Caraway’s Post

90 million Americans are considered to have low health literacy. Only 12% of the nation’s adults have high health literacy. With low health literacy, rising healthcare costs, and persistent SDOH factors, it’s important for us to pause and consider whether the current healthcare system is working for people first or business first. Is healthcare becoming too complex for the average American? The numbers from these experts indicate yes. Not only are millions of Americans unable to find and understand information to benefit their health, but millions also continue to be affected by social factors such as their residence or income level. As a result, even Americans who are able to access healthcare find themselves unable to access quality care or apply the care to their health and wellbeing. Without ensuring that our current healthcare system is supporting the patients it is meant to serve, any care provided is unsustainable over the long term or does not reach patients in need. Implementing health literacy measures and changing the system are important steps to take. #healthcare #HealthLiteracy #HealthcareSystem

🔍 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐳𝐞? 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞! 🔍 This recent Fortune article by Alena Botros sheds light on a troubling reality: trust in healthcare is alarmingly low, further strained by widespread health literacy gaps. As an 11-year cancer survivor, I've navigated the confusing corridors of healthcare systems, and I believe those of us who have walked this path have a role in guiding others. We can transform our hard-earned knowledge and experiences into valuable resources to help others feel less isolated and more informed. 💡𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: 1. 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐬: By opening up about our healthcare experiences, we demystify the process for others. 2. 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐲: Simplifying medical information can empower more people to make better health decisions. 3. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Encouraging healthcare providers to speak plainly enhances understanding and trust. Community involvement is key to transforming healthcare into a system that serves and supports everyone effectively. Let's champion a movement where trust is rebuilt one conversation at a time. What are your thoughts on increasing trust in healthcare? Join the discussion below! #HealthcareTrust #HealthLiteracy #PatientAdvocacy #CommunityHealth

On the list of things I am enthused about this week - recently, the 3rd edition of the Universal Precautions Toolkit was released. For those who may not know, this toolkit is one of the essential texts in health literacy and federal government-related health literacy initiatives. In the past, the focus of health literacy was mostly on the individual level, and with this new edition, it seems that more emphasis is being placed on organizational health literacy. Read more ⬇️⬇️ #healthliteracy #universalprecautions #publichealth

Let’s end this systemic mistrust and health literacy shortfalls by embedding Community Health Workers into the care team/plan.

Glad to see this information being shared broadly within the public/private sector. I’m not shocked at all (about the low #healthliteracy) and suspect the numbers are even higher than stated here (my search did not reveal a large-scale national survey within the last decade; if you know of one, please comment). In my previous experience with CVS Health and Oak Street Health, I was privileged to see specific interventions aimed at increasing health literacy integrated into the care models. Based on what’s been surfacing in the media (social and otherwise), there’s another confounding factor: the perception of and utilization by health care providers and systems of #AI. I’ve seen #healthcareproviders express concern that they’ll be “replaced”, even as that technology improves health care delivery. Of even greater concern (at least to me), is the #bias introduced into augmented and #artificialintelligence - including #algorithms used to provide #clinicaldecisionsupport. Dr. Joy Buolamwini’s book, Unmasking AI, exposes some of the fundamental examples of how bias is rampant - not just in systems used to identify faces in a crowd, but also those designed to calculate #risk and support #medicaldecisionmaking. See also, Eric Topol, MD’s “Deep Medicine”. Hopefully, the increasing awareness of social determinants of health (#sdoh) - including health literacy - and the need for vigilance in guarding against bias will continue to advance the care provided to our communities.

It’s no secret that the scientific/medical/public health community is less than superb at making simple, trust-inspiring messages. This may be a provocative idea, but what if the root of the problem isn’t inherently bad scientific/medical communication? 20 years ago, the US healthcare system was just as complicated as it is today, but health literacy wasn’t at crisis levels. What’s different is medical care itself. The advances in medical technology have paralleled advances in information and computer technology. What did those look like 20 years ago? 1. DSL was the best way to connect your home to the internet. 2. A company called Alltel Wireless ran a (hilarious) Super Bowl ad mocking smartphones for doing more than making calls. 3. The best flat screen TVs still took up a square yard/meter of space. The scientific community was probably very capable of communicating the “flip phone” version of medical technologies. But the ability to communicate complex technology has apparently not kept pace with technology advancements. I observed this in my own work as a research consultant. The type of work we were doing in the mid-2000s was child’s-play compared to what is being produced now. Over the years, I saw my colleagues (and even myself) increasingly struggle to communicate our work to clients and clients struggle to understand it. Communicating technical information is hard and most experts are not well-trained to do so. This article highlights the perils to patients and society by continuing to believe that the health and medical communications that have worked in the past will continue to be effective today. We can do better. #science #communication #effectivecommunication #sciencecommunication

As Lisa K. Fitzpatrick MD, MPH, MPA (Dr. Lisa) deftly illustrated in the story I wrote about Grapevine Health, the health literacy gap is as much about trust as it is access to resources. Trust looks different for different communities, which is where her team is able to bridge the gap. 🤝 If you haven't read the story yet, I'll post in the comments. Be sure to follow Grapevine to stay engaged and educated on how they're improving health literacy through trustworthy engagement. 💡 #healthtequity #DEI #healthliteracy #digitalhealth #healthequity #CVS https://lnkd.in/gZMDguFD

“According to the National Library of Medicine, a staggering 9 out of 10 adults struggle with health literacy. Health literacy deficit directly drives poor engagement and the subsequent worsening of health outcomes over time. When patients cannot fully grasp what we are sharing – education about their condition, their medication regimen, etc. – this can lead patients to feel inadequate, confused, and even threatened.” One additional reason why the Enhanced Care Management Program should be available in every state is its comprehensive approach to patient care. In addition to having a dedicated Case Manager to assist with addressing Social Determinants of Health, patients also benefit from the assignment of a Registered Nurse and Nurse Practitioner. This multidisciplinary team not only ensures that patients adhere to their medical treatments, but also provides critical education to help patients understand the importance of following their medical plans. By offering this level of personalized support and education, the ECM Program empowers patients to make informed decisions about their health, ultimately improving outcomes and reducing the likelihood of complications or hospitalizations. https://lnkd.in/gkNdwAbr #EnhancedCareManagement #PatientCare #SocialDeterminantsOfHealth #CaseManagement #ComprehensiveCare #NursePractitioner #RegisteredNurse #PatientEducation #HealthOutcomes #PreventiveCare #MultidisciplinaryTeam #HealthcareAccess #ImprovedPatientOutcomes #ECMProgram #ChronicCareManagement

“Patients with reading problems may avoid outpatient doctors’ offices and clinics because they are intimidated by paperwork, according to Joanne Schwartz Berg, director of aging and community health at the American Medical Association and editor of a textbook on health literacy. “Emergency rooms are user-friendly if you don’t read,” she pointed out, “because somebody else asks the questions and somebody else fills out the form.”   In Aruba over 50% of our 65+ year-old immigrants can only think and talk in Spanish, and over 50% of our local super-aged 80+ citizens only in Papiamento and basic Dutch, both with below level of Prose literacy (the knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from texts including editorials, news stories, brochures, and instruction manuals) due to the cognitive limitations caused by the aging process, low literacy in general, and/or being foreign-born and raised with another language. But all of them have to deal with and try to understand the abracadabra in Aruba’s Dutch-driven Healthcare assessments, instructions, and prescriptions across the board of a patient’s journey when being chronically ill, admitted, or rehabilitating, empowering the Silent Epidemic. How to best address this most vulnerable group and leave no one behind ..?