Study says focusing preventive health care on those in poor health could save billions

CALGARY – A Calgary study says setting up a preventative health-care system focusing on those individuals in poor health could save the system billions of dollars.

Herb Emery from The School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary says the current system is aimed at treating people after they become sick which is making illness and disease a growth industry.

Emery studied an Alberta-based philanthropic program that provides personalized health care services including lifestyle counselling, dietary supplements and dental services for Albertans that are vulnerable to poor health.

He says the program has achieved positive outcomes and is far less expensive than treating people once they become sick.

Emery says the savings of an expanded program in Alberta alone would be $500 million a year on hospital and physician costs.

He says expanding the same concept across Canada would result in billions of dollars that could be invested back into the health care system.