Introduction: The Power of Prevention in Modern Healthcare
Annual wellness is an important preventive health screening process that manages your ongoing health including providing you opportunities to discuss any potential symptoms you might have. Preventative services vary with the age of individuals and an annual wellness check helps keep you informed about your health.
Early detection of a problem helps resolve the disease if the symptoms are caught early. The level of success for early detection is critical to longevity and healthy living.
Laboratory tests assist in scientific determination of outcomes of any wellness checks. Physicians have standard tests that are conducted by laboratories to determine potential issues that a person may not even see or know. The human body must be kept in balance for good health and long healthy living.
What Is Health and Wellness Testing?
Preventative health screening conducted annually helps both the patient and the physician provide valuable feedback about a person’s health. The science behind these annual screenings provides valuable insights into a person’s living and habits. Studies have been conducted based on age and sex to determine outcomes using their Electronic Health Records.
Studies through Clinical Preventive Studies conducted by National Institute of Science (NIH) showed that of the 1,008 participants in the study with an age category of 53.8 years, showed that few patients (0.5%) of the 80% were up to date with all the recommended outcomes of the wellness checks. This is a concern as the follow-through of these checks are critical for continued wellness outcomes.
Wellness checks are outcomes. Wellness checks are different from diagnostic conducted tests when a person has not symptoms but as a check to maintain the person’s body in balance. Diagnostic tests are conducted when a person is already showing symptoms of a condition. Diagnostic tests are conducted if screening shows the possibility of a condition. Diagnostic tests are laboratory based to determine a positive or negative presence of a disease. It is the most accurate method of determining a disease.
Mortality rates, morbidity and other diseases can be detected during a wellness visit. Other important indicators are hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, infections, cancer, physical limitations, hearing, vision and many others.
The most important thing with wellness checks is for the person to conduct the recommended follow-up whether it be increased exercise, modified diet, medication and other recommended by your physician. Lack of follow-up causes a breakdown in the wellness process.
Why Preventive Health Testing Matters
Preventive testing also called annual . No one should really miss their annual checks and more importantly they should follow the regiment prescribed by their physician after the well check.
Well checks and preventative diagnosis saves lives as it catches early disease detection which may not even show symptoms that a person recognizes.
Keeping a population vigilant creates long term health results and reduces health care costs without cutting the quality of care. Employers have adopted a pro-active management of health care for their employees. Evaluation of results show savings within 2 – 3 years of adopting a well-managed wellness plan. Extended life due to wellness checks and pro-active management of one’s health, provides a better quality of life as individuals age.
Studies conducted by MDVIP, have shown comparison between wellness checks and random checks conducted by physicians who manage higher volume patients. The results indicate significant cost saving per person. This model has the physician spending over 60 – 90- minutes on a wellness check as opposed to a regular physician office that does a wellness check in less than 15 minutes. Outcomes of patients have shown significantly better health outcomes.
Harvard University has shown that employers can save approximately $2.73 for every dollar they spend on health care employee wellness programs.
How to Get Started with Health Testing
SmarTest Labs has multiple methods to book a test. You could do each of the following or a combination of the following procedures.
- Call SmarTest Labs at 301-686-8566
- Send us an email at contact@smartestlabs.com
- Book it on our calendar on our appointment calendar. For wellness the following link is an example:
- Choose the test you want from Health and Wellness section
- The page will provide you with a few dropdowns for the specific test you need.
- Once you choose the specific test for wellness you will be provided with a calendar for you to choose a date and time for your test.
- Sample collection process is simple and quick. If it requires a blood draw, our staff will conduct the blood draw, and our laboratory will process the results. You will receive a certificate for the results. Duration of results will depend on the complexity of the test and when the test is done.
- The certificate generated for your results may be difficult to understand. Please call us for assistance in reading the results. We are at 301-686-8566.
Who Should Consider Preventive Testing?
Preventative and personalized wellness plan should be conducted for individuals over the age of 30 years. Individuals with family risk factors of diseases should have their wellness check conducted by a physician who will provide them with care plans to monitor symptoms of family related risks. These could include regular testing for diseases that could be latent and not showing symptoms and family related risk factors.
Individuals who conduct regular wellness checks as they are health conscious keep healthy and increase their wellness will have long term results and longer life spans including reduced cost of care.
Benefits of Regular Wellness Testing
The preventive care benefits of continuous wellness checks help with early changes in lifestyle intervention. Annual checkups as much as $2,000 annually have been shown to save health care costs to an individual without compromising on the quality of care. Early detection of potential chronic conditions can be reduced with early treatment and detection.
Wellness programs can be measured in corporate setting by some of the following metrics:
- Job satisfaction – Creating a healthy work environment makes for greater physical and mental wellbeing. Companies that have fitness activities and nutrition education have healthier individuals. It also contributes to stress management of employees creating a more attentive staff for their daily responsibilities.
- Financial advisory services – This provides individuals with the ability to seek corporate financial advice to manage retirement plans and debt management, credit planning and financial planning. The fact that these services are part of the wellness program has a direct effect on individuals mental state and relieves stress levels. This in turn creates a better work environment.
- Employee Engagement – This measures the level of engagement of employees in an organization. Participation is shown with attendance to forums, asking questions freely, gym visits, health screening and other health related activities.
Those not in corporate structures, will be measured by your physician with indicters such as attending gym sessions as recommended by your physician, changes in dietary habits, medication and follow-up requirements to manage any potential indicators of disease and habits like smoking and drinking levels.
- Employee absence from work – This is an indicator of staff who may be frequently ill due to chronic conditions that have not been monitored. Providing them with wellness programs helps mitigate this risk and increase company productivity and moral.
- Retention of Employees – A survey by Executive Development Network shows that retention of staff is 83% are attracted to corporate structure that provided wellness programs. Those corporate structures that did not have wellness programs showed a potential attrition rate of 86%.
- Physician Guidance for individuals – Individuals who are not in corporate structures, will be measured by your physician with indictors such as frequency of gym sessions, changes in dietary habits and indicators in blood draws, medication and follow-up requirements to manage any potential indicators of disease and habit levels like smoking and drinking levels.
Conclusion: Start Your Preventive Health Journey Today
At SmarTest Labs, we provide you with guidance regarding your wellness needs as recommended by your physician. We conduct blood draws for physician groups that provide results in annual checkup.
Call us at 301-686-8566 for further information.
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