Another indication that secondary prevention works.

A new report from AHRQ indicates that increasing health system costs are associated with lack of effective secondary prevention of identified disease. This care could be provided in primary care settings. In 2004, hospital costs for potentially preventable conditions totaled nearly $29 billion—one out of every 10 dollars of total hospital expenditures. As many as 4.4 million hospital stays could possibly be prevented with better ambulatory care, improved access to effective treatment, or patient adoption of healthy behaviors.