Health Resources and Services Administration Health Literacy Presentation

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Health Resources and Services Administration
Health Literacy Presentation

• Linda Lloyd, HRSA Center for Quality
• ljohnston-lloyd_at_hrsa.gov

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Improve Health Literacy One Step at a Time
make appropriate health decisions
understand basic health information services
The Language of Health
process information
obtain information
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Improving Health Literacy

• Secretary Thompson said The health of our
  country depends on our understanding of basic
  health information in order to lead a healthy
  life.
• HHS Weekly Report Volume 1, Issue79, September
  29-October 5, 2003

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HHS Message of the DaySeptember 26, 2003

• Our nations low health literacy is a threat to
  the health and well-being of Americans and to the
  health and well-being of the American health care
  system.
• Once people recognize the need to improve their
  health, health literacy becomes the second step
  in making a healthier life a reality.
• Secretary Thompson and Surgeon General Carmona
  are talking about the need for improved health
  literacy in our nation. By closing the gap
  between what health care professionals know and
  what the rest of America understands, we can
  improve the health and lives of millions of
  Americans.

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Health Literacy and Quality of Care

• Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA)
  
• Agencys Mission to improve and expand access to
  quality health care for all.
• www.hrsa.gov

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HRSA Mission and Strategic Goals

• Move Towards Eliminating Health Disparities

Move Towards Eliminating Barriers To Care
ASSURING ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
Assure Quality of Care
Improve Public Health and Health Care Systems
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Assure Quality of Care

• What is Quality Health Care?
• www.hrsa.gov/quality/

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Quality Health Care

• The Institute of Medicine (IOM) initially defined
  quality as  
• Quality of care is the degree to which health
  services for individuals and populations increase
  the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are
  consistent with current professional knowledge.

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Quality Health Care

• Good quality means providing patients with
  appropriate services in a technically competent
  manner, with good communication, shared
  decision-making and cultural sensitivity.
• IOM. Crossing the Quality Chasm A New Health
  System for the 21st Century. 2001.

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Components of Quality Health Care

• Safe
• Effective
• PATIENT-CENTERED
• Timely
• Efficient
• Equitable

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Doc, This Is Not Access to Quality Care!
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Keep it Simple

• Quality health care means doing the right thing,
  
• at the right time, in the right way, for the
  right person ) and having the best possible
  results.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Your
Guide to Choosing Quality Health Care. 1998
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What is Literacy?

• Surveys Definitions

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National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)

• Adult Literacy
• Using printed and written information to
  function in society, to achieve one's goals, and
  to develop one's knowledge and potential.
• www.nces.ed.gov/naal/

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Functional Literacy The National Literacy Act,
1991

• Individuals ability to a read, write, and speak
  in English,
• compute and solve problems to be able to function
  on the job and in society,
• to achieve ones goals, and develop ones
  knowledge and potential.

How do I find a job?
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National Assessments of Literacy

• 1992 Survey Results approximately 90 million
  adults (46) in the United States demonstrated
  skills in the two lowest levels of literacy.
• 2003 Survey Results will provide health
  literacy data with 26 health related items in the
  assessment instrument.

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What is Health Literacy ?Healthy People 2010

• The degree to which individuals have the
  capacity to obtain, process,
• and understand basic health information and
  services needed to make appropriate health
  decisions.

When do I take these pills?
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Institute of Medicine Health Literacy Study

• Committee convened in October 2002
• Assess the problem of health literacy
• Come to consensus on the next steps
• Use a public health/public education framework.
• Project Duration 18 months

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IOM Identifies 20 Priority Areas for National
Action

• Two Cross Cutting Areas
• Cuts across specific conditions
• Provides benefits to many patients
• Widespread problem affects people of all social
  classes and from all ethnic groups
• Self Management/Health Literacy
• Care Coordination
• IOM. Priority Areas for National Action
  Transforming Health Care Quality. 2002.

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IOM Committee Consensus

• Critical need to improve care coordination,
  support for self-management, and health literacy
  for all patients and their families

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Report States That

• Improving health literacy
• Essential for effective self-management and
  collaborative care
• Health literacy strategies important at micro
  level and at macro level
• Micro where patients and professionals interact
• Macro where population health is the target

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Healthy People 2010
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Healthy People 2010 Health Literacy

• Objective 11-2 Improve the health literacy of
  persons with inadequate or marginal literacy
  skills

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(No Transcript)
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The Language of Health-- According to Websters
Dictionary

• The Words, their pronunciation, and the methods
  of combining them
• used and understood by a community
• The Means of communicating ideas or feelings
• use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures,
  or marks having understood meanings

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Literacy and Health

• People with limited literacy skills
• Report poorer overall health
• Are less likely to make use of screening
• Present in later stages of disease
• Are more likely to be hospitalized
• Have poorer understanding of treatment
• Have lower adherence to medical regimens

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Low Health Literacy Affects

• Elderly
• 66 of US adults aged 60 and over have either
  inadequate or marginal literacy skills.
• Impoverished
• 45 of all functionally illiterate adults live in
  poverty.
• Minorities
• 50 of Hispanics, 40 of African Americans, and
  33 of Asians have literacy problems.
• Immigrants
• Non native English speakers are more likely to
  have difficulty reading.

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Addressing Health Literacy Improves

• Access to information
• Access to care
• Ability to navigate institutions
• Ability to complete forms
• Ability to provide informed consent
• Ability to communicate with Professionals
• Provide information for diagnosis and assessment
• Make sure that directions and treatments are
  understood

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HRSA Health Literacy

• HRSAs health care delivery sites along with
  training and education programs work to reach out
  to those with low health literacy skills to
  improve their quality of life.
• Health Literacy Work Group, Health Literacy
  Activities, and Related Research
• http//www.hrsa.gov/quality/healthlit.htm

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For More InformationContact Health Literacy Work
Group

• Linda Johnston Lloyd -Chair Center for Quality
  HIV/AIDS Bureau
• Alex Ross Center for Health Services
  
  Financing
  Managed Care
• Audrey Yowell Maternal and Child Health Bureau
• Brad Read Office of Communications
• Diana Froley deForest Office of Performance
  Review
• Jeanean Willis Office of Minority Health
• Juanita Koziol Office for the Advancement of
  Telehealth
• Lauren Spears Bureau of Health Professions
• Lilly Smetana Office of Rural Health Policy
• Maria White Office of Equal Opportunity
  Civil Rights
• Richard Laeng Office of Special Programs
• Suzanne Feetham Bureau of Primary Health Care

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References

• Rudd RE. Literacy and implications for navigating
  health care. Harvard School of Public Health
  Health Literacy Web site. 2002. Available at
  http//www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/slides/
  2002/2002_01.html.Accessed October 7, 2002.
• Center for Health Care Strategies. Health
  Literacy Fact Sheets. Website. 2002. Available
  at http//www.chcs.org/resource/hl.html.
  Accessed October 7, 2002.
• Institute of Medicine (IOM). Medicare A Strategy
  for Quality Assurance, Vol.1. Lohr, K.N., ed.
  Washington, D.C. National Academy Press, 1990.
• IOM. Crossing the Quality Chasm A New Health
  System for the 21st Century. The Quality of
  Health Care in the United States. Washington,
  D.C. National Academy Press, 2001.
• IOM, National Priorities for Action Transforming
  Health Care Quality, Washington, DC National
  Academy Press, 2002.
• National Institute for Literacy. Equipped for the
  Future. Available at www.nifl.gov. Accessed May
  2003
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  (DHHS). Healthy People 2010, Chapter 11 Health
  Communication. (Conference Edition, Vol. 1)
  Washington, D.C. January 2000.