UGA experts to comment on wise health care consumers

Associate professors Fazal Khan and Elizabeth Weeks Leonard, along with other UGA experts, are available to provide commentary on National Wise Health Consumer Month, which was established by the American Institute for Preventive Medicine to offer more visibility to the importance of medical self-care and wise consumer programs.

Abstract

Friday, January 27, 2012

Writer: Mickey Montevideo, 706/583-0913, mickeym@uga.edu

Athens, Ga. - According to the American Institute for Preventive Medicine, teaching employees the basics of being good health care consumers can result in a healthier and happier work force. It also can help reduce unnecessary utilization of costly medical services.

National Wise Health Consumer Month, commemorated in February, was established by the institute to offer more visibility to the importance of medical self-care and wise consumer programs. The institute estimates that health care costs continue to rise by 10 percent each year; yet, almost 23 percent of all doctor visits and 55 percent of all emergency room visits could be avoided if people took better care of themselves and were better consumers of medical services.

UGA experts on the subject and their contact information are listed below. For more information, contact UGA News Service at 706/542-8083 or news@uga.edu.

Fazal Khan, Associate Professor
School of Law
706/583-5577, fkhan@uga.edu
An expert in health care law and policy, Khan has been a law professor for several years. He has been interviewed and called on as an expert by both television and print media on topics ranging from national health care reform and end of life legal issues to public health legal policies. His current research topics include health care reform in the U.S., the effect of globalization on health care and the challenge of regulating emerging biotechnologies.

Candace Parker, Instructor and Undergraduate Field Experience Coordinator
College of Public Health
706/542-4380, cparker1@uga.edu
Considered an expert in chronic disease, women's health, injury prevention and health consumerism, Parker teaches the class "Health Consumerism." She can offer information about the factors that influence personal choices in the health marketplace.

Elizabeth Weeks Leonard, Associate Professor
School of Law
706/542-4309, weeksleo@uga.edu
Leonard has been a law professor for approximately 10 years and has been recognized for both her teaching skills and research/scholarship in the areas of health care financing and regulation, and public health law. In 2005, the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics named her one of four emerging health law scholars nationwide.

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