People with diabetes on MyDiabetesCentral are experienced treaters who prefer pens and pumps to syringes and rate reading discussion forums and interacting on facebook as their top online activities. We asked about treatment choices, insulin, and online habits in our 2011 diabetes audience survey conducted in May and June. We invited our diabetes newsletter subscribers [...]

Last time around, we speculated on what Google Instant might mean for searcher behavior.  While some e-pundits vowed that the longtail would die, and others said that the longtail would get a boost, my intuition was that it would be a little of both.  That is, short-tail searchers might add some more depth to their [...]

In an article just published on Nextgov, there is a good overview of the shifting sands in the Open Government agenda of the federal government. I’m quoted in the story because I have served as a volunteer auditor of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Open Government Plan and also am co-leading [...]

In a study commissioned by Practice Fusion (an electronic health care record (EHR) company), custom research firm GfK Roper found that patients see 18.7 different doctors on average throughout their lives. While the number isn’t that shocking (count back through specialists, second opinions, moving to a new part of the country, etc.) it does underscore [...]

From “Too fat to fight,” a report released today by Mission: Readiness, a group led by retired military leaders and advocating “smart investments in the upcoming generation of American children.”  Mission:Readiness is holding a press conference this afternoon to discuss that “75% of young Americans are ineligible to serve their country because they have either [...]

The balance between privacy and innovation online is a recurring theme for a health-centered product development team, but is it really THAT different? The foundation of our group is based on the guiding principle that we’re meeting user needs through useful, usable and desirable products.  We know that online health searches are growing across demographics [...]

My name is Maha and welcome to my inaugural blog post.  Here you’ll find my ramblings/unanswered questions about managing user experience, products in the health space, and what we’re doing at HealthCentral.  But first, a little bit about moi… I joined HealthCentral in August of 2009.  I’m responsible for product strategy and ensuring an engaging [...]