Page 19 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

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

HeALtH LiteRACY, eHeALtH, AnD CoMMUniCAtion

product to 20 percent or $4 trillion (American Academy of Orthope-
dic Surgeons, 2007). Health insurance premiums for workers and their
employees have increased by 78 percent since 2000, while workers’ earn-
ings have risen by only 19 percent over the same time period (Kaiser
Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust, 2006).
Twenty-one percent of employers report it is “very likely” that they will
increase the amount that employees pay for health insurance in the com-
ing year, while another 28 percent report it “somewhat likely” that they
will do so (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006).
In the year 2000, 12.7 percent of the U.S. population was age 65 or
older. That number is expected to grow to 20 percent by the year 2030
(U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000), a factor that will contribute to the
challenges facing the health care system as it strives to address chronic
conditions of the population. In 2000 more than 125 million people in
the United States had at least one chronic care condition, and it is pre-
dicted that the number will reach 157 million by 2020 (Wu and Green,
2000). Seventy-eight percent of all health care spending in 1998 was
focused on those with chronic conditions (Partnership for Solutions,
2004). Himmelstein and colleagues (2005) estimate that medical issues
are a major cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Furthermore,
there are key challenges concerning access to care and the problems of
the 47 million uninsured Americans, problems which many states are
now trying to address through health care reform.
The health care debate that will take place over the coming years
will likely include all of these issues. And while health care policymakers
are focusing on these issues, consumers are also weighing in. A survey
by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than half of all those
surveyed were dissatisfied with the quality of health care and that almost
one-third of those indicated they were “very dissatisfied.” In addition, 81
percent of those surveyed were dissatisfied with the cost of health care in
the United States, with more than 50 percent of the respondents describ-
ing themselves as being very dissatisfied (Kaiser Family Foundation and
Health Research and Educational Trust, 2006).
When a recent survey by The Commonwealth Fund asked health
care opinion leaders to rate the effectiveness of several key strategies for
improving the quality and safety of health care, the highest-rated strategy
was to accelerate the development and deployment of health information
technology. In particular, 67 percent of respondents thought that acceler-
ating adoption of health information technologies would be an effective
or highly effective strategy for improving health care, compared with 59
percent for public reporting of provider performance on quality measures,
51 percent for financial incentives for improved quality of care, 50 percent

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.