Page 55 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

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

0 HeALtH LiteRACY, eHeALtH, AnD CoMMUniCAtion

Finally, personal health records such as those in My HealtheVet use
technology to facilitate improved communication between patients and
health care providers. Secure messaging will add new tools to supplement
traditional care interactions. VA is currently in the alpha testing stage of
secure messaging.
The contributions of eHealth to the goals of health literacy and
improving patient outcomes can be very powerful, Nazi concluded. My
HealtheVet is transforming health care by enhancing communication and
providing veterans access to information that they can understand and
use to make good health decisions.

DISCuSSION
George isham, M.D., M.S.
HealthPartners
Moderator

An audience member asked Kukafka whether the extent to which
respondents in the Harlem survey used the Internet for purchasing had
any correlation with their level of comfort about obtaining health informa-
tion. Kukafka responded that while data on commerce was collected, she
did not have those data available and was unable to provide an answer.
The same participant, noting that Kukafka’s presentation mentioned
wariness and mistrust of medical institutions, asked: Do the data indicate
that the information would be viewed more credibly if it was derived
from the individual’s primary care provider or their medical home? If the
primary care provider was the author of information on the Internet site,
would it be viewed as credible?
That specific question was not asked, Kukafka replied, but the answer
to the question is empirical. Currently, however, the data are not yet
available to determine the answer. Results of the survey and the focus
groups do indicate that the credibility of information from the health
provider was rated as very high. On the website, well known community
providers serve as creators of content. For example, information is being
developed and provided by the Harlem Health Promotion Center and key
community health care providers. However, equal time is given to any
participant in the community who wishes to contribute. The community
itself will then rate the information. If there are blogs provided by a group
that forms in the community and there are also blogs created by experts,
one could measure hits on the sites in order to evaluate which blogs are
used more and thus get a good idea of which contributors are viewed as
more credible.
Another audience member said that she is delighted to find that

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