Interview of Dr. Marcus Thygeson, M.D., M.P.H. by Adam Kaufman As defined on Wikipedia: Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters… and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, reflective listening (reflecting […]
Increasing self-efficacy – one’s capacity to identify actions that improve one’s life and the confidence to accomplish those actions – has been shown to:1 Accelerate health behavior change (e.g. healthy eating, medication adherence) Reduce depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders Diminish social isolation Improve system navigation and health program uptake Importantly, the impact of self-efficacy […]
Self-efficacy, or confidence as it is commonly known, is the optimistic self-belief in one’s competence or chances of successfully accomplishing a task and producing a favorable outcome. Self-efficacy is certainly worth having because as Henry Ford famously put it, “Whether you believe you can or you cannot, you are right.” Gandhi perfectly understood the central […]
I first get snippets of Jen’s story from the Better Choices, Better Health® (BCBH) user survey she completed. She writes: “So my situation was unique because I’m a registered nurse. As a nurse, you’re always helping other people and don’t tend to deal with your own stuff. I had taken care of my elderly […]
It’s the afternoon in Los Angeles and already the evening in Baltimore on Thursday, June 6th when I connect with Suzanne for our Slack call. “It is 2009, and I am working full time for the Baltimore County Department of Aging and I have a part-time job in addition. Being so busy I didn’t […]
Neal had the opportunity to participate in the National Council on Aging’s Age + Action conference this June. Age+Action is the premiere national conference focused on ensuring every person’s right to age with their best possible health and economic security. The event brought together 900+ professionals from across the country who are dedicated to making aging […]
Sharing another partnership this month — Washington, DC Department of Health. Please help us spread the word. DC Health is covering the costs for our Better Choices, Better Health®(BCBH) program for hundreds of district residents. They are making the program available without cost to a limited number of Washington, DC residents. Interested participants can […]
Catasys, Inc., a leading AI and technology-enabled healthcare company, is piloting Canary Health’s Better Choices, Better Health® (BCBH) program with eligible members of one of its national health plan partners. Read the Press Release Schedule A Meeting
Our partners and good friends at mPulse Mobile have interviewed Neal for their series on thought leaders. We have had the good fortune to collaborate with mPulse Mobile for several years and gain so much from their leadership in the SoCal ecosystem and much beyond. Watch Neal’s piece from mPulse.
Sharing some good news and an ask of a favor. The New Mexico Department of Health has funding for health improvement activities, and is making Canary Health’s Better Choices, Better Health® program available without cost to a limited number of New Mexico residents. Interested participants can register here: Register This is the second […]
In May, we were fortunate enough to bring together a variety of stakeholders for a Service Blueprint exercise with the Caregiver Support team from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The group included VA Peers Support Mentors, front line Call Center Support staff, VA Caregiver Support Specialists, as well as Caregivers themselves. From these exercises, we’re […]
—“Only the fact that there are others out in this great big world, going through the same things/feelings and rough patches as I am.” This is how Audrey starts the last of our several email exchanges after I have asked her what was her most important takeaway from Better Choices Better Health® (BCBH). We’ve […]
This month we feature an article by C.J. Sieck, et al, The Patient Engagement Capacity Model: What Factors Determine a Patient’s Ability to Engage? Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, Sieck et al start their article describing the “Promise and Challenge of Patient Engagement” and then proceed to present their “Engagement Capacity […]
When we’re on the phone, Judy explains that she wanted to make sure her mother-in-law would already be asleep. She had scheduled our call for late Tuesday night – well late for the east coast, but 6pm in Los Angeles. Judy has been a caregiver for many years, first for her own parents and now […]
This month we’re pleased to share insights from one of our newer partners – Salt Lake County. Salt Lake County covers about 800 square miles and is home to more than 1.1 million people. The County is a diverse government employer with more than 30,000 employees. In collaboration with the Utah Department of Health, Salt […]
Individual behavior change is often central to enhancing quality of life and improving health. This includes adopting healthier habits around diet, physical activity, sleep, and other core individual behaviors. It includes new tactics to improve social interactions with family and friends and with healthcare providers. And it often includes new medical-related behaviors such as medication […]
DTx West took place at the end of February and serves as a great reminder of just how far the broader industry and the digital therapeutics segment have come. Topics included the regulatory environment and pathways for digital therapeutics, commercialization strategies, and partnership approaches. I had the good fortune to moderate an incredible panel with […]
We were glad to see the interest in Paul’s article from last month’s Canary Health newsletter about designing digital interventions to highlight behavioral modeling. Providing behavioral modeling is one of the key approaches to increasing an individual’s self-efficacy — i.e. the confidence in one’s ability to set a goal and accomplish it. Increasing self-efficacy has […]
Neal Kaufman, Chief Medical Officer, Canary Health, recently presented at the Right Care Initiative, a public-private partnership working to improve clinical outcomes for adults with chronic conditions within California. Neal discussed digital therapeutics, the implications for modern health practice, and the role increasing self-efficacy plays in improving outcomes. He also presented Better Choices, Better Health® and […]
At the beginning of 2019, a number of executives in healthcare were asked to share their thoughts on a new effort to fund Medicaid through block grants and the argument that it may spur innovation. Here’s the article if you missed it. Read the Article