What exactly does health literacy mean? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines health literacy as "the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions."1 By improving health literacy, we can empower individuals to make informed health decisions, ultimately saving lives and reducing healthcare costs.
This goal aligns perfectly with what HR and benefits professionals have been striving to achieve for years: transforming employees into savvy healthcare consumers. For employees to excel in this role, they must first understand the full scope of the healthcare landscape. They need to master the critical definitions within our complex healthcare system and, more importantly, learn how to apply this knowledge effectively.
Effective communication is key to health literacy
Achieving health literacy is a gradual process, not an overnight transformation. Relying solely on annual open enrollment communications won't suffice for employees to grasp everything they need to know. So, what can you do?
A great place to start is by identifying where employees are struggling, using your claims data, the questions your department receives and calls to carriers. Regardless of your starting point, it's essential to develop a year-round communications plan. This plan should cover not only relevant topics but also commit to using plain language and leveraging the most effective channels to distribute information. Work with your benefits consultants and carriers: they likely have resources and content in various formats to help you with your health literacy goals.
Healthcare literacy in practice: 5 examples for educating employees
When employees increase their literacy around healthcare, it's a win-win situation for both the employee and the company. If you don't know where to start, here are some examples of helping employees with health literacy that can help them apply their knowledge in real-world situations.
- Highlight the importance of preventive care through monthly newsletters or intranet articles. By featuring key aspects of prevention, it reminds employees about essential exams, screenings and immunizations. For instance, an October article on mammograms can help female employees understand their importance and encourage them to schedule an appointment. Once they've started the process of getting a mammogram, they'll get yearly reminders from their clinic. Talk to your benefits consultant and carrier about what resources they have to support this education.
- Teach employees how using in-network providers can save them money by using an infographic to compare the cost of using in-network versus out-of-network providers. Showing examples with dollar figures can help employees understand the true benefit of seeing negotiated providers. It can get them to start thinking about how that cost would affect their pocket.
- If you have employees willing to share, ask them to provide a video testimonial on how, for example, they were hesitant to move from a preferred provider organization (PPO) to a consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) but ended up saving money on premiums and contributing to a health savings account (HSA). Hearing the thought process of non-benefits people can resonate better with employees and make them less averse to change. It can change their mindset from being hesitant to "if they did it, so can I."
- Highlight the cost differences between pharmacies, even within the same network, and explain how to do price checks. Educating employees about prescription drug pricing variances can encourage them to consider whether they're using a pharmacy that's with a more convenient location rather than one that charges less. During a doctor's visit, if they get prescribed a new medication, they can pull up their medical provider's mobile app to run a cost comparison of pharmacies before the office faxes over the script.
- Compare the various care options available — telemedicine, urgent care, primary doctor and emergency room (ER) — in an engaging, creative way. One example might be a visual comparison of costs for the same service for each of the care options. By helping employees understand that many non-emergency illnesses can be effectively treated outside of the ER, you increase the chances they will choose more appropriate and cost-effective care options.
Become a trusted source of information
When you put in the effort to provide employees with education to build their health literacy, you become their trusted source for information. Start with the basics and build from there. Don't forget to remove the benefits jargon and use clear, concise, simple language that employees will understand. Ensuring your employees are healthcare literate will benefit both the employees and you as the employer. Reach out to your employee benefits' service team for more details about other resources available to you.
