Health Literacy in Action

Realizing Effective Health Communication

Continuing education credits have been applied for nurses, case managers and disability management specialists.

About the Webinar

Health literacy is defined in Healthy People 2010 as, "The degree to which consumers have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions." 

Health literacy varies by context and setting and is not necessarily related to years of education or general reading ability. A person who functions adequately at home or work may have marginal or inadequate literacy in a health care environment. With the move toward a more consumer-centric health care approach, individuals must be engaged and take an active role in health care-related decisions. To accomplish this, people and patients need strong health information skills. 

Another aspect of health literacy surrounds the patient with limited English proficiency (LEP) and hearing issues. Studies show that these patients are less likely to seek preventive and primary care and more likely to use emergency rooms for non-emergency care.  Nurses and case managers are most often the first health care professionals to have the opportunity to identify patients with limited English proficiency and/or hearing problems. When these patients are not identified as such and not asked about the need for language assistance services, the potential for compromised health care increases, raising the likelihood of a medical malpractice claims. 

Due to the impact health literacy has on health and health care, leading organizations such as the Joint Commission, the Institute of Medicine, America’s Health Insurance Plan (AHIP) and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) are addressing this topic and are developing tools and resources that managed care organizations, providers, employers and patients can use to address and improve health literacy. 

Understanding the challenges allows payers, providers and health care professionals to work together to address issues related to health literacy as we move to a patient-centric health care delivery system.

Program Objectives

• Define health literacy.
• Learn from leaders who are addressing health literacy in their organizations.
• Understand the impact and ramifications of not addressing health literacy.
• Explore resources that payers and providers can use to address health literacy.

Our Webinar Will Answer These Questions:

• What is health literacy?
• Who is impacted by health literacy?
• What is the impact of low literacy skills on health, health care and health care costs?
• What strategies are available to improve literacy?
• What tools are available to prepare and evaluate patient education materials?
• What is the impact of health literacy on providers, payers and individual health care professionals?
• What are organizations doing to improve systems to address health literacy?
• How does culture and limited English proficiency play into health literacy?
• What are the legal implications related to health literacy?
• What resources are available to address health literacy?
  
  

Speakers:

	Cindy Brach Senior Health Policy Researcher, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
	Karen Komondor, RN, CCRN Director of Education, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center
	Heather A. Begley, Esq. Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll
	Sylvia Aruffo, PhD President, Communication Sciences Inc.