Page 96 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

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

eMeRGinG tooLS AnD StRAteGieS

tives should relate directly to health literacy. The bottom line is that what
is measured is what gets done. Low health literacy has been a barrier to
many improvements in health. To create the correct incentives, one must
measure the correct things, so only if there is an explicit focus on health
literacy will people address its issues.
One audience member said that it appeared to him that a set of goals
for the nation must be anchored in improving the health of the popula-
tion. Many things are enabling factors to improving the health of the
citizens of the United States. Ultimately, however, the goals must lead
to improving the health of the population. How one thinks about that
is informed by one’s experience over time. The government has been
engaged in this effort for 40 years now, and this will be the third decade of
the iteration of these goals. What specifically is being learned from what
has happened in the past?
An audience member noted that there is an Institute of Medicine
report on health literacy that made a number of recommendations (IOM,
2004). It would probably be helpful to review those recommendations and
determine the kind of progress achieved for the recommendations related
to the communications and health objectives of Healthy People 2020.
Another participant asked if the primary goal or vision of Healthy
People 2020 is as global as improving the health of the nation or is more
specifically focused on reducing disparities. Health information technol-
ogy is very broad. Health communication, being about health information
and its transfer, is a bit more specific. And health literacy is about what
people understand and what they can do with the information they have
been given. Will Healthy People 2020 attempt to weave these three things
together to improve health or to reduce disparities?
Harris responded that Healthy People 2020 is about both improving
the health of the population and reducing disparities. Health communi-
cation and HIT will have to be able to address both. Friedman said that
they are attempting to mix three different cultures—HIT, health commu-
nication, and health literacy—that have similar problems and issues but
that have addressed them in different ways. The challenge is to integrate
the fundamentally different approaches that these three groups take to
address problems. If successful, there will be a synergy that creates a
whole far greater than the sum of its parts.
The Health Communication and Health Information Technology sub-
group is inviting people who represent these three domains to work
together. The hope is that through a combination of interaction and analy-
sis a synergistic product will emerge. Perhaps in 2008 it is possible for
these domains to function separately, but by 2020 it is likely that the
groups will have had to merge.
When addressing the issue of who is missing from the discussion of

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