The healthcare industry is changing as new models of care and reimbursement emerge. One of these approaches is P4 Medicine. P4 Medicine stands for predictive, preventive, personalized, participatory. This approach deeply resonates with me because the philosophy is aligned with how I have been developing my medical practice, which is focused on optimizing health and avoiding disease. In my opinion, P4 Medicine is one of the best models for maximizing patient engagement.
The earliest manifestation of P4 Medicine began eight years ago at the Institute of Systems Biology when Dr. Lee Hood, MD, PhD, a physician scientist and creator of the automated gene sequencer, recognized that the application of systems biology to medicine would fundamentally alter our understanding of health and disease. This model has merged three powerful aspects of science and technology:
- Systems biology (defined as the study of biological systems as collections of networks at multiple levels, ranging from the molecular level, through cells, tissues and organisms, to the population level)
- The digital revolution (e.g., big data and analytics, wearable technology, mobile technology, etc.)
- Consumer-driven healthcare (e.g., patient/consumer activated social networks)
