Health literacy: the low-hanging fruit in health care reform

Health care reform begins with remaking our system back into more of a health care system, not a sick care system. We need to provide moderate incentives for providers and patients to spend time on education and wellness, and to do it in a manner that ensures patients can understand. We need to look critically at how we communicate with patients, what demands we are making of them, what skills they need to meet those demands, and how we are making sure that they can do what we ask them to do. This is the heart of health literacy, and it is a shared responsibility. Programs exist to reduce or eliminate unnecessary use of our health care resources. The first step is awareness. The next step is action in our own practices.