Executive Summary
Health is a prerequisite and a goal of development and progress. As the pace of change in healthcare accelerates, leaders increasingly recognize the need to dramatically improve health outcomes for people at risk for, or living with, chronic illnesses in the United States. Current approaches will no longer be sufficient. Community support and development strategies are needed to foster prevention and health promotion.
Chronic conditions are the biggest drivers of health care and disability costs, and behavioral health conditions are increasingly recognized as major contributing factors to these costs. Managing and treating these conditions accounts for more than 75 percent of health care spending in the United States, while only 3 percent of health care spending goes to public health prevention programs.