Page 16 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

1

Introduction

Many observers believe that the use of emerging interactive health
1
information technologies, often referred to as eHealth, can help to
improve the quality, capacity, and efficiency of the health care system.
eHealth has the potential to improve access to the health care system for
traditionally underserved populations and to increase the capacity to pro-
vide tailoring and customization for individual patients and consumers
(Ahern et al., 2006). eHealth systems can also improve clinical decision
making and adherence to clinical guidelines; provide reminder systems
for patients and clinicians, thereby improving compliance with preven-
tive service protocols; provide more immediate access to laboratory and
radiology results; and, when integrated with clinical decision support
systems, help to prevent many errors and adverse events (IOM, 2003).
While eHealth has many potential benefits, some observers have
expressed concern that these systems could increase health care dispari-
ties by helping mainly those individuals and communities with greater
resources. Recent reports show that health care disparities do exist
between advantaged and underserved populations (IOM, 2002). Under-
served populations generally include ethnic minorities, people in lower

1 It should be noted that throughout the report, speakers use different definitions of the
term eHealth in their presentations. This is not surprising since there is no agreed upon
definition for the term. In fact, Oh and colleagues (2005) found 51 different definitions for
the term eHealth. Since a workshop summary must accurately represent the concepts and
ideas of each speaker, no attempt can be made to ensure consistency of definitions across
presentations.

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