Improving patient and community well-being

There are great gaps in the well-being of patients and communities. But there are numerous practice and community tools and opportunities that can successfully close these gaps. The health care professional is an often overlooked and underutilized resource and leader to positively influence the health of the community and patient. Physicians and health care professionals are in the health care field to maintain and increase the well-being of their patients and communities through disease prevention and health promotion at the practice level. This article argues that combining a community-level public health approach with the traditional practice level approach is more likely to achieve well-being for both individual patients and the community.