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…
Read More...Social Media: Top 5 Useful Health Tweets
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Twitter is a powerful form of social media, and it is a phenomenal resource for sharing information. Twitter can help improve your health. A significant blog on Mashable, “HOW TO: Use Social Media for Better Health” by Ben Parr, he writes that “Healthy living can be a shared experience.” Social media is about connections and information, while healthy living is about consistency and knowledge. Combined, social media can bring…
Read More...The Health 2.0 Developer Challenge Wants Innovative Health Care Developers
Guest post by Indu Subaiya and Matthew Holt The Health 2.0 Developer Challenge–It’s On! By Indu Subaiya & Matthew Holt [Original post published on The Health Care Blog July 8, 2010, and reprinted with permission from Matthew Holt.] Today is the formal kick-off of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge. The challenge was first announced by Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra on June 2 at the Community Health Data Initiative (CHDI) meeting, and it’s partly a continuation…
Read More...Health IT Engages in the World of Health 2.0
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Healthin30 begins to delve into the world of Health IT and we’ll bring you the latest innovations in health care technology. In the world of Health 2.0 (“user-generated phenomenon”), co-founder Matthew Holt brilliantly captures the technological geniuses that have created and developed health technologies for providers and patients to help reduce costs and simplify their life. I recently attended the Health 2.0 conference in Washington, D.C. and I was…
Read More...Healthin30 on KOMO News Radio Seattle, WA Shares Tips About Reading Food Labels
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA I was thrilled to take the other end of the microphone as guest expert for quick healthy living spot on KOMO News Radio in Seattle, WA, thanks to Matthew Holt and courtesy of The Health Care Blog. I talked with hosts John and Nancy about the importance of reading the ingredients on food packages. Reading only the front food labels on food products can be misleading. Consumers need to…
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