It is time to move from health maintenance to health promotion

The American health care delivery system has traditionally emphasized the treatment of illness instead of the promotion of wellness. Traditional Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) have attempted to reduce costs by controlling utilization, discounting and/or sharing risk with providers rather than promoting wellness and prevention. These efforts have, for the most part, been unsuccessful and health care costs and HMO premiums continue to rise. The authors propose it is time for a change and we must look again at what wellness programs can accomplish. It is time to move from an ineffective "health maintenance" approach towards one of "health achievement." Models for the proposed change already exist in the business community where companies have successfully used wellness programs as a tool to decrease health benefits expenditures. The changes proposed must be addressed on multiple levels. Perceptions, attitudes and approaches must be changed. The benefits of wellness must be individually marketed to target groups: blue and white collar workers, business executives and professionals, home makers, preschool and school age children, the elderly and the unemployable.