We hear a lot about health literacy these days. It's generally defined as the degree to which we have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and the health services we need in order to make appropriate health decisions.

Surprisingly, health literacy is a stronger predictor of our overall health status than age, education, economic status or the other variables we usually associate with good health.  

Health literacy is not simply the ability to read. It requires a complex group of reading, listening, analytical, and decision-making skills, and the ability to apply these skills to health situations. Unfortunately unless you are a health care provider you're most likely going to have to learn these skills at the worst possible time – when you're facing a health care crisis of a family member, a dear friend, or a crisis of your own.

What does this have to do with your business? Everything! Poor health literacy has been linked to more medication errors, greater use of emergency rooms, fewer doctor follow-up visits and more hospitalizations, all of which affect your bottom line.

We're all users of health care, but those with chronic conditions use it far more than the rest of the population. In fact, seventy-five cents of every health care dollar is spent on people with chronic health problems such as diabetes, depression, cancer, mental illness, and heart disease. Some of these people are likely to be your employees; others are likely to be family caregivers for loved ones with a chronic illness or disability. The financial impact of family caregiving to American businesses has been well documented, and ranges from $19 - $34 billion annually. On a per-employee basis, the cost to an employer for a family caregiver providing intensive levels of care to a loved one is $2,241 a year.

It's important to note that these numbers don’t tell the whole story. They're based on lost productivity and related issues, but don’t include any health care costs incurred by employees. With family caregivers themselves being more prone to chronic conditions than non-caregivers, and family caregivers making up approximately 13% of a large company’s workforce, anything you can do to improve the health literacy of your employees will be important. 

To improve the health literacy of the nation’s family caregivers and better enable them to advocate for themselves and their loves ones in health care settings, the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) developed a curriculum in 2002 entitled Communicating Effectively with Health Care Professionals, and proceeded to develop a cadre of trainers capable of delivering the program to family caregivers in communities across the country.

Preliminary research has shown the program increases skills, confidence and efficacy, and a major controlled study is currently underway to provide longitudinal data and impact on health care costs.

Although designed with family caregivers in mind, the content is applicable to anyone wanting to learn more about how to get the most out of their interactions with health care providers, with hospitals, payers and others they may encounter while navigating our fractured health care environment.

A three-hour in-person workshop was the original design model, and it has many advantages, not the least of which is that attendees get to test out what they’ve been learning in a safe role-playing situation. The downside of the workshop model, however, is that it can only accommodate 20 people at most in each session. That’s why NFCA is now developing telephonic and web-based versions of the curriculum in order to reach a far greater audience, and bring the benefits of Communicating Effectively to a wider public, including your employees.

Topics covered in the workshops, regardless of teaching environment, include:  

§         Understanding our health care “system” and the family caregiver’s role as a member of their loved one’s health care team. 

§         The basics of good communication and how to apply them in health care settings 

§         “How to” information from planning for a doctor’s office visit, how to best report symptoms during a crisis, and what you need to know when going to the ER. 

The three session employee-focused telephonic program is currently being tested and will be ready for delivery by early fall. To see some of the learning materials from the Communicating Effectively with Health Care Professionals curriculum go to:  

http://www.thefamilycaregiver.org/caregiving_resources/communicating_effectively_articles.cfm

And for more information on this unique health literacy program and how to bring it to your company please e-mail communicatingeffectively@thefamilycaregiver.org.