Abstract
Introduction: While healthcare expenditure continues to increase overall health outcomes in the United States continue to be submarginal. The changes we make in our healthcare system need to be informed by a comprehensive and actionable definition of health that can unite patients, healthcare professionals, and policymakers.Methods: A literature review across multiple disciplines was conducted to assess a broad range of factors associated with health and well-being and based on this literature review a novel definition of health was developed.Results: Development of a definition of health as the ability to dynamically recognize and resolve dissonance in one’s physical, mental, social and spiritual worlds via cooperation with social and spiritual connections, the medical community and with the natural world in a way that fosters and promotes harmony, resilience, and relief from suffering. This definition is then expanded into six domains (connection, communication, creativity, cooperation, cost-consciousness, and computerization) which are applicable to individuals, society and the healthcare system and which form the basis for actionable guidelines to promote measurable and sustained change on a public health scale.Conclusion: Healthcare in the United States is changing and in order to move forward in an evidence-based and compassionate way, we need to understand what we mean by 'health' and how that definition can be operational at individual, societal, and public policy levels.
Highlights
While healthcare expenditure continues to increase overall health outcomes in the United States continue to be submarginal
Healthcare spending in the U.S grew 5.3% in 2014, 17.5% of our GDP [1], and we continue to underperform compared to other wealthy nations [2] as we are increasingly burdened by chronic illness
The advancement of value-based care [3] is still somewhat vague in its potential implications for our current system, especially as we grapple with improving access, assess reimbursement and measure health outcomes in a model that is still predominantly one of fee-for-service
Summary
Development of a definition of health as the ability to dynamically recognize and resolve dissonance in one’s physical, mental, social and spiritual worlds via cooperation with social and spiritual connections, the medical community and with the natural world in a way that fosters and promotes harmony, resilience, and relief from suffering. This definition is expanded into six domains (connection, communication, creativity, cooperation, costconsciousness, and computerization) which are applicable to individuals, society and the healthcare system and which form the basis for actionable guidelines to promote measurable and sustained change on a public health scale
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