Tips from gaining health

The Disease Management Care Blog recently received a curious email from the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative.  As readers may recall, this is the Washington DC-based coalition that advocates on behalf of the Patient Centered Medical Home(PCMH). 

The content of that rather defensive communication can be found here.

What provoked this? The premier internal medicine specialty journal, the Annals of Internal Medicine, published a comprehensive review of the peer-reviewed literature on the PCMH, and its authors skeptically concluded:

The PCMH holds promise for improving the experiences of patients and staff and potentially for improving care processes, but current evidence is insufficient to determine effects on clinical and most economic outcomes

Ouch. No "economic outcomes" means that there is no proof that the PCMH saves money.

Unlike the PCPCC membership, regular DMCB readers arent surprised.  For example, the DMCB pointed out months ago that the U.S. governments Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ("AHRQ") had concluded the same thing.  Countless other DMCB posts on the medical home have pointed out that there were problems with the published PCMH literature (for example, here and here).

Thanks to a past Congressional Budget Office report, the DMCB feels the PCPCC pain. It also knows that a) finding statistically significant cost savings in health insurance data bases are notoriously difficult, b) successful medical home initiatives that are outside the academisphere are the least likely to be reported it in the peer-reviewed literature, c) "savings" isnt the only measure of patient value and d) journals like the Annals of Internal Medicine are being sidelined by innovators who are more astute judges of what works for their patients.

Whats changed for the medical home and the PCPCC after this unpleasant dust-up?  Ultimately nothing. Pairing nurses and physicians in team-based care, whether its done remote telephonic "disease management" style or in the clinic "medical home" style is ultimately a good idea with obvious face validity. The Annals problem is that we dont have pristine scientific methodologies that can identify, capture and measure the benefit.

The good news is that the science is getting better. Until it catches up, the population health and disease management service providers will remain in business and the medical home will continue to have a bright future.

With high hope for people to lower their blood pressure by being on the DASH diet; more and more people are following this new trend in dieting. By being on the DASH diet; you will not only lower your blood pressure; you will also, greatly, reduce your risk of heart disease.

Moreover, this diet has been recommended by the American Heart Association, for those who have heart trouble or high blood pressure and are looking of a way to eat healthy diet. If this is you; you are in luck because this diet can also help you to loose weight and live longer.

If you do not know what DASH means; it is the acronyms for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. Furthermore, this diet is known to lower the blood your blood pressure, within 14 days of being on it.

Also, in the diet; you are provided with guidelines on how to eat healthy and on the amount of servings of food you should eat a day. The main goal of this diet is to raise the level of the intake of minerals, such as magnesium, calcium and potassium.

The increased intake of vegetables, while on this diet, is also important, which in turn, will reduce the need to eat unhealthy foods. As a result of this diet; weight loss will occur, due to the lessening of calorie intake. This diet is also against the intake of a lot of sodium-rich and processed foods, which will raise your blood pressure, thus making the diet ineffective. This is why such foods should be limited and the focus should be on eating whole grain and high fiber foods.

Surprisingly, the Mayo Clinic has endorsed this dirt, which, generally, supports a diet, filled with a lot of grapefruit eating and drinking. If you are looking to find out more about the DASH diet; you should find a book titled, "The DASH Diet Action Plan," by Marla Hiller. This book has everything you need to know about DASH dieting and can help you on your way to lowering your blood pressure and losing a lot of weight.

As with all diets, this is not meant to be a long-term solution. Follow a diet strictly as outlined and as long as suggested. Dont overdue it and stop it when the diet plan ends or when you dont feel well or dont see any results at all. Always consult your doctor first.

Lance Thorington is a professional writer and online publisher. If you want to know more about the pros and cons of a diet meal plan [http://www.dietmeal-plan.com/] please click here to read more.

Article Source: The Effects of Being on a Dash Diet