JOHN MCCORD JR.

Reducing the Health and Economic Burden of Chronic Disease

Bill Dietz, Jim, Stefano Bertozzi, ERIC SCHMIDT, ELLEN MULLENFELDTNER, JOHN MCDONOUGH JR., JOHN MCCORD JR., ERIC SCHWARTZMANN, FRIDA L., COREY, Alice Waters

Experts address the rising economic and health burden of chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, highlighting disparities across demographics and the urgent need for scalable preventive programs such as the virtual Real Appeal initiative. While policy tools like sugar-sweetened beverage taxes show promise in reducing consumption, significant barriers remain in provider knowledge, fragmented data systems, and limited community access to healthy resources. The future of chronic disease management is shifting toward a pivot point where data analytics and mandatory provider accountability drive clinical decision-making alongside voluntary patient data sharing.