We’re proud to share that Brenda Navin, Founder and CEO of Launch My Health, has contributed another article to the Wharton Healthcare Alumni Association, exploring a question that deserves greater attention: What if one of our biggest opportunities to reduce future healthcare spending is intervening earlier?
In her article, “To Your Health: What Healthcare Gets Wrong About Cost Avoidance – Why Investing Earlier May Be One of Our Biggest Opportunities to Bend the Cost Curve,” Brenda challenges employers and healthcare leaders to think differently about how we measure the value of prevention.
While traditional cost savings focus on reducing existing expenses, cost avoidance considers the healthcare costs that might never occur because someone received the right support at the right time.
Readers will find Brenda’s perspective on:
- Why a focus on immediate ROI can overlook the longer-term value of early intervention
- The distinction between cost savings and cost avoidance
- How identifying rising health risks earlier creates opportunities to change chronic disease trajectories
- Why food and nutrition remain underutilized tools in preventing and managing chronic conditions
- How employers and healthcare leaders can rethink investments in prevention
At Launch My Health, this perspective reflects the work we’re committed to advancing. We believe Food Is Medicine has an important role in helping people build the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills to make healthier choices before preventable risks become more serious and costly health conditions.
Making evidence-based nutrition education and culinary skills accessible at scale is one way to help move healthcare further upstream, where meaningful changes in health trajectories may still be possible.
We’re honored to see Brenda continue contributing to these conversations through the Wharton Healthcare Alumni Association and grateful to the Wharton Healthcare community for providing a platform to explore prevention, healthcare value, and long-term health.
A special thank you to Z. Colette Edwards, MD, MBA, for her continued support and commitment to thoughtful conversations across the healthcare community.
Read Brenda’s full Wharton Healthcare article on cost avoidance.