One Patient, Many Diagnoses: The Case for Integrated Chronic Disease Care

Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and disability in the US and a primary driver of the nation's more than $5 trillion in annual health care spending. Their costs compound well beyond the clinic, through disability, lost productivity, caregiving, and premature mortality. Our understanding of chronic conditions is shifting. Rather than separate diseases that happen to appear together, they function as an interconnected system in which each condition accelerates the others. That recognition is already reshaping diagnosis and treatment and points to a larger opportunity: managing these conditions as a single continuum rather than a series of isolated diagnoses and organizing care around the person rather than the specialty. This session convenes leaders to examine what an integrated approach would demand of drug development, earlier diagnosis and risk prediction, health systems, payment models, and how much human and economic value it could unlock.