health and wellness / shutterstock

New research out of the UK emphasizes the important role physicians and other healthcare providers play in driving the lifestyle changes needed to lose weight. Specifically, the study found that appropriate weight loss advice from a physician almost doubled the likelihood of a patient’s attempting to lose weight.[read more]

Healthcare websites that shine

Hospital or healthcare websites aren’t always the easiest for customers to work with. Just look at the issues with Healthcare.gov. Many times, people simply don’t understand the language in them. Here are a few common problems with hospital or healthcare websites and ways to fix them.[read more]

healthcare marketing online

Curiously, the vast majority of all US hospitals do not participate in social media. We can’t help but wonder (and worry) if this at all reflects how some healthcare marketing pros are planning for the New Year. Having anything less than a first class Internet and social media strategy would be a large and painful shortfall.[read more]

HCPs and social media

Today, three out of four healthcare professionals use a smartphone and a growing number use their smartphones for health-related content and job seeking. In fact, the use of social media for job searching purposes has doubled since the first AMN social media survey was conducted in 2010, and now reaches 41 percent.[read more]

seniors and Obamacare

Seniors are scrambling to figure out what the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, means to them and how it will impact their healthcare costs. It's important for seniors to proactively seek the right information that's not propelled by propaganda, so here are four details seniors should know.[read more]

Heather Long

Most rare disease patients spend a good portion of their lives coping with a condition that is either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Some of them die of a disease that has yet to be named. Heather Long’s son, Cal, was one of them.[read more]

Margeret Hamburg, FDA (HHS/public domain)

23andMe has suspended the health-related component of its genetic testing business during the regulatory review process, in order to comply with the warning letter issued by the FDA on Nov. 22, 2013. The company also said customers who purchased before that date will retain access to health-related results.[read more]

Elena Chernyakova

Here we go again! As I've stated many times before, no pictures in the hospital and no posting them on social networking sites. In this case a patient is suing a physician and the hospital after pictures were taken while she was in the emergency room and posted on Facebook and Instagram.[read more]

DNA

Recent advances in exciting new microscopic fields of medicine may indicate that personalized medicine may one day become a reality. We will soon add “Proteomics," "Microbiome" and “Probiotics” to our vocabulary as we get closer to the patient-centric healthcare we want.[read more]

Transitioning to ICD-10: a battle?

Without an adequate number of physicians to drive revenue and handle the needs of patients, hospitals and physician groups must carry out strategies to offset the financial risks associated with healthcare reform and the ICD-10 transition.[read more]

(Muhammad Mahdi Karim, GFDL-1.2)

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed a yellow fever outbreak in South Sudan, which has resulted in 14 deaths so far. Between October 3 and November 24, 2013, a total of 44 suspected cases were reported in 12 localities. Yellow fever is a viral, hemorrhagic fever transmitted by infected mosquitoes.[read more]

Physician-patient communications

It goes without saying that in order for physicians to know where patients are coming from concerning their complaint they need to ask the patient. But that is not happening. A recent study found that only 16% of physicians admitted to routinely asking patients their “perspectives” regarding their condition.[read more]