Health Literacy
“We must close the gap between what health care professionals know and what the rest of America understands.” - Dr. Richard Carmona, U.S. Surgeon General
Health literacy is defined in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report Healthy People 2010 as: "The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.”
At Health Care Excel (HCE), we understand the importance of presenting health care information to consumers that is clear, simple, and easy to understand. Health information can overwhelm even people with advanced literacy skills.
Low literacy has been linked to poor health outcomes such as higher rates of hospitalization, mismanagement of prescription medications, and less frequent use of preventive services. We are working within communities to improve patient and caregiver health literacy skills, and increase provider skill sets in delivering patient education in ways that are clear, simple, and easy to understand.
