My Healthy Montco
My Healthy Montco provides information, digital tools and social media applications to empower users in their personal experience with the health ecosystem, the healthcare system and engage with various stakeholders (healthcare professional, hospitals, insurance companies, regulators, government officials, and media) to achieve optimal healthcare for all.
Leveraging the vast healthcare assets of the region, we can build a healthcare system in the Delaware Valley that provides all our citizens with quality affordable healthcare, and serves as a shining light for the rest of our nation. Americans are once again at a critical juncture in our national journey. Our political system, as well as our healthcare system, has become dysfunctional and our fiscal future is uncertain. This is the time to set a path that leads us to reclaim our representative democracy. Together we can work to improve the “general welfare” and promote the well being of our citizens.
We can start by reframing the conversation form “what can I get”, to “what can we, as citizens, not just as consumers and patients, do to achieve a healthcare system that is affordable, and provides access to quality care for all of us?”
We can engage healthcare stakeholders and demand public reporting of meaningful information about the healthcare outcomes. We can all do our part to demand accountability from the stakeholders that receive benefit from our taxes. We can establish a vision for excellent health care and gather yearly to assess the health of our nation, expecting it to be the best in the world.
 Community engagementAcross the United States, communities have and utilize different levels of resources to support efforts to maintain and improve individual and family health—for example, addiction treatment programs, emergency medical facilities, and opportunities for social engagement. Availability of healthy food Walkability Community health benefit agenda |  Population spending burdenHealth care spending consumes a large portion of the U.S. gross domestic product, dwarfing the health care spending of other nations. This burden can be measured at national, state, local, and institutional levels. Total cost of care Health care spending growth |  Life expectancyLife expectancy is a validated, readily available, and easily understandable measure for a critical health concept. Because life expectancy depends on a full range of individual and community influences on health—from cancer to homicide—it represents an inclusive, high-level measure for health. Life expectancy Infant mortality Maternal mortality Violence and injury mortality |
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 Well BeingWell-being captures the subjective dimensions of health related to quality of life. Furthermore, levels of well-being often predict utilization of and satisfaction with health care. Self reported well-being is a reliable indicator Multiple chronic conditions Depression |  Overweight and obesityMore than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, a fact that has causes and consequences that extend beyond the health system—including socioeconomic, cultural, political, and lifestyle factors. Activity levels Healthy eating patterns |  Addictive behaviorAddiction, including to nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs, is prevalent in the United States, representing a complex challenge for the health system, communities, and families. Every year, substance abuse and addiction cost the country more than $500 billion Addictive behavior Tobacco use Drug dependence/illicit use Alcohol dependence/ misuse |
 Unintended pregnancyUnintended pregnancy, a significant challenge for both individual and community health, is a measure that aggregates a variety of social, behavioral, cultural, and health factors— particularly women’s knowledge about and access to tools for family planning. Unintended pregnancy Contraceptive use |  Healthy communitiesIndividual health is a function of a wide range of socioeconomic and community factors, from infrastructure to social connections. Community health includes critical elements of health that fall outside the care system, such as housing, employment, and environmental factors. Healthy communities Childhood poverty rate Childhood asthma Air quality index Drinking water quality index |  Preventive servicesPreventive services (for example, screening for hearing loss or counseling for tobacco cessation) present a valuable opportunity for both improving health and reducing costs Preventive services Influenza immunization Colorectal cancer screening Breast cancer screening |
 Care accessA person’s ability to access care when needed is a critical precondition for a high quality health system. Factors that could hamper access to care include lack of health insurance, clinician shortages, lack of transportation, cultural and linguistic barriers, and physical limitations. Care access Usual source of care Delay of needed care | Patient safetyAvoiding harm is among the principal responsibilities of the health care system, yet adverse outcomes are common. Ensuring patient safety will require a culture that prioritizes and assesses safety through a reliable index of organizational results. Wrong-site surgery Pressure ulcers Medication reconciliation |  Evidence-based careEnsuring that patients receive care supported by scientific evidence for appropriateness and effectiveness is a central challenge for the health care system. Currently, an estimated one-third of U.S. health care expenditures do not contribute to improving health. Aggregating carefully selected and standardized clinical measures can provide a reliable composite index of system performance Evidence-based care Cardiovascular risk reduction Hypertension control Diabetes cont |
Individual engagementGiven the effects of personal choices on health, as well as the increasing use of personal health devices, it is critical for individuals to be aware of their options and responsibilities in caring for their own health and that of their families and communities. Individual engagement Involvement in health initiatives |  Personal spending burdenCare that is too expensive can limit access to care, lead people to avoid care, or prevent them from spending money in other areas of value to them—with far-reaching economic impacts. Health care–related bankruptcies |  Care match with patient goalsSystematically assessing each patient’s individual goals and perspectives ensures that the health care system is focusing on the aspects of care that matter most to patients. Patient experience Shared decision making End-of-life/advanced care planning |