Haun, J. N., Patel, N. R., French, D. D., Campbell, R. R., Bradham, D. D., & Lapcevic, W. A. (2015). Association between health literacy and medical care costs in an integrated healthcare system: a regional population-based study. BMC health services research , 15 (1), 1-11.
Huan et al. indicate that there is a close connection between costs and utilization of medical care and health literacy. People with less health education tend to visit health facilities frequently as they have more medical needs leading to higher costs of healthcare. A study conducted by Huan et al. from a sample of 92,749 indicates that people who have health literacy have fewer health needs with healthcare costs less by 143 million dollars compared to those with low health education. Pharmaceutical needs challenge patients, especially from poor backgrounds, as drugs are expensive, which heavily impacts their health outcomes. When a patient with a chronic disease doesn't take prescriptions as instructed by a physician, complications will continue to visit a healthcare facility. As health literacy is closely related to high medical costs, interventions must be designed to increase health literacy amongst all patients, which will help reduce health care expenditure and needs.
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Paterick, T. E., Patel, N., Tajik, A. J., & Chandrasekaran, K. (2017). Improving health outcomes through patient education and partnerships with patients. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center) , 30 (1), 112.
The authors indicate that cost is an issue affecting patient outcomes. If patients cannot afford to visit health facilities as per the physician’s instructions frequently, it will be hard to monitor the disease. Most patients, especially from poor backgrounds, lack health education, making them develop lifestyle complications such as obesity, malnutrition, and diabetes, thus need frequent hospital visits. According to Paterick et al., the escalating costs of healthcare presently and in the future call for the need to educate members of society with financial difficulties. In the United States, lack of health education such as tobacco use, less physical activities, and dietary patterns accounts for approximately 80% of premature deaths. The authors suggest that it is high time that physicians focus on promoting patient engagement and education through literacy improvement patients. Patients can be educated using various methods, including patient engagement in health facilities, workplaces, online blogs, and community-based resources. Patients with health literacy will live healthy lives, which reduces their frequency of visiting health facilities, eventually lowering medication costs.
References
Haun, J. N., Patel, N. R., French, D. D., Campbell, R. R., Bradham, D. D., & Lapcevic, W. A. (2015). Association between health literacy and medical care costs in an integrated healthcare system: a regional population based study. BMC health services research , 15 (1), 1-11.
Paterick, T. E., Patel, N., Tajik, A. J., & Chandrasekaran, K. (2017). Improving health outcomes through patient education and partnerships with patients. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center) , 30 (1), 112.
