and encourage wellness promoting lifestyle changes.
Healthcare systems and restructuring should be grounded on evidence and include preventive services as a core pillar. Additionally, the integration of naturopathic services offered alongside conventional care fosters self-care, or personal responsibility for caring for one’s health, a shift towards a culture of holistic healthcare and wellbeing.
Finally, the integration of preventive medicine and innovative contemporary healthcare restores and sustains health, and empowers resilient, sustainable, and vital living.
