Diabetes status is linked to low health literacy: Implications for health system

[...]they are likely to struggle with taking medicine correctly, portion control, calculating carbohydrates, dosing insulin correctly, checking blood sugar, and keeping their feet healthy.15-16 Since the evidence of the prevalence and health impact of limited health literacy is clear, experts in the field have shifted the focus of health literacy from assessing individual deficits to encouraging healthcare systems to be more health literate.17 The U.S. Department of Health (DHHS) National Action Plan for Heath Literacy calls for health information to be accurate, assessable, understandable and actionable.18 The National Academy of Medicine recommends adoption of Health Literacy Universal Precautions to make health information and services easier to understand and use.19 The CDC selected three health literacy strategies to target in their Healthy People 2020 national health objectives: 1) give instructions about what to do about a specific health condition that are easy to understand, 2) ask patients to describe how they are going to follow these instruction (use of “teach back” to confirm understanding); and 3) offer help in filling out forms.20 The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) household component tracked these measures.Health literacy universal precautions toolkit Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center. www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/diabetes/drtc/preventionandcontrol/tools.php.