The Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has spoken to a Missouri audience about the importance of health literacy, or the concept of understanding one’s medical condition and related issues well enough to make good health decisions.
Dr. Howard Koh says poor health literacy leads to more hospital visits and use of emergency care, less use of preventative services, poorer outcomes and less understanding of how to use medication. He says decades of research has shown that health information is often presented in a way that Americans can not use.
Dr. Koh encourages physicians to ask a patient to explain what he or she understands about his or her condition. He told a Missouri audience…
Dr. Howard Koh discusses how he engages patients about what they understand. MP3 3:15
Dr. Koh says the Affordable Health Care Act has several provisions related to improving health literacy…
He also outlined other measures the Department of Health and Human Services have undertaken related to health literacy…
Dr. Howard Koh explains DHSS measures promoting health literacy MP3 2:40
Dr. Koh was the keynote speaker for the Missouri Health Literacy Summit in Columbia.