Medicine 3.0

What is Medicine 3.0?

Medicine has come a long way. In the B.C. era, most people firmly believed that diseases are an act of God and used fire and mud to heal various infirmities. Since then, medicine has evolved. Germ theory and the advent of antibiotics have eliminated diseases like Measles, Polio, Cholera and gave rise to treatments for diseases such as AIDS, Hepatitis C and Tuberculosis. The evolution of Medicine 1.0 to 2.0 has increased human life expectancy from a paltry 30 to a whopping ~80 years in most developed countries. Today’s modern medicine has so many great imaging tools that can detect a lesion as small as a 1mm in size and blood tests that can detect abnormal blood glucose patterns a decade before you develop diabetes. The same holds true  for the screening of cancers and cardiovascular diseases. However, the idea of using all of the modern medicine tools to evaluate and predict future risk of problems is still pretty new to most doctors and the public. While medicine 2.0 (current medicine model) focuses on diagnosis and treatment of disease, Medicine 3.0 aims to predict and prevent them. In addition to focusing on increasing lifespan, Medicine 3.0 focuses on increasing healthspan. Another way Medicine 3.0 is different is that it considers the patient as a whole and doesn’t focus on one system at a time. Medicine 1.0 and 2.0 battled ACUTE disease. Medicine 3.0 aims to tackle the CHRONIC.

Who is a Medicine 3.0 doctor?

A Medicine 3.0 doctor is anyone whose practice philosophy aligns with that of Medicine 3.0. Medicine 3.0 doctors take time to educate their patients about the importance of early screening and early prevention and provide these growing services. They help patients recognize how their lifestyle patterns could lead to poor outcomes and help them change their path to a healthier one. 

Why is Medicine 3.0 not the default?

The concept  of early screening and prevention of disease sounds great, and anyone reading this would expect that it should be the default in primary care! However, this could not be farther from the truth. Preventative services are still a relatively new concept in many areas of medicine. This is in part because of slow adoption of available technology (many guidelines take years to be changed and accepted), its awareness among healthcare providers. Over the past few decades, medicine has evolved to deal with problems as they come up - a concept often termed “reactive medicine.” To change this  would require a major shift in the mindset of healthcare providers, our insurers, and the healthcare system on the whole. In recent years, doctors such as Peter Attia are using large public platforms to increase more awareness about preventative medicine and the need for early screening. The goal is to create healthier lifestyles and prevent the burden of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. These “four horsemen” are a large part of our ballooning healthcare spending and lead to declines in quality of life and patient vitality.

Are preventative services expensive?

Most patients assume that medical services are very expensive, and this is why most people think it is necessary to have insurance to get medical care. When medical services are billed through insurance, they tend to cost a lot.  One reason for these marked up costs through insurance is to accommodate for extra manpower and services needed to bill, code, and garner payments. .  Contrary to what many would assume, most preventative services and tools (ie.  routine blood work, body composition scans, continuous glucose monitors, functional testing) are not very expensive when paid in cash directly to the service providers. Providers who work outside of the insurance system model are able to directly negotiate these prices on your behalf and provide them at a low cost. An example of this would be a “Vitamin D test.” This is routinely approx. $250 through insurance and not a routine part of a PCP’s workup. However, a direct primary care provider can have this test ordered for you for approximately $20! 

How can I find a Medicine 3.0 doctor?

A Medicine 3.0 physician should be board certified in their respective specialty. Look for the suffix “MD” or “DO” and board-certified on your doctor’s page. Medicine 3.0 services often take more time to provide than a routine 15 minute visit that is allowed through the traditional, insurance-based healthcare model.   It is important to realize that a  doctor has to have enough time to to complete  thorough history and evaluation, coordination of your care with all the other providers and  to educate regarding suggested lifestyle changes This type of high-quality, patient-centered medical service takes a considerable amount of time and may not be possible in a traditional patient–primary care doctor role. In the traditional model, a doctor has limited time per patient and can focus on 1 problem per visit. Physicians who do not accept insurance (or do partial insurance billing) such as direct primary care doctors or concierge doctors are more likely to provide this type of care. You can search “direct primary care physicians” or “concierge” physicians to find someone providing this service in your area. 

Medicine 3.0 at Chicago Direct Primary Care

At Chicago Direct Primary Care, our practice philosophy is to “prevent rather than treat” which aligns firmly with the Medicine 3.0 principle.  Our ultimate goal is for our patients to live healthier and happier lives. At CDPC, we focus heavily on our patients quality of life, and we do so by adopting a direct care model.  This model allows us to take as much time as we need with each patient to identify their individual goals and create an individualized plan to achieve those goals. Our goal is to optimize our patients’ health to the best possible outcome rather than aim for average or “just okay.’ Come check us out for more details!