By Dawn Menning Lately, there has been a lot of discussion in our Better Choices, Better Health® (BCBH) workshops about COVID-19. Not surprisingly, in addition to the coronavirus directly increasing stress and anxiety levels, changes to normal life like orders to shelter in place have forced our participants to adjust their normal self-care habits. We […]
By Katy Plant In this newsletter and many other forums, we have shared the impact peer-driven self-management support has had to increase self-efficacy, reduce anxiety, and improve outcomes. With COVID-19 both exacerbating fears of co-morbid conditions and creating its own challenges through shelter-at-home, this kind of support is needed now more than ever. Unfortunately, in […]
By Mary Barbato You may be staying at home during COVID-19, but your garbage isn’t. How you handle your garbage could save the lives of your community members and those picking up your garbage. As we know, the coronavirus stays on certain surfaces for up to 3 days, and it is still not clear […]
Digital therapeutics (DTx) deliver evidence-based therapeutic interventions to patients that are driven by high quality software programs to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. They are used independently or together with medications, devices, or other therapies to optimize patient care and health outcomes. DTx Alliance Digital Therapeutics in the United States is […]
Earlier this month, I was Chair of the DTx West Conference. This was the seventh in the US based series – one occurring each half year and alternating between Boston and the Bay Area. It has been truly special to see the Digital Therapeutics industry evolve and mature over these several years, and it was […]
By Katy Plant The New Year is a chance at a fresh start. Many of us set New Year’s resolutions with good intentions wanting to get the year off to a successful start. For those that set an intention or resolution to make changes to their health, they may find themselves signing up for […]
By Katy Plant As we’ve discussed in the past, we’re committed to ensuring as great a user experience as we can for our program participants. This means not only a rigorous process of user testing prior to launching new features, but a continuous process of reviewing feedback. Recently, we reviewed the self-reported reasons participants […]
What’s unique about being a coach at Canary Health? Dawn: It’s really three elements of coaching here at Canary Health that are distinct. But before that, I must say what is not distinct. What is not distinct to Canary Health but is so present here – is the incredible commitment we have and […]
I’m finishing a call as the email from Vic arrives. “I have time for the next half-hour. If that works just give me a call”, he has written. The week is coming to end, Friday afternoon, and I am anxious to hear more of Vic’s story. The little he had shared on our general satisfaction […]
When Greg returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD and serious physical injuries, he had no one to turn to except his ex-wife Rachel. Without hesitation, she stepped into the role of his caregiver, and turned to the VA for support. Her CSC, Amanda, recommended the Building Better Caregivers® program. Watch her courageous story.
By Brent Vaughan, CEO and Co-Founder, Cognoa We are experiencing a mental health crisis:one person in every four in the world will develop one or more behavioral conditions during their lifetime. Today in the U.S., one in five children have a diagnosable behavioral health disorder and only 21% of those children receive needed treatment. […]
Catasys recently reported its 2019 second quarter results, identifying their partnership with Canary Health as a strategy that enables them to serve a larger portion of the population. Read more on the partnership. Read the Article
MD Magazine recently sat down with Canary Health’s Chief Medical Officer, Neal Kaufman, to discuss digital health, the benefits of, and the role it plays in the future of healthcare. Read the Article
The success of many therapies for chronic diseases depends in large part on the ability of patients to follow often-complicated self-care regimens. Patients face many challenges when attempting to implement these recommendations such as multiple co-morbidities, physical limitations, lack of resources, poor social support, lack of confidence or skills, and insufficient knowledge. It is not […]
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 […]
I meet Frank for lunch in Studio City. We’ve shared countless meals, but this is the first with the explicit agenda for me to interview him and hear his story. And if you’ll allow this narrator some foreshadowing – it was a great conversation and helped me gain a deeper understanding of, and respect for […]
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 […]