Until It's Fixed

Understanding Our Care

Episode Summary

At best estimates, only 1 out of every 10 adults is able to fully understand their care—which leads to poorer health outcomes. Research suggests that in the Medicare population, helping people find, understand and use medical information in their health care decisions could save nearly 1 million hospital visits and over $25 billion each year. This episode's guests are both working to make that a reality through their work in the fields of health literacy and advocacy.

Episode Notes

Highlights

Introduction | Callie Chamberlain kicks off the episode with some background on health literacy – the ability of patients to access, understand and use medical information to make health care decisions.
1:57 Interview: Lambert van der Walde | Lambert van der Walde, who lead the publication of the UnitedHealth Group health literacy research brief, discusses the difference between individual and organizational health literacy, and how organizations and providers can communicate more effectively.
17:40 Interview: Dr. Dean Schillinger | Dr. Dean Schillinger covers the idea of health literacy at a population, rather than individual or organizational, level. The discussion then moves to his advocacy work in programs like Youth Speaks and The Bigger Picture.
40:44 Conclusion| Callie summarizes key learnings and concludes the episode.

Resources

Guests:

Lambert van der Walde, SVP & Executive Director, Center for Health Care Research at UnitedHealth Group

Dr. Dean Schillinger, Director, UCSF Health Communications Research Program, Center for Vulnerable Populations, San Francisco General Hospital

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