COVID-19 Will Change Healthcare, Says Functional Medicine Pioneer

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the lives of people from all corners of the globe. Jeffrey Bland, PhD, a pioneer of the functional medicine movement, believes the current health crisis will profoundly change healthcare, including the way we define pandemics, public health, and preventative care; the way we pay for medical services; and a newfound awareness of the connection between planetary and human health.

As the world becomes more populated, more mobile, and more polluted, researchers predict pandemics will become more common. Adapting to this new reality will require a global response system with tools to detect outbreaks early and respond in a coordinated way. According to Dr. Bland, pandemics will be redefined as “an issue that connects humanity, not divides us.”

Public health will become more precise in its application, he believes, through better data analytics and a focus on personal health factors that affect infectious disease risk. Dr. Bland predicts, “Data will guide decision-making about the allocation of resources to improve health and lower the risk to infection. At the same time, it will help with the early identification of sources and potential vectors that could trigger outbreaks.”

Disease prevention will expand beyond its traditional focus on immunization and risk criteria, according to Dr. Bland. The severity of COVID-19 infection is highly variable, leading him to believe we could be facing a public health crisis of compromised immune resilience with more awareness of the life-saving properties of immune health needed. The medical field will begin to focus more on “upstream determinants of health,” he predicts, and look for ways to assess immune function and manage lifestyle factors that can strengthen immune resilience as part of preventative care.

Prior to the pandemic, more than 70% of medical expenditures in the US were allocated to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases. Given the potential for chronic illness to negatively impact immune resilience, Dr. Bland urges a transition to personalized lifestyle healthcare models that streamline reimbursement for medical services such as health coaching, group medical visits, and telemedicine.

The pandemic has been a reminder of the global connectedness of the modern world. We have all been impacted in some way by COVID-19, and many are more aware that our very survival depends on the resources we share: water, air, and energy from the sun. Food production and distribution are reliant on global relationships, and the health of the planet affects us all.

Now more than ever we need a paradigm shift, says Dr. Bland, to deal with the disruptions to the earth’s natural system that are threats to our health and survival. As we emerge from the pandemic, he says, we are, “awaiting humanity’s next chapter. Let’s write it collectively. Let’s get it right. We’re in this together.”