By Robert Mandel, MD, Chief Executive Officer

In a guidance statement published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians (ACP) joined the heated discussion on PSA testing by endorsing a shared decision making approach for prostate cancer screening. The ACP Clinical Guidelines Committee developed this guidance statement after reviewing current guidelines on prostate cancer screening in the U.S. 

Managing chronic conditions and diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, has long since been a public health challenge.  Yet, many studies show that if individuals were make lifestyle modifications  such as increasing physical activity or eating healthier, the number of illnesses and deaths from chronic conditions would be reduced.  

Q & A with Robert Mandel, MD, CEO of Health Dialog  

In honor of American Heart Month, our award winning Decision Aid, Living with Coronary Heart Disease, is available to the public for the month of February!

 We are pleased to announce a study published yesterday in Health Affairs that shows that providing Shared Decision Making-based health coaching for patients with conditions that frequently have major treatment decisions associated with them, reduces the overall costs of healthcare, hospitalizations, and surgeries dramatically.

One of the biggest challenges health plans, employers and providers alike currently face is improving quality of care and health outcomes, while lowering costs. At Health Dialog, we seek to address these challenges by providing services and products that empower people to make the health decisions that are right for them. As such, we were pleased to see last week’s perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine  “Shared Decision Making to Improve Care and Reduce Costs” by Emily Oshima Lee, M.A., and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D.

As we usher in the New Year, I am honored and excited to become the new Chief Executive Officer of such a dynamic and meaningful organization. Health Dialog continues its commitment to improve the performance of the health care system as a whole in support of the “Triple Aim” of improved quality, improved affordability and exceptional patient experience. The services we provide at Health Dialog empower people to make the health decisions that are right for them and it is how we fulfill our purpose of helping them live happier, healthier, longer lives.

In today’s healthcare environment, patients are increasingly becoming involved in making important decisions about how, when and where they access medical care.  Still, decisions about medical care are not simple.  Information on which treatment options may be best can seem daunting or complex to even the most educated patient. Take, for example, an article published in the Boston Globe this month discussing a study that argues mammograms have been linked to overtreatment.  It’s often difficult, given this type of new information, to know which treatments may be best, and more importantly, which treatment options may be best for you as an individual.