“There is nothing permanent except change.” So wrote Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, some 2,500 years ago. He was big on reason and logic, but he was smart enough to also know that each coin has two sides. In other words, life is full of opposites. As such, the polar opposites of “permanence” and “change” sort of require each other. Thinking of his wise words, I wondered how he might feel about the troubles we all have developing healthy habits.

Who among us doesn’t have something that they do that isn’t exactly healthy? (Goodness knows I do.) Everyone has habits or “lazinesses” that we’ve developed over time which have led us into doing things which are against our own best health interests. Too much chocolate, pop, sugary drinks, junk and/or fast foods; too much alcohol; smoking; driving too fast; sleeping too little; too much computer or T.V. time; etc…the list goes on and on of things which we know are unhealthy, yet which many of us still find hard to stop. (more…)

One factor that impacts the skyrocketing costs of healthcare is the rate of health literacy, or perhaps I should say, the incredibly low rate of health literacy. In the United States, only 12% of adults are considered to have “Proficient” health literacy. In other words, a full 88% of Americans are not sufficiently (more…)

The United States Department of Health and Human Services released The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy in 2010. It’s goal? To encourage the healthcare industry to make health information and services easier to understand and use.

“Health literacy is needed to make health reform a reality,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Without health information that makes sense to them, people can’t access cost effective, safe, and high quality health services. But, HHS can’t do it alone,” she added. “We need payers and providers of health care services to communicate clearly and make the necessary changes to improve their communication with consumers, patients, and beneficiaries.” (more…)

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions released results of a study showing doctors aren’t doing very well yet engaging patients via health information technology (HIT). There are lots of ways to do this, but pediatric health videos improve patient engagement in a way that is readily received and easily deployed.

According to an article in Healthcare IT News (Feb. 27, 2012), the new Deloitte report, “Physician Perspectives on Health Information Technology,” says no more than 1 in 5 doctors are providing any significant benefits to their patients via information technology (IT). (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…)