The Smart Home for Health, Brought to You by Samsung and Ashley
Today I am keynoting the OSF Digital Health Symposium in Peoria, IL, discussing The State(s) of Digital Health. A double-entendre intended, one of the states I’ll be discussing is the migration of acute care back to peoples’ homes, embedded with sensors, householders donning smart rings, and rooms fitted with Internet-of-Things for health and well-being. In this context, news that Samsung has begun to partner with Ashley, the national furniture dealer, struck me as interesting and important. I visited the Samsung Health House at CES 2024 last January: here is my write-up about what I
The Health Insurance Premium for a Family Averages $25,572 in 2024 – KFF’s Annual Update on Employer-Sponsored Benefits
The premium for employer-sponsored health plans grew by 6-7% between 2023 and 2024, according to the report on Employer Health Benefits 2024 Annual Survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, KFF’s 26th annual study into U.S. companies’ spending on workers’ health care. In 2024 the average annual health insurance premium for family coverage is $25,572, split by 75% covered by the employer (just over $19,000) and 25% borne by the employee ($6,296), shown in the first chart from the report. The nearly $26K family premium is the average across all plan types in the
Growing Investments in Digital Health Are Driven by Consumer Demand, Clinical Outcomes, and Cost-Savings
The marketing for purchasing digital health technologies is expecting to grow, driven by increased consumer demands for tech-based solutions, improved outcomes enabled through the innovations, and cost savings derived from deploying the technologies. That’s the top-line finding in the 2024 State of Digital Health Purchasing from the Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI). PHTI surveyed 322 digital health decision makers working in employers, health plans, and health systems, fielding the study in July and August 2024. 3 in 4 purchasers grew spending on digital health technologies in the past two years,
What is a Pharmacy? What We Can Learn from Babylon, Botanicals, and the Human OS
In the past week, a few major events bring the nature of pharmacies and the market for retail pharmacy into sharp view: First, news that CVS is undergoing self- and market-scrutiny about its business — specifically, the company’s vertical integration and financial punishment wrought by the organization’s insurance group, Aetna, leading to considering the break-up of the company into certain parts (whether the insurance business, the retail pharmacy, the specialty pharmacy unit, etc.). Second, the PBM (pharmacy benefit management) business has come under harsh light from the FTC and Congress, most recently resulting in a lawsuit filed by the FTC
Peoples’ Lack of Trust in Science Extends to Views on Food and Nutrition
Only 2 in 5 people in the U.S. strongly trust science concerning food, nutrition, or diet, we learn from the 2024 IFIC Spotlight Survey: Americans’ Trust in Food & Nutrition Science, published in October. IFIC is the International Food Information Council, a non-profit organization with a mission of communicating science-based information about food safety, nutrition, and sustainable food systems. IFIC surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults online in July to gauge consumers’ views on food and science. The most-trusted sources of food information are the scientists involved in researching nutrition,
Americans Want More Health Care Issues Baked into the 2024 Elections – Gallup
Beyond women’s health and abortion politics, most Americans are looking for more health care baked into the 2024 Elections, based on a new poll from Gallup in collaboration with West Health. Two in three U.S. adults thought health care was not receiving enough attention during the 2024 Presidential campaign as of September 2024. This is a majority shared opinion for voters across the three party IDs in the U.S., shown in the first bar graph. The research polled 3,660 U.S. adults in September, about two-thirds before the presidential debate held September 10, and about one-third
Well-Being Burnout – Lululemon’s 4th Annual Study Into Our Pressured Lives
Lululemon has published the 2024 Global Well-Being Report, a study into peoples’ perspectives on their personal health from the company best known for athleisure wear and self-care. This year’s report is titled, The Pressure to Be Well. That pressure is coming from peoples’ experiencing “well-being burnout.” In the company’s fourth annual report on well-being, Lululemon learned that most people have tried to adopt personal strategies to bolster their health, and one-half of these folks are confronting “well-being burnout.” Lululemon collaborated with Edelman Data & Intelligence to field the study in April and May 2024 in 15 markets where the company
All Heart – Thinking Hearts, Health, and Love in Valencia, Spain
The clinical evidence base continues to grow making the case that art and creativity can be drivers for health and well-being — as it’s proven to me in my own life. Most recently, cases have been made by Emily Peters, documented in her book Remaking Medicine; by Robin Strongin, advocate for arts, medicine, and well-being from her base in Washington, DC; and, by my Belgium-based colleague and friend Koen Kas whose book addressing themes of art and health will soon be published. I was inspired at the convergence of art and well-being during a visit on 20 September to the
Americans’ Perspectives on Pharma and Healthcare Industries Are Low and Low-Ish Compared with Most Other Sectors
Only 20% of U.S. adults have a positive view of the pharmaceutical industry, garnering the lowest positive vibes among Americans in Gallup’s latest survey on peoples’ opinions of industries in America. About 1 in 3 Americans feel positively about health care in the U.S., on par with publishing and the electric/gas industries — on the lower end of these findings. By far, the top-perceived industry in the U.S. is agriculture and farming, taking the first spot with 64% of Americans’ positive views. Restaurants and the computer sector get 52% positives, although Gallup points out
1 in 2 U.S. Women (“The Bedrock of Society”) Self-Ration Care – the Latest Deloitte Findings
Women in the U.S. are more likely to avoid care than men in America, Deloitte found in the consulting firm’s latest survey on consumers and health care. Deloitte coins this phenomenon as a “triple-threat” that women face in the U.S. health care environment, the 3 “threats” being, Affordability, Access, and, Prior experience — that is the health disparity among women who have seen personal mis-diagnosis, bias, or treatment that hasn’t been consistent with current protocols and practices. The data come out of Deloitte’s fielding of the U.S. consumer survey in February and March, 2024.
Obesity is a Public Health Epidemic in the U.S. — The Case for GLP-1 Coverage, Affordability and Equity
“If the U.S. were sensible, weight management would be treated as a public health issue,” David Cutler writes in the JAMA Health Forum dated August 15, 2024. Dr. Cutler, distinguished economics professor at Harvard, talks about “the pathology of U.S. health care” citing the example of weight loss medications — in short, the uptake of GLP-1 drugs to address Type 2 diabetes first, and subsequently obesity. Dr. Cutler notes that the price of these drugs in the U.S. “far exceeds” that of other countries: specifically, 9 times that of the prices in Germany and the Netherlands
Leaning In to Joy, from Hello Kitty to LEGO – The Power of Play for Adults
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has been an outspoken advocate calling out the state of mental health in America for all health citizens, young and old alike. He wrote the book, Together, reflecting on the toxic side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic that exacerbated many Americans’ feelings of loneliness and lack of human connection. Most recently, he’s raised the issue of parents’ anxiety and stress, especially in light of children’s use of social media and the recognition of children’s need for access to therapy. Parents are also at-risk, Dr. Murthy asserted as a
The New DTC Channel Is…A Vending Machine (From Advil to Plan B)
I’m off to Florence, Italy, soon, where about 10 years ago I happened upon a vending machine sited outside of a pharmacy just a few blocks from the Duomo — the Farmacia Della Condotta. And in that vending machine, accessible at all hours (especially overnight when the pharmacy was closed), were all manners of direct-to-consumer self-care goods….including condoms. What distinguished this from other vending machines that might have channeled condoms at the time was that those tended to be located in men’s rooms in, say, bars — not openly on a city street. You can see the Italian vending machine
Where Democrats and Republicans Agree on Health Care Policies – From Medicare and Prescription Drugs to Gun Safety
In a super-divided electorate like the U.S. with about 60 days leading up to the 2024 Elections, we might assume there are no “purple” areas of agreement between the Red (Republicans) and the Blue (Democrats) thinking in PANTONE color politics. Surprisingly, there are many health policies on which Democrats and Republicans concur, as found in a series of YouGov polls conducted in May 2024. YouGov fielded the health policies poll in five waves online, each among roughly 1,100 U.S. adults in May 2004. This bar chart summarizes health
The Impacts of Heat on Health Across All Dimensions – from Death to “Heat-Flation” on the Pocketbook
Rising energy bills are confronting U.S. households (and indeed, health citizens in many parts of the world) due to extreme heat, PBS reported on 1st September. But the record heat waves in so much of the world is impacting both peoples’ fiscal and financial well-being along with physical health impacts, ranging from exacerbating chronic respiratory conditions to, literally, risks to lives. A recent letter to JAMA, published August 26, 2024, quantifies Trends of Heat-Related Deaths in the U.S., 1999-2023. The authors examined studies finding exposure to extreme heat associated with mortality,
Best Buy Health’s Latest Insights into Technology and Care at Home
In the U.S., aging in and staying at home is a priority for most people over the age of 45 — and for nearly one-half of younger people between 18 and 44 — we learn in Best Buy Health’s Research Brief discussing the company’s survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers. Best Buy Health, the health-focused operation which is part of the electronics retailer Best Buy, worked with Sage Growth Partners to assess 1,000 U.S. consumers, 18 years and over, on their perspectives on health care, technology, aging in place, and caregiving. The research was fielded
How Voting Plays Into Health, Health Equity, and Community Well-Being
“Voter registration in hospitals is the new frontier in health care.” That’s the headline in a WBUR story last week detailing the efforts of health care professionals in “amplifying” their patients’ voices inside and outside of the hospital walls by advocating for their health citizenship — through voter registration and public health policy advocacy. I’m a long-time evangelist for health citizenship and the role that a person’s engagement in the civic commons plays in one’s own health, the health of their communities and of the nation as a whole. I’m not alone
Americans Who Perceive Negative Medical Treatment Due to Weight, Insurance Status, and Identity Metrics – YouGov Insights
Millions of Americans believe they have been treated negatively by a physician due to their weight, insurance status, physical appearance and/or state of mental health, according to a YouGov poll published August 6, 2024. To gauge U.S. health citizens’ perceptions of fair and unfair treatment in the health care system, YouGov conducted this research among 1,200 U.S. adults 18 and over online in late June 2024. The first bar chart arrays various identity characteristics describing patients: we see that weight is by far the top characteristic putting the person at-risk for being
Women’s Health Outcomes in the U.S.: Spending More, Getting (Way) Less – 4 Charts from The Commonwealth Fund
Women in the U.S. have lower life expectancy, greater risks of heart disease, and more likely to face medical bills and self-rationing due to costs, we learn in the latest look into Health Care for Women: How the U.S. Compares Internationally from The Commonwealth Fund. The Fund identified four key conclusions in this global study: Mortality, shown in the first chart which illustrates women in the U.S. having the lowest life expectancy of 80 years versus women in other high-income countries; Health status, with women in the U.S. more likely to consume multiple prescription
The Health Care Costs for Someone Retiring in 2024 in the U.S. Will Reach $165,000 – Fidelity’s 23rd Annual Update
The average person in the U.S. retiring in 2024 will need to bank $165,000 to pay for health care costs in retirement — a sum that does not include long-term care, Fidelity Investments advises us in the 23rd annual look at this always-impactful (and sobering) forecast. I’ve covered this study every year since 2011 here in Health Populi, continuing to add to this bar chart; in the interest of space and legibility, I started this year’s version of the chart at 2014, when the cost for a couple was gauged at $220K. Fidelity began
I had a wide-ranging conversation with WCBU reporter Collin Schopp to discuss the role of telehealth in health care to expand access, equity, quality, clinician well-being and patient engagement. We spoke in advance of my keynote speech to be delivered at the inaugural OSF Digital Health Symposium on October 16, 2024, in Peoria, IL.
Thank you, Feedspot, for calling out Health Populi as a top 15 women-led blog in health care. I am gratified to be in great company with these sisters in health/care communication!
As a proud Big Ten alum, I'm thrilled to be invited to meet with the OSU HSMP Alumni Society to share perspectives on health care innovation.