As we enter a new era of health care, one fact looms large. More than three-fourths of U.S. medical costs are attributed to largely-preventable illnesses related to our lifestyle behaviors – what we eat, whether we exercise, how we manage stress, if we smoke.

Yet in most health care today, visits to the doctor are often too brief to get a handle on these complicated challenges. The focus is usually on disease treatment (with a heavy reliance on drugs, high-tech procedures and tests) rather than disease prevention.

To get to the root of this all, our special public radio project, The Search for Well-Being examines a fascinating new model of health care: integrative medicine.