In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic:
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- Medicare Advantage plans denied prior authorizations at high rates
- Nurse Educator Shortage Threatens the Future of the Workforce
- Why exercise snacks are good for health
- American Diabetes Association Consumer Guide
- Abracadabra: Why Insulin Sparks Awe and Wonder
- Comedy, Character, & Crop Tops: An Interview with Gina Pillina
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- News from T1Dto100
- Webinar: Let’s Talk T1D & Mental Health with Jenna Eisenberg, Tuesday, 30 June 2026
- Interview – Diabetes in My Back Pocket: A 65-Year Journey with Type 1, by Riva Greenberg
- News from T1Dto100
Medicare Advantage plans denied prior authorization requests at unusually high rates by Berkeley Lovelace Jr., for NBCNews.com, 10 June 2026.
Patients enrolled in some of the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage plans were denied requests for rehabilitation and other critical services at unusually high rates, according to a report released by the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general. It comes amid increased scrutiny of how insurers use prior authorization, a cost-cutting tool that experts say often leads to the delay or denial of necessary care.
“These denial rates are quite staggering,” said Miranda Yaver, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh. “It’s another data point that reinforces what a lot of Americans have already been articulating a lot of frustration about — which is that healthcare decisions are being made with profit rather than medical necessity in mind.”
Erin Bliss, an assistant inspector general at HHS, said she was surprised by the findings. “The range of denial rates from 8% all the way up to 80% by company for long-term care, that’s a pretty shocking variation,” she said.
A second report focused on prior authorization requests for skilled nursing facility care. It found that when patients appealed, plans reversed 95% of denials. “We’re looking at an extremely high overturn rate,” Rosemary Bartholomew, the lead author of the reports, said. “That really raises concerns that there’s a breakdown happening at that first request step.”
Read more: Medicare Advantage plans denied prior authorization requests at unusually high rates
The nurse educator shortage threatens the future of the workforce by Kim Nerud for ModernHealthCare.com, 25 May 2026.
During National Nurses Month, the spotlight rightly falls on the professionals delivering care on the front lines. But behind every nurse is an educator—and without enough of them, the nation’s efforts to address its persistent nursing shortage will fall short.
Each year, thousands of qualified applicants are turned away from nursing programs, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, largely due to insufficient faculty, clinical sites, and resources. If we are serious about strengthening the nursing workforce, we must also be serious about addressing the shortage of nursing educators.
AACN data shows the average age of doctoral-prepared nurse faculty is nearing or over the age of 60, meaning a significant portion of the current nurse educator workforce is nearing retirement over the next decade. Even as burnout and long hours may be pushing nurses to consider work in academia, the salaries they can earn in those roles can’t compete with what they can earn in clinical or private-sector settings. And, in a vicious cycle, schools are turning away future potential nurse educators from master’s and doctoral programs because of a lack of qualified faculty.
The nursing shortage is not solved by simply recruiting more nurses. It’s about educating more of them. And right now, the system is constrained at that critical point. Expanding how and where we educate nurses is key to strengthening the workforce for the future.
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- Flexible and online education models can expand the reach of academic programs and make faculty roles more accessible. Allowing educators to teach from their own communities makes it easier for nurses to balance teaching with other responsibilities. These models also create opportunities for nurses in rural or underserved areas to contribute their critical perspectives to the academic workforce without leaving their patients.
- Equally important is investing in the preparation of future educators. Graduate programs can do more to equip nurses with the pedagogical and leadership skills required to succeed in faculty roles.
- Policy solutions are also part of the equation. Expanding programs such as the federal Nurse Faculty Loan Program can help offset salary disparities and encourage more nurses to pursue academic careers. Strengthening partnerships between healthcare systems and academic institutions can also create shared faculty models, allowing clinicians to divide their time between practice and teaching.
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Read more: The nurse educator shortage threatens the future of the workforce
Why exercise snacks are good for health by Ziya Altug for Healio.com, 19 June 2026.
Exercise snacks, or short bouts of physical activity, promote overall wellness. Micro-exercise breaks are easy ways to include physical activity at the workplace. An article in Exercise and Sport Science Reviews defines exercise snacks as isolated bouts of vigorous exercise lasting about 1 minute or less that are periodically performed throughout the day.
One approach is to take a 1-minute break every hour and perform activities such as marching in place, shadow boxing, stair climbing, partial squats, multidirectional lunges, sit-to-stand squats, wall push-ups or standing heel raises. Another closely associated approach is to perform slightly longer bouts of physical activity less frequently during the day.
According to various studies:
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- Short bouts of exercise may enhance exercise adherence. According to a randomized controlled trial in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, sedentary women with obesity who were assigned to shorter bouts of exercise had more days of physical activity than those assigned to longer bouts of exercise.
- Resistance exercise snacks (such as bodyweight exercise like push-ups, resistance bands or portable weights) may be helpful for workplace health promotion.
- Exercise snacks may help improve cognitive health in sedentary workplace environments.
- Three-minute bouts of yoga may help lower blood glucose.
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Three-minute micro-exercise breaks may help improve metabolic health.
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Read more: Why exercise snacks are good for health
DID YOU KNOW about: The American Diabetes Association Consumer Guide, produced/updated by Diabetes.org … an online tool to help you find the right tools, treatments and technology to fit your life.
Discover Options for Diabetes Care: Learn more about different options for diabetes care and find the right products or supplies to help you thrive. I didn’t know this even existed, until I was invited to participate with the ADA Consumer Resources Advisory Panel, made up of various health care specialists and actual members living with diabetes!
Other reseources, available FREE from the American Diabetes Association: Whether you’ve been living with diabetes, are newly diagnosed, or caring for a loved one with diabetes, we’re here to help. Get practical, hands-on advice to help manage every step of diabetes care.
Check it out! Browse and Compare Products
Abracadabra: Why Insulin Sparks Awe and Wonder by Dan Fleshler for TheInsulinChronicles.com, 19 June 2015.
“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious,” wrote Albert Einstein. “Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead.”
Comments on the web from the diabetes on-line community indicate that many of us think of our bodies as outright foes, cruel tricksters that fool us with unexpected, sometimes inexplicable responses to our attempts to calibrate insulin, food and exercise. I’ve been wrestling with this condition for half a century, but I can get as frustrated as any rookie who is just learning how to count carbs at the fluctuations of my blood sugar. Too much stress, or too few kidney beans for dinner, or an infusion of insulin in the wrong flap of skin can throw everything off kilter.
Over time, I’ve learned how to stop reflexively beating myself up for blood sugar results. But I never thought of my body as anything other than an enemy agent that I was forced to outthink and outwit until recently, when I gave myself a crash course in the life sciences and began to study diabetes –including the mechanisms of insulin– for the first time in earnest.
I quickly learned that insulin prompts awe even in the most matter-of-fact scientists. One very technical and widely published overview mentions “those mystical actions of insulin.” And this excited plaudit comes from Dr. R.A. Bowen in an introduction to the endocrine system: “Stand on a street corner and ask people if they know what insulin is, and many will reply, `Doesn’t it have something to do with blood sugar?’ Indeed, that is correct, but such a response is a bit like saying `Mozart? Wasn’t he some kind of a musician?’”
One thing that surprised me about insulin was that it has many functions besides those related to storing, regulating and transforming sugars and fats. It stimulates the uptake of amino acids –the building blocks of protein, of you and me–, potassium, magnesium and other vital chemicals into cells. It helps to prompt arterial walls to relax and contract. In the last few years, researchers have discovered that insulin even enhances learning and memory and has all sorts of other functions in the brain. Who knew?
This is a great read … it’s a few years old but strangely, absolutely current and fascinating!
Read more: Abracadabra: Why Insulin Sparks Awe and Wonder
Comedy, Character, and Crop Tops: An Interview with Gina Anzures (Gina Pillina) by Neil Israel for DiabetesMadeVisible on LinkedIn, 11 May 2026.
For Georgina “Gina” Anzures—known to her global community of fans, students, and advocates as Gina Pillina—defiance looks a lot like a brightly colored comic strip, a loud laugh, and a visible insulin pump. In an interview with the proud Mexican animator, illustrator, and professor, she discusses her unique journey of navigating Type 1 diabetes and using the power of silly, vibrant art to challenge the stigma of chronic illness.
Currently based in Mexico, Anzures describes herself as a true world citizen with a constant craving for travel and education. Having recently completed an advanced animation course at the prestigious CalArts in California and holding advanced degrees in both 3D animation and illustration, she uses her experiences navigating international healthcare systems as a backdrop for her advocacy.
Today, Anzures channels her energy into her role as a full-time professor at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) in Mexico, where she openly integrates her life with Type 1 diabetes into her academic presence. Balancing ten-hour workdays packed with lecturing and grading, she leans heavily on modern continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology.
Read more:
News from T1Dto100
FREE T1D to 100 Webinar: Let’s Talk T1D & Mental Health with Jenna Eisenberg, Tuesday, 30 June 2026, 5pm PT / 8pm ET
Register Here: Let’s Talk T1D & Mental Health
Living with type 1 diabetes is a 24/7 job, and it does not stop at blood sugar. The emotional and social weight of T1D is real, and it deserves just as much attention as the numbers. Join us Tuesday, June 30 to kick off a new recurring conversation about mental health and life with T1D, led by Jenna Eisenberg, MS, LMFT, a Denver-area therapist who specializes in diabetes and has lived with T1D herself for 50 years this year. Jenna brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to a topic most of us carry quietly.
In this first session, Jenna will: Introduce the relationship between mental health and diabetes, and how the two shape each other in both directions Share a few practical tools you can start using right away
Open the floor for Q&A and real conversation This is the start of an ongoing series. In the calls ahead, we will dig deeper into topics like diabetes distress and burnout, shame and guilt, body image and device-wearing, the mind-body connection, family and provider support, and more. Come as you are, bring your questions, and help shape where these conversations go.
Interview – Diabetes in My Back Pocket: A 65-Year Journey with Type 1, by Riva Greenberg for T1Dto100.com, 26 June 2026.
Judith Jones Ambrosini is the oldest person I know with type 1 diabetes, and she’s probably had it longer than anyone I know. When I was beginning to make my mark in diabetes, she was already in the thick of it. She’s been a board member with the American Diabetes Association (ADA), a board member of DESA (Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association), a journalist who wrote for many diabetes magazines, a professional chef and caterer who taught nutrition, she volunteered at Children with Diabetes’ conferences for more than twenty years, and taught Tai Chi at TCOYD (Taking Control of Your Diabetes) conferences in San Diego.
When I first met Judith, thirty odd years ago, she blared at me something I’ve never forgotten: “You’re using the poor man’s pump!,” while looking at my syringe trying to convert me. Alas, she never did, but I loved her passion and commitment to helping others. At 83, Judith tells it like it is, then and now, and shares a few wild stories in-between. Diagnosis Age: 18, Current Age: 83, Years with T1D: 65
Read more: Interview – Diabetes in My Back Pocket: A 65-Year Journey with Type 1
