Health is about more than just healthcare.

Health encompasses many factors that are outside of the physician’s office. Social circumstances, behavioral patterns, environmental exposures and genetic predispositions generate significant impacts on health. The substantive nature of these impacts is garnering increasing attention from health policy analysts, health insurance plan administrators, Medicare and Medicaid program administrators and clinicians. McGinnis et al., (2002) concluded that gaps in health care account for only 10-15% of preventable deaths, while social circumstances and behavioral patterns account for more than half of all preventable deaths (McGinnis et al., 2002).