The coronavirus pandemic has spawned many side-effects re-shaping consumers’ everyday lives. Among them, more time at home, DIY life-flows, and financial well-being are driving growth of self-care health care.

An article in the latest Drug Store News talks about consumers growing more health-conscious, adopting natural, homeopathic products.

“It’s about more than washing your hands,” David Salazar explains. “Fending off illness has become a state of mind for many consumers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In feeling dis-empowered in the face of the pandemic — with the first shock of the Great Lockdown and stay-at-home mandates — we’ve taken on more do-it-yourself…

In terms of income, U.S. households entered 2020 in the best financial shape they’d been in years, based on new Census data released earlier this week.

However, the U.S. Census Bureau found that the level of health insurance enrollment fell by 1 million people in 2019, with about 30 million Americans not covered by health insurance.

In fact, the number of uninsured Americans rose by 2 million people in 2018, and by 1.9 million people in 2017.

The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated the erosion of the health insured population.

What havoc a pandemic can do to minds, bodies, souls…

On February 4th, 2020, in a hospital in northern California, the first known inpatient diagnosed with COVID-19 died.

On March 11th, the World Health Organization called the growing prevalence of the coronavirus a “pandemic.”

On May 25th, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

This summer, the Dixie Chicks dropped the “Dixie” from their name, and NASCAR cancelled the confederate flag from their tracks.

Today, nearly 200,000 Americans have died due to the novel coronavirus.

My new book, Health Citizenship: How a virus opened hearts and minds, launched this week. In it, I…

“Having 20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. 20/20 vision only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance,” according to the American Optometric Association.

An important vision skill, the AOA tells us, is “peripheral awareness or side vision” which contributes to overall visual acuity.

So it is with scenario planning in health care, a key work-flow this time of the year for me with my clients spanning the health/care ecosystem from providers to payors to Big Food, electronics and tech, and financial services. …

“Google’s ‘Project Nightingale’ Gathers Personal Health Data on Millions of Americans,” the Wall Street Journal reported in today’s paper and on the WSJ.com website. The story started with the scenario that, “Search giant is amassing health records from Ascension facilities in 21 states; patients not yet informed.”

Here’s Ascension’s press release on the collaboration, described in the title as “healthcare transformation.” Note: this release was written after the Wall Street Journal published this story.

And, according to the WSJ reporting, “Neither patients nor doctors have been notified. At least 150 Google employees already have access to much of the…

A study in JAMA published this week analyzed research reports that have measured waste in the U.S. health care system, calculating that 25% of medical spending in America is wasted. If spending is gauged at $3.8 trillion, waste amounts to nearly $1 trillion. If spending is 18% of the American gross domestic product (GDP), then some 4.5% of the U.S. economy is wasted spending by the health care system and its stakeholders.

In “Waste in the US Health Care System,” a team from Humana and the University of Pittsburgh recalibrated the previous finding of 30% of wasted spending to the…

Over the past couple of weeks, Walmart is demonstrating its growing commitment to and leadership in healthcare and public health. The company’s announcement this week of pulling products that can be used in military-style weapons from its Outdoor Sports/Shooting department is a major move for public health that is something of a watershed that will impact well beyond the company’s inventory and stock price.

This announcement will continue a trend among some thoughtful business leaders, like CEO Edward Stack of Dick’s Sporting Goods, banning gun sales from the retailer’s 125 stores in March 2019, who have begun to listen…

August 8 was National CBD Day. Who knew? Well, now you do, and I’m going to explain how this three-letter-acronym is rolling into the retail health landscape, opportunities, risks, and other issues I like to cover when forecasting the future of a new-new thing in health/care.

“CBD” stands for cannabidiol, which is a derivative of cannabis, marijuana and hemp plants. CBD is the non-psychoactive compound derived from cannabis plants. CBD is being fast-adopted by consumers in retail and regulated shopping channels. One in seven Americans (14%) use CBD products, according to Gallup’s new well-being research. One-third of U.S. …