Telehealth and Health Literacy: Promoting Patient Understanding

Telehealth and Health Literacy: Promoting Patient Understanding

October is Health Literacy Month. Health literacy is a vital part of shaping how people interact with the healthcare system and how they think about their own health. Health literate patients can understand their care and can make well-informed decisions. Telehealth can be a vital tool in empowering patients to understand and manage their own health.

Understanding Health Literacy

A basic definition is that health literacy is how easily people are able to obtain, understand, and use basic health information and services to make informed healthcare choices. People who are health literate can find easily information about healthcare and their own health. More importantly, they can understand and use that information to make well-informed decisions about any decisions they make related to their health.

While this may seem simple, health literacy can be difficult both to understand and to measure. By thinking critically about what health literacy encompasses and how telehealth can more effectively be used to promote it, we can ensure that we’re having a positive impact on health literacy and health equity.

Generally, most discussion of health literacy only include personal health literacy. But health literacy doesn’t end with personal health literacy – organizational health literacy is an equally important component of enabling people to understand and take charge of their health. Organizational health literacy is defined by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as “the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.” Health literacy is more than just a personal responsibility. It is an institutional one as well.

Low health literacy can cause people to misunderstand medical advice or to fail to adhere to treatment plans. In the worst-case scenario, people may experience adverse health outcomes or costly procedures that could have otherwise been avoided. By increasing health literacy on a personal and organizational level, we can help to promote the best possible health outcomes.

No discussion of health literacy would be complete without the mention of how it is impacted by social drivers of health (SDOH).  Populations that experience health disparities, including people of color, those with disabilities, and those in the LGBTQ+ community, often have lower levels of health literacy. While there are a wealth of factors that contribute to this disparity – including everything from access to broadband and levels of digital literacy to different attitudes among providers when caring for those who belong to minority populations – it is vital that we remain aware of their effects and work to mitigate them whenever possible.

Leveraging Telehealth to Increase Health Literacy 

Telehealth can be an extremely useful tool to promote and enable health literacy. When used correctly, telehealth can allow people to understand their health and what options they have to effectively manage it. Telehealth can make health information more accessible, more understandable, and more actionable. There are a myriad of different ways of how telehealth can be used to increase health literacy. A few examples are below:

Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring

Chronic conditions have become increasingly common. Today, nearly 60% of American adults have at least one chronic condition. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices can allow patients to effectively monitor their own conditions (including common chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes) and work with their providers to manage their care. Patients with an accurate and constantly-evolving view of their own conditions can make well-informed decision

Telehealth also allows patients to communicate with providers outside of normal office visits – patients can ask their doctors questions via a patient portal or secure email platform rather than scheduling an appointment and waiting to see them in person.

Telehealth Technology

Telehealth technology can allow patients to easily access their own health information. It has become increasingly clear that the simplest possible user interface will allow the greatest number of people to effectively use and understand the technology. While technology has developed rapidly in the telehealth space, user interfaces have become simpler to use. This applies to remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices, telehealth communication platforms, and health applications.

These are by no means the only advantages that telehealth can bring to health literacy. Telehealth can help patients work with the best provider for them regardless of distance. Patients with communication barriers can also use technologies over telehealth to communicate more effectively with providers. Health literacy is complicated, but telehealth can help to make it a little easier to achieve.

The Future of Telehealth and Health Literacy

Telehealth use has dipped since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it had still remained well above pre-pandemic levels. At this point, it seems safe to assume that telehealth will continue to be an important part of the healthcare landscape on the future. It is vital that we all carefully consider how telehealth can most effectively be used to empower all patients to understand their own health and what care choices they have. Health literacy can allow for patients to make well-informed decisions around their own health and can aid providers in working with their patients to work towards the best possible health outcomes. When all people understand their own health and what their options are to manage it, we all benefit.

Learn More:

• Health Literacy – Health People 2030
• Health Literacy – HRSA
• October is Health Literacy Month! – health.gov