Half of American Adults are Health-Care Illiterate

Half of American adults are health-care illiterate

Daily News: 11.20.2017 by Ariel Scotti

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that about half of the adults in the U.S. have inadequate skills when it comes to understanding their health care options and now, a new report details how greater knowledge can lead to healthier lives.

The relationship between health literacy and health outcomes is very important," lead author of the report, Stan Hudson, told the University of Missouri School of Medicine. "We found that low health literacy is a contributing factor for readmission for chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.”

The study, called "Improving Health and the Bottom Line: The Case for HealthLiteracy" showed how greater individual health literacy can achieve the "Quadruple Aim" or the four main goals of care — improving community health, reducing health costs, enhancing the quality of care and improving patient and provider experiences.

"The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates health expenditures will cost the $3.5 trillion in 2017," Hudson told the university. "We know from previous research that limited health literacy increases costs not only for the U.S. health system, but also for patients and providers. Based on cost analysis of that research, we estimate sufficient health literacy could save $105 to $175 billion each year."  READ MORE >>