Personal Health Responsibility

It's no longer considered sufficient to sit back, pop a pill, and wait for healing to occur. Personal health responsibility is an integral part of any healing plan.

Today, more than ever, personal health responsibility or taking charge of one's own health is an essential step in disease prevention as well as protocols for healing and recovery from disease. Personal health responsibility involves active participation in one's own health and healing plan through education and lifestyle changes. And although the concept of personal health responsibility seems simple, it's often overlooked when people are diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and seeking a quick fix.

Because of its importance to good health and proper conservation of medical resources, several recent government initiatives have been implemented to encourage personal health responsibility. These include the Healthy People 2010 program, which is designed to reduce certain diseases by reducing disparities in health care services among people of different economic groups, and the Roadmap to Medicaid Reform, which allows states to fund educational and preventive programs, for instances programs intended for diabetes education and cardiac rehabilitation.

In West Virginia, personal responsibility for health is rewarded through an enhanced medical benefit program, more relaxed than the traditional Medicaid plan, for those patients who comply with certain standards. Here, enhanced medical benefit programs, for instance less stringent prescription medication guidelines are used to reward patients who show personality responsibility by keeping medical appointments, receiving recommended health screening, taking prescribed medications and following health improvement plans. These incentives, which do not account for factors related to employment or transportation, haven't yet been proven to improve medical compliance. However, such medical initiatives are part of a growing trend among healthcare providers to encourage personal responsibility.

It's no longer considered sufficient for patients to be sent away without educational resources. Prescription medications are no longer considered the answer for healing, especially in patients with chronic conditions such as autoimmune diseases. Patients today are expected to do their part by showing up for scheduled medical tests and procedures, following dietary recommendations, losing weight if indicated, taking medications as directed, avoiding the use of tobacco and recreational drugs, engaging in exercise programs, and educating themselves about their conditions.

Taking personal health responsibility also includes reviewing one's own medical records, including laboratory test results, and monitoring both the benefits and side effects of prescription and over-the-counter medications. Patients should also take care to research any dietary supplements, especially herbal medicines they plan on taking and consult their physicians before adding them to treatment protocols. Reviewing the availability of ongoing clinical trials and reviewing the results of these trials are also examples of personal health responsibility.

Physicians also have a responsibility to explain the patient's diagnosis and to provide information about the benefits and side effects of all available treatment options. Physicians also have a responsibility to encourage their patients to learn more about their conditions and the lifestyle changes that influence the disease course.

R. Steinbrook Imposing Personal Responsibility for Health, The New England Journal of Medicine, Aug 24, 2006.

G. Bishop and A.C. Brodkey Personal Responsibility and Physician's Responsibility-West Virginia's Medicaid Plan, The New England Journal of Medicine, Aug 24, 2006.