Health Literacy Missouri aims to “partner with health care providers, advocates and organizations who want patients to feel better, systems to work and flow better, and materials to make more sense.” The organization offers a host of excellent resources for individuals, clinicians, and organizations to help improve health literacy. Their “Learn the Facts” page outlines some reasons why health literacy is so important, including that people with low health literacy are more likely to be hospitalized, use emergency rooms, and have medication and treatment errors, and less likely to follow-through with treatment plans and obtain preventative care; given all of this, they are more likely to die earlier. This problem impacts 90 million people in the US, including 1.6 million in Missouri.
Some resources offered by Health Literacy Missouri include:
- Print and video materials that focus on understanding health insurance
- Clear Health Communication Training Series for healthcare professionals
- Health environment assessments to help identify potential barriers in medical settings
- Plain language review to assess written communications
- More resources
To learn more about Health Literacy Missouri visit their website.