With advancements in regenerative medicine taking the world by storm there has never been a better time to take advantage of the incredible health care therapies and treatments that are available.  For health care providers there has never been a better time to stand out and be an absolute leader in the health and wellness industry.

Adult stem cell therapies are one area of key advancement as they provide enormous potential for treating a broad spectrum of diseases and injuries.

Here are some emerging trends that work in your favor.

• Between 2011 and 2021, over 73 million U.S.A baby boomers are set to retire.  Baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are driving the wellness industry from a $600 billion to a $1 trillion sector as boomers seek to preserve their good health and youth.  This five year doubling of the market is only the beginning.  Boomers are setting the pace for the wellness industry for many generations to come.

• Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1982) and subsequent generations take the boomer-established proactive approach to holistic wellness and youthful aging as standard.  It is now very much a given. Many of the younger generations take for granted or don’t even realize all the ground work that has been done by the older generations to get to this point.  New found anti-aging and regenerative health trends have been advanced and adopted by the baby boomers at a rapid rate and these are now firmly embedded into our everyday lifestyles.  These have been and will continue to be fully embraced so everyone has the privilege to experience them first-hand.

• 60 really is the new 40.  Preserving our vitality and youth, maintaining our fitness levels, quality of life and staying power well into our 80s and 90s is the ultimate level of accomplishment and inspiration.

• In 2012, something unheard of happened – money spent on prescription drugs in the U.S.A. actually dropped.  In 2012, a report issued by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics found the total spend on prescription medicines dropped to $325.8 billion, down from $329.2 billion in 2011. This resulted in the average spend per person on prescription medicines falling by $33.

“That’s the first time IMS has ever measured a decline in the 58 years we’ve been monitoring drugs,” reported Michael Kleinrock, Director of Research Development at the Institute.

A number of factors are influencing these changes and they cannot all be covered here.  Therefore, outlined below are just 7 key trends that are contributing to changes in the landscape of our health care systems and overall health care management.

• The increasingly widespread use of low-cost generics.  Many big brand-name drugs lost 20 year patent protection from late 2011 and during 2012.  Protonix for heartburn was just one of these drugs that recently went off patent. This can now be purchased for around $20 a month for the generic, verses $170 for the brand name.

• Drug companies have trimmed staff numbers over the past five years and diversified into emerging global markets such as China and India.  They have also moved into businesses where there is no generic competition.  New drug approvals will continue in the U.S. and as they emerge they are expected to fill the recent revenue hole.  However, there is a significant difference now compared to drug developments just one decade ago.  Many of the new specialty drugs are very complex. They are injected or infused and are so-called biologics, complex proteins that are made in living cells that treat a range of diseases.   Many will be expensive once they are fully developed.  The good news is we now have available to us (and will have in the next 10 years) health care treatments and therapies like never before.  Significant developments in the last 5 years in the field of DNA sequencing, gene and adult stem cell therapies have enabled incredible health care advancements to occur.

• This certainly doesn’t mean overall spending on health care decreases.  IMS forecasts show overall spending on health care will continue to grow faster than spending on medicines at least through to 2017. That’s due to factors including the increasing number of elderly patients and those with very expensive chronic conditions such as diabetes, psychiatric disorders, severe heart disease and various cancers.  “The sickest people drive most of our health care spending,” Kleinrock reports.

• People are rationing their health care dollars and choosing to spend them in very different ways compared to a decade ago.

• The National Health Statistics Report of December 2008 states: “In 2007 almost 4 out of 10 adults had used Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapy in the past 12 months.” This number has continued to increase at a rapid rate.

• Now, more than 70 million Americans every year are turning to natural health remedies, complementary and integrative health care rather than prescription drugs.  The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows nearly 40 percent of Americans report using one or more practices such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, massage, yoga, meditation, spinal manipulation, dietary supplements or herbal medicines to help manage their health and wellness.  Complementary and alternative therapies aim to treat the whole person, not just the symptoms of disease.   More recent clinical studies and supporting research show CAM is extremely beneficial and valuable to a person’s overall health and well-being.

• Similarly, data shows health care systems and providers are increasingly incorporating CAM interventions.   According to ISPA’s 2013 research, people visiting day spas, hotel and resort spas, and destination spas are all on the rise from 156 million in 2012 to 160 million in 2013 and spending has increased to an average of $87 per visit; almost a two percent increase over the previous year.

Dr Martha Grout, MD, MD(H), with the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine reports,

“The first words out of many of my patients’ mouths are: ‘I have gone to every doctor under the sun, all they want to do is prescribe drugs for me. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. Can you help me?”

According to Dr Grout, “We do have a choice – in our health care, in our choice of practitioners, in how we spend our money. We just have to keep the supplements out of the hands of Big Pharma.”

Barbara Breweitt, Ph.D., from the University of Washington School of Medicine and post-doctoral researcher at The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports:

“There is a new trend in longevity medicine to prepare us for healthy aging, called cell signaling.  The entire body is naturally wired for cell signaling thus the body can repair, restore and coordinate physiological and psychological activities. The cell signaling approach helps with quality of life as well as transitions through life’s many stages”

Never in the history of medicine have doctors faced such a gauntlet of financial challenges and practice restrictions than they do today. These factors, among others just as crucial, don’t begin to tell the story about why 40% of medical doctors readily admit to intense frustration in their practices, in addition to the percentage of doctors quitting medical practice completely.  However those that are left are the strong, relentless type.  They are not retiring. They are adapting.