Health Care: Employers Encourage Healthy Lifestyles with Penalties and Rewards

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA How do companies curb health care costs? Do healthier employees lead to increased productivity?  Several progressive companies believe so and have committed to providing employees with programs to help engage them in a healthier lifestyle. As part of the incentives to lead a healthier lifestyle some employers have instituted a penalty and reward system tied to the companies’ benefits.  For example, smokers may incur a significant surcharge to the…

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Patient-Centric Care Delivered with Patient-Friendly Apps

How to deliver patient-centric information By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA What if you could find out what your health care team is doing at any given moment while you wait in the emergency department or you are an admitted patient in the hospital. Dr. Bill Crounse, host of Health Tech Today talks with Microsoft researchers; Dan Morris and Amy Karlson (part of the team of Microsoft researchers) and they are investigating this question, “How…

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Fill Up on Fiber to Fight Cancer

Guest post submitted by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center When you think fiber, what comes to mind? Your favorite breakfast bar or a sugar substitute with added fiber? Think again! The best source of this important nutrient is natural plant-based foods. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), plant-based foods rich in dietary fiber may reduce your risk for colorectal cancer. That’s because the more fiber you consume, the less…

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