Health Affairs Publishes HHS Health Literacy Article

New Federal Policy Initiatives To Boost Health Literacy Can Help The Nation Move Beyond The Cycle Of Costly ‘Crisis Care’


Health Affairs Publishes HHS Health Literacy Article

The journal Health Affairs today released the article, “New Federal Policy Initiatives to Boost Health Literacy Can Help the Nation Move Beyond the Cycle of Costly ‘Crisis Care.’” The authors -- led by HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh, former CMS Director Don Berwick, and AHRQ’s Director, Carolyn Clancy -- conclude,
“The time is right to accelerate our national commitment to providing the American people with clear, understandable, and actionable science-based health information. At the same time, the promises of medical research, health information technology, and advances in health care coverage and delivery cannot be realized if our nation does not simultaneously address the challenge of limited health literacy. The federal initiatives of the past few years, combined with a growing commitment to health literate organizations and systems change, can help the nation tackle health literacy and ultimately help us all lead longer, healthier lives.”
You can access the article at http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2012/01/18/hlthaff.2011.1169 free of charge for the next two weeks. In addition to today’s web release, the article will appear in Health Affairs’ February 2012 issue. Below you will find the abstract of the article.

Abstract
Health literacy is the capacity to understand basic health information and make appropriate health decisions. Tens of millions of Americans have limited health literacy – a fact that poses major challenges for the delivery of quality care. Despite its importance, health literacy has, until recently, been relegated to the sidelines of health care improvement efforts aimed at increasing access, quality, and cost management. Now, recent federal policy initiatives, including the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy (Action Plan), and the Plain Writing Act of 2010, have brought health literacy to a tipping point – that is, poised to transition from the margin to the mainstream. If public and private organizations make it a priority to become health literate, the nation’s health literacy can be advanced to the point where it will play a substantial role in improving health care and health for all Americans.