How does this translate to an employer level?
First, employees who are health literate understand what makes their health worse and what makes it better. They also know when, how and in which setting to seek care from a professional. They save money, too, because they make cost-effective choices.
Second, employees who are not health literate are more likely to end up in the hospital and use emergency services more often. Frequent use of these services results in higher out-of-pocket costs for these patients — and for all consumers — in copayments, coinsurance or deductibles.
Third, we’re moving toward health benefit plans with initiatives that support employees to better manage their own health and to share some of the financial responsibilities.
As employees try to become better consumers when it comes to their health care, it is important that they understand what they have signed up for and what they get for their money.
What can employers do to help their employees become more health literate?
Make sure you can answer yes to these questions:
- Are the printed materials about the company’s health plan written at a level everyone can understand?
- Is there someone to whom employees can go for help in dealing with insurance matters, and are workers encouraged to seek help from that person?
- Do you seek feedback from employees about the ease of interacting with the health plan, pass along issues of concern to your insurance representative, and then follow up on them?
Where should employers go for help?
There are a couple of sources employers can rely on. The first one is your health insurance carrier. Account representatives are well-trained in your employees’ benefit plans and how to explain them clearly.
Employees can also take advantage of the 24-hour, toll-free help lines offered by HealthAmerica and other health insurers. The lines are answered by nurses who can respond to questions on health issues and benefits.
The Partnership for Clear Health Communication also provides employers with a number of cost-effective ways to educate employees about the importance of clear health communication between health providers and patients.
Download free materials to provide to employees at askme3.org.
Other helpful sources include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at www.ahrq.gov/browse/hlitix.htm and the Institute of Medicine at www.nap.edu/books/0309091179/html.
Sources:
Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, the Institute of Medicine (IOM 2003)
Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy, University of Connecticut, National Bureau of Economic Research (October 2007)
David Crosby is president of HealthAmerica. Reach him at [email protected].
