Improving Health Literacy at All Levels: The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy and Healthy People 2020 Health Communication and Health IT Objectives

Research indicates that much health information is presented in ways that are not understandable by most Americans. The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy found that 9 of 10 U.S. adults have difficulty with everyday health information. Limited health literacy affects people's ability to use health information, adopt healthy behaviors and manage chronic conditions. It is also associated with worse health outcomes and higher costs. The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy seeks to engage organizations, professionals, policymakers, communities, and individuals in a multi-sector effort to improve health literacy. The Plan outlines seven overarching goals and related strategies to create a health literacy society. Public health agencies and other organizations can use this framework to identify priorities and actions to improve health literacy among constituents. Improving health literacy is included in Healthy People 2020 Health Communication and Health IT Objectives. These objectives offer measures and targets for tracking health literacy progress on a population level. Measuring health literacy helps hold health care systems accountable for improving the health literacy of patients and can have a positive impact on health and health equity. These objectives are also applicable to non-clinical public health settings. These two initiatives give us a clear path toward improving health literacy and tracking progress over the decade. Public health professionals and policymakers on the federal, state and local levels can incorporate health literacy improvement into efforts to create more usable health information; develop more cost-effective, equitable, safer, and higher quality health services; and improve health outcomes.