When Health Nuts Media began back in 2010, I don’t think we really realized just what we were starting. Not until HIMSS 2011 did we realize just how much we were needed and just how much work we had ahead of us.

Our CEO, Tim Jones, walked into HIMSS 2011 with scheduled meetings to discuss our new company’s offerings with seven of the nation’s largest content distributors, companies who provide health education content via interactive patient television, patient portals, web sites, etc. He walked out with agreements for seven partnerships.

More intriguing, though, he walked out with a new understanding of how very much the Health Nuts Media idea was needed. Virtually every one of his conversations with potential partners revolved around the dearth of quality content for health education, especially for health education directed toward children and their parents. What content was currently available was both limited and not all that entertaining. Sometimes it was just adult material with a few cute phrases or cartoon graphics thrown in (to “kid-ify” the material) even though the text still read beyond a high school level.

When Tim demonstrated our proof-of-concept videos to these folks, the reception was fantastic. Not only were contract negotiations started on the spot, some fascinating industry insights were prompted. One of the most encouraging went something like this:

“You’re not like so much of this health information technology industry. So many HIT companies are all fluff, smoke and mirrors, broad on promises, weak on delivery. You really have something of value. Plus, there’s nothing like it anywhere. Healthcare education and health literacy advancement empowered by quality entertainment…now that’s something no one’s really done, anywhere. You’re not just becoming another vendor in this space; you’re creating a whole new market! “

Well, those words may not be exactly true, but they’re not far off. A look around the health education world shows how little content has been created that could actually be called “fun.” Most of the currently available efforts toward tying entertainment with healthcare issues look more like Frankensteinian amalgamations than concerted efforts toward “kid-friendly from the ground up” creations.

So, maybe we are creating an entirely new market. Bringing health education and literacy to children and their parents on a level that 1) they can understand and that, 2) they can enjoy, is an idea whose time has come. Shoot, it’s a whole new market whose time has come.

Creating a whole new market? We’ve got some work to do…

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Dr. Gregg, August 7, 2011