In the past two decades, the prevalence of chronic illnesses in the US has grown by a steady 7 to 8 million persons every five years. Currently, chronic illnesses affect 50% of the US population, and the treatment takes more than 85% of health care costs. The National Health Expenditure Data reveals that 90% of the country’s $4.1 trillion yearly healthcare expenditures are spent on individuals with chronic and mental health illnesses (CMS, 2018). For example, cancer is attributed to huge medical costs in the US and they are estimated to increase dramatically by 2030 due to increased cancer cases, reflecting the increasing burden of cancer care among cancer patients (Waters & Graf, 2018). In addition, heart diseases and stroke take an economic toll and cost the US health care system $216 billion annually and $147 billion in lost productivity.
Patients with chronic illnesses have a high healthcare utilization, which increases with the number of conditions one has. Individuals with multiple chronic diseases have one of the highest healthcare spending as the healthcare costs increase non-linearly with each ensuing condition (Braillard et al., 2018). Besides, multiple chronic illnesses are linked with wastage of resources due to a fragmented healthcare system. Patients often consult different medical specialists for each condition, which often leads to wastage of resources from polypharmacy, duplication of diagnostic tests, and duplication of medical procedures.
Genetics are associated with chronic illnesses like obesity, diabetes, some cancers, heart disease, and hypertension. These conditions are associated with huge costs, and more people are increasingly being diagnosed. Besides, the treatment of these genetic-related diseases significantly affects the economics of the healthcare system since patients often require life-long medication and regular follow-ups (Waters & Graf, 2018). The DNP- nurse can utilize the information to assess patients and the risk factors for chronic diseases. The nurse can educate patients on how to modify their lifestyle to eliminate the modifiable risk factors and manage the diseases in those that have been diagnosed (Waters & Graf, 2018). This can lower the healthcare costs and the wastage of health resources associated with the treatment of chronic diseases.
Braillard, O., Slama-Chaudhry, A., Joly, C., Perone, N., & Beran, D. (2018). The impact of chronic disease management on primary care doctors in Switzerland: a qualitative study. BMC family practice, 19(1), 159. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-018-0833-3
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2018). National health expenditure data: historical. webpage, December, 16.
Waters, H. U. G. H., & Graf, M. (2018). The costs of chronic disease in the US. Santa Monica, CA: The Milken Institute.
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