Literacy, noun: A person’s ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that enables effective communication and helps them make sense of the world.
But how is health literacy unique? Health literacy is understanding information and services that help people to make well-informed health decisions. It’s vital to an individual’s ability to make optimal health care choices and an organization’s ability to ensure members understand and have access to health plan resources and benefits.
What can you do to bridge the gap and provide care? Make a plan to foster literacy within your organization and its membership. But remember, there’s a hidden element that may be impacting your members’ health literacy and their ability to engage: their social health.
Pyx Health has your go-to guide. Grade yourself on our actionable steps — and engage with members to build a foundation of trust.
Focusing on organizational health literacy
Health care is a maze for anyone to navigate, including clinicians, providers, members and even patients themselves. But plans often don’t realize just how stymied members are. Pyx Health Chief Medical Officer Ashwin Patel pointed out in a recent article that a staggering 9 out of 10 adults struggle with health literacy.
If patients and members don’t understand their health and measures to safeguard it for the future, it can have dire consequences on their outcomes. Fortunately, you can provide guidance. Health.gov highlights six key things plans can do to move the needle and improve member health literacy:
1. Learn what can make you a health-literate care organization.
Health-literate health care organizations help people navigate and use services to take care of their health. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 10 attributes of such organizations help members access services and achieve positive outcomes, including:
- Integrates health literacy into planning, evaluation and patient safety
- Factors in the populations served when designing, implementing and evaluating services
- Meets the needs of populations with varying health literacy without stigmatizing
- Uses health literacy strategies in communications and confirms understanding along the way
2. Understand your organization’s alignment with health literacy.
Is your organization on top of its game, or do you have more work to do to ensure health literacy? Try the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Health Literacy Assessment tools to find barriers and opportunities on your journey toward health literacy.
The list includes:
- General assessment tools
- Information to meet the needs of members with varying health literacy
- Resources to help make health information more accessible
- And more!
3. Implement your own health literacy plan.
Have an idea where you stand now? Start thinking about what your organization could do to get to the next level. The CDC offers a framework for developing a health literacy plan, from identifying key champions to assessing opportunities. Once you’ve done those things, creating your plan is as easy as pie:
- Draft the plan by presenting the opportunity to address health literacy, defining goals and objectives, outlining detailed action steps and developing an action plan.
- Vet the plan and refine it based on discussions and feedback from stakeholders to strengthen support for the initiative.
- Build awareness to share the plan’s benefits across the broader organization, trusting its greatest advocates to spread the word.
- Implement the plan to formally launch and adopt it organization-wide, making it part of your overall culture.
- Monitor progress so you can evaluate and adjust over time based on outcomes.
4. Get staff up to speed on health literacy training.
“Why does this matter to me?” Helping your staff understand the value of health literacy strategies can help to build your organization up to better serve its members. Various trainings on health literacy and writing in plain language for diverse audiences can help you communicate your plan’s value and its offerings.
5. Reach your audience on their terms.
Literacy is all about understanding. What language — literal and figurative — resonates with your members? Using the aforementioned plain language enhances their understanding by using simple terms instead of medical jargon, and offering information in various languages can reach diverse populations.
6. Use best practices to improve your communication strategies.
Our world is digital, so the way you communicate should be, too! For sharing information and improving interactions, technology offers a new way to operate. Improve health literacy by offering your members user-friendly websites and digital resources, including:
- Writing actionable content
- Simplifying navigation
- Engaging users
The impact of social health on personal health literacy
Feel like you’ve done all the right things, but members’ health literacy doesn’t seem to be improving? Even if your plan checks all the above boxes for health literacy, there can still be disconnects with members that leave you puzzled. Zooming in on social health can help you understand why.
Build trust in health care.
Social health is the aspect of overall health that’s born from connection. In other words, a person’s social health is impacted by the strength of their social network, including bonds with family, friends, neighbors and the community — or lack thereof.
Social health is directly linked to health literacy by the notion of trust, such as a member’s willingness to connect with their care team or how their social support system encourages them to listen to their provider. Even with this trust, members may not have the capacity or resources to comply. Struggling to understand why members don’t adhere to care plans or medication instructions? They may not be able to, and that’s hard for providers and staff to readily see in a care setting.
Pyx Health enhances both health literacy and social health
Prioritize health literacy in your organization and for its members by making a plan to support individuals on their terms. Your health literacy plan closes the gaps that impede members from making the best choices for their well-being — and Pyx Health can be part of that journey.
Pyx Health builds trust with members and elevates social health and literacy. Our team engages with empathy, using real human connection to address social health needs that can impact social determinants of health, such as transportation, housing or food insecurity.
Empathetic peer mentors supplement your plan, offering support outside of regular provider visits and intervening on your behalf before members experience negative outcomes. Explore our case study for a close-up look at how Pyx Health boosts literacy and overall social health.
