Page 17 like mortality and morbidity, which are 60 per thousand people and 19 percent (the national benchmarks are 53 per thousand people and 10 percent respectively), but it also exceeds California state averages in some respects. Also notable is its more than double the national benchmark numbers for excessive drinking and sexually transmitted diseases. Seventeen percent of Riverside County residents report being heavy drinkers compared to 7 percent of California residents. Making Riverside County a healthier place will no doubt take changes through multiple mediums, outside of the clinical setting.
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Dean Johnson says that the shift to a proceduresbased approach is completely necessary. He emphasizes approaching health problems holistically by “addressing both individual behavior but also the other aspects of society that support chronic disease risk factors.” Like many public professionals he believes that the shift in focus to preventive care will eventually bring down health care costs. There is, however, also a body of research that suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall. As the Congressional Budget Office explained in 2009, this is because “doctors do not know beforehand which patients are going to develop costly illnesses. To avert one case of acute illness, it is usually necessary to provide preventive care to many patients, most of whom would not have suffered that illness anyway.” The CBO cites research that concludes that the added costs of widespread use of preventive services tend to be greater than the savings from averting the illness.
THE SHIFT TO A PROCEDURES-BASED APPROACH IS COMPLETELY NECESSARY...[IT] APPROACH[ES] HEALTH PROBLEMS HOLISTICALLY BY ADDRESSING BOTH INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR BUT ALSO THE OTHER ASPECTS OF SOCIETY THAT SUPPORT CHRONIC DISEASE RISK FACTORS.
One project underway is the highly anticipated opening of the UC Riverside School of Medicine. Dean Johnson’s excitement regarding the new school comes from the school’s promise to “utilize community hospitals” as opposed to “develop[ing] their own hospitals.” The new school touts its community-based focus and mission to bring committed doctors and economic stimulus to the county. Generally, medical schools gear most of their curricula to their base hospital; UC Riverside will focus on the surrounding community and alreadyestablished medical centers. In 2009 the ratio of people to primary care physicians, 1,576 to 1, was nearly triple the national benchmark and double that of the state of California. There has
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