“You are not alone.” We use that phrase a lot around here at Health Nuts Media. And, if you have type 2 diabetes, it is very, very true.

When it comes to kids, it used to be that people only thought of type 1 diabetes. (That’s how it got the name, which some folks still use, “juvenile-onset diabetes”.) But, unfortunately, that old idea just isn’t true anymore. (more…)

A possible cure for type 1 diabetes? Even years after being diagnosed with the disease? Wow! That could be huge.

Well, that’s the potential based upon the just-published research findings of Professor Bart Roep of the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported on Tuesday, February 21, that Professor Roep had discovered (more…)

Literacy: “An individual’s ability to read, write and speak…, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential.”
- National Literacy Act of 1991

Health Literacy: “The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health (more…)

Last Friday, January 27th, the insurance company WellPoint released a statement saying that they were going to “revamp primary care pay” as noted in the Miami Herald. They said they were planning on reimbursing primary care doctors better for services that typically aren’t covered very well, such as preparing care plans, counseling people about ways to stay healthy, and spending time with people to help them achieve and maintain better health outcomes. (more…)

Everybody knows that the Internet is just bursting with information. It seems you can find just about anything these days. But, when it comes to health information, there’s a whole bunch of really bad information all jumbled up with the good stuff. It can be really hard to know what to believe and what is just plain, old quackery. (Kids, remember: just because it’s on the Web doesn’t mean it’s true!)

In fact, we had this exact issue brought to us by a group of high school kids who were looking on the Internet for some asthma information for a class project. (more…)

Over on granddaddy HIT blog site, HIStalk, you’ll see Part One of the annual query of HIT C-suiters and other head honcho types, “What was the biggest HIT-related news or event in 2011 and why?” Some pretty expectable answers about ICD-10, ACOs, the Stage 2 Meaningful Use delay, mergers/acquisitions, and mobile health – often with some also expectable vendor-centric skew on the take – dominate these execs’ considered replies.

I can’t really say that I disagree much with any of these folks’ points of view, but I’ve been watching the land of HIT from a slightly different perspective of late and I think there may be an even more powerful portent percolating in the periphery of our health tech world. It’s sneaking up on us and it has the potential to change virtually anything and everything (more…)

Sometimes an idea seems just soooo obvious…once somebody’s finally thought of it!

Not like “pet rocks”, which still seems an impossible multi-million-dollar concept. More like sliced bread or the wheel. Both of the latter ideas seem so downright apparent, it’s hard to believe that there was ever a time when people went without. Yet, there was a time when luggage was dragged and uncut loaves ruled.

Today, I’m going to make a prediction: in the not-too-distant future, people will think it bizarre that there was ever a time when health education was not entwined with entertainment.

Think about it. What is more boring than a pamphlet discussing the importance of pulmonary toilet? (Yes, there is such a term.) What is less interesting than a talking head video of some non-charismatic medical muckety-muck making the topic of colon care even less inviting? Health knowledge and healthcare education have long been made just so boring and so bland that most folks tune out before the first sentence hits its period. (more…)