Health care costs are rising at a rate of 10 to 15% a year. Over the past 3 years a trend has started where these costs are being passed to you as the patient. In the coming years this may get worse. You may end up paying for majority of your health care costs.

With the introduction of HRA (Healthcare Reimbursement Accounts) and FSA (Flexible Saving account) by your employer you will be responsible for more and more of health care decisions that will affect you financially.

Those who understand their health and disease states better will come out as ‘winners’ in this new era of health care.

I have an excellent doctor? Why should I learn about my condition?

But I am healthy? Why should I care?

This may sound strange but it is true. Everyone who is a patient today had the same words to say a few months or a few years ago. Get the message? Good news is that you are healthy as of today. Question is how to stay healthy that you may avoid becoming a patient in the future? That is where we can work with you to help you achieve that goal.

What are ‘gaps’ in healthcare?

Suppose you have high blood pressure. National guidelines define that your pressure should be below 120/80. If it is not, this is a gap in your care.

Another example - if you are over 25 years of age and did not have your cholesterol checked or if it is not properly controlled this is a gap in your care.

If you a woman who is say 55 years of age and did not have a mammogram for the past one year this is a gap in your care.

If you are over 50 and did not have a colonoscopy in the last 10 years this is a gap in your care.

Each gap in care can be the end of good life that you have today.

Why is it important to know gaps in care?

Each gap in care can be the end of good life you have.

In the above example poorly controlled blood pressure leads to increased chances of stroke and kidney failure, poor cholesterol control put you at a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke, missing a mammogram or colonoscopy takes away the advantage of early detection of cancer for you. Managing a late stage cancer is not only expensive it can be debilitating and may even result into death from disease or its treatment.

How many gaps does ARAM look for?

Based on what is your health status we evaluate you for thousands of possible gaps in your care. With changing guidelines we redefine your gaps and inform you accordingly. We remain up to date. For example - a few years ago a systolic (upper) blood pressure of 130 may not have been considered a gap in care. An extensive study showed that if the blood pressure is between 120 and 140, there are more chances of getting a stroke. So now a blood pressure of 130 is a gap in your care.

How do I know if there are gaps in my healthcare?

Once you become a member with ARAM you will get an opportunity to do exactly that - find out gaps in your care, learn about those gaps and learn as to how to fix those gaps.

My company provides best insurance coverage. Why I need ARAM?

Simply having a health insurance, even if the best, does not mean that your care is optimal i.e. 100% recommended by the National Medical Guidelines. Whatever amount of money you may spend on your healthcare if gaps in your care are not addressed you are still at risk of developing serious medical problems which no amount of money can correct at a later date.

I have no health insurance. How can ARAM help?

We are neither an insurance company nor a provider of health services. We are an educational institution that will help you control your health care costs through better understanding of your disease and empower you to make the right decisions that your quality of care can be improved.

If you have no health insurance you need to make the best of your visit to the doctor’s office. Learning how to take care of yourself and what you need to do to fix the gaps in your health care, learning what you need to get done by your provider on each visit to optimize your care may decrease the visits to the emergency room ($900 each) or admission to the hospital ($12,000 each on an average).

Our program costs pennies to the dollar you may need to spend if you do not fix the gaps in your care.

Who will you share my results with?

No one except you. You can share these results with your partner or provider or whoever else you wish. We will not share your information with anyone but you.

Can I buy this program for my friend / sister / brother / parents / loved one?

Definitely yes. Our program is totally anonymous. If you need to buy for your relatives and friends give them the user id and password in this sealed envelope provided to you. In compliance with the HIPAA law only one end user can have access to one set of user id and password.

What is Health Management?

ARAM focuses on health as much as on the disease. In many cases that have a chronic medical problem like diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease etc; there is often a missed component of preventive care causing unrelated life threatening problems like breast, prostate or colon cancer. We at ARAM always consider the patient as a 'whole'. We not only help manage ‘better control of the disease condition’ but also ‘help prevent the complications from existing medical conditions thus preventing emergency room visit / hospitalization through condition specific information as it applies to you; prevent medical conditions that can be prevented or detected early through appropriate screening e.g. breast cancer and many other conditions through our 'To-do' list generated specific to your needs.’

Is ARAM different from others?

Absolutely. ARAM has special expertise. Our approach is based on your needs and our education is in a medium that is easy to understand even when it is comprehensive. ARAM is the only service that customizes evaluation for you and gives you specific, goal oriented, defined recommendation for action that will optimize your care to the national recommended guidelines.

How do you make healthy ‘healthier’?

Many individuals who think they are healthy as they have no symptoms really have milder forms of chronic medical conditions like high blood pressure, early diabetes, high cholesterol, are overweight or have other problems like cancer in some part of body that was not detected as proper screening was missed. So those who think ‘they are healthy’ may not really be healthy. We educate them and work with them to detect the problems early that they can be treated or cured before they become a real problem.

How is ARAM different from anyone else?

What is health management? Health Management is a new concept and we at ARAM fully support and endorse. Health management empowers a consumer, that is you; to improve on your health condition. This is in addition to keeping your medical conditions if any under a good control.

What are National Guidelines?

So that everyone can benefit the most from health related research and to keep the uniformity in managing medical conditions National Guidelines are developed by the best in the respective fields. Development of many of these guidelines is facilitated by the prestigious national organizations like American Diabetic Association, National Institute of Health (NIH), American Allergy and Immunology institute. Common important guidelines include the ones for Diabetes, Asthma, and High Cholesterol and so on. If you have any chronic medical problem it will be a good idea to know what the guidelines recommend for your care and follow them to delay or avoid complications like blindness, heart attack, kidney failure etc. You can access all guidelines on line.

Does ARAM sell any other products for a quick fix?

ARAM is a team of professionals who strongly endorse and support national medical guidelines for health and wellness. We do not sell any products. Our focus is helping you manage your health. Most of the remedies that sell on line are not proven in peer reviewed literature to be effective in controlling chronic medical conditions. We do not promote, sell or recommend any commercial products.

How can I learn from ARAM?

ARAM has multiple learning opportunities to improve your health. To start with, you can learn while answering questions from the questions, from the presentations in audio and video format related to the question, you can go to ARAM library when logged on at our site and listen or read about medical and other important topics that may take you to the emergency room or to the hospital. You can opt-in to receive email on new research and news items related to your medical condition or you can go and visit ‘News and Views’. This is in addition to the information you get on ‘Links and Resources’ for advanced medical information in relation to your illness.

What if I only have one disease?

You may buy membership for one illness only. However we strongly encourage you to buy the full set as when you have one medical problem you must keep a close eye on other medical conditions as many a times medical conditions work together to cause damage to your body. For example if you have diabetes, high blood pressure will add to the risk of kidney failure, high cholesterol will add to the risk of heart attack and stroke and so on.

What do I do with the action cards?

Read the action cards and see what actions need to be taken to optimize your medical care. Look for actions that you need to take on your own and then take them.

Print an additional copy of the 'Action Cards' report and take to your doctor’s office that your doctor can ensure that gaps in your health care are removed. The goal is to ensure that you are not missing on any part of the most appropriate care that is recommended by the experts in the field for your condition/s.

What is the use of the report card?

Report cards tell you what is missing from your care, what will happen if you do not take care of that issue and how to address that issue. Report cards are based on guidelines by the experts in the respective fields.

Do I need to answer all questions in one sitting?

You may answer all questions in one sitting. Depending on how many illnesses you have. It may take from 30 minutes to 2 hours to answer all the questions and get your report. You will need more time to answer questions if say you have diabetes with high blood pressure and had a heart attack in the past compared to if you have asthma only. Remember there are no shortcuts when it comes to your health. If you take shortcuts for your health you may face consequences of poor health.

ARAM

HEALTH MANAGEMENT OF AMERICA