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How Your Website Can Improve Health Care Literacy

By   |  November 28, 2014

It's important physicians do their part in improving health care literacy. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, public health professionals are responsible for improving health literacy among all Americans. Those who are health care literate are able to make informed decisions regarding their own health care and healthy living. However, a large majority of Americans are considered to be health care illiterate. Health care literacy means that individuals can understand treatment and prescription plans provided by their physicians. In one simple step, doctors who incorporate a patient education library into their medical practice website can help improve health care literacy. By selecting a unique online web builder, like Dr. Leonardo, physicians can gain access to over 6,800 optimized health care articles for their patients. The patient education library hosted by Dr. Leonardo is constantly expanding new articles added daily.

Why is Health Care Literacy Important?

According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, only 12 percent of adults have proficient health literacy skills. Alarmingly, nearly 30 million adults have below basic health literacy, this same population is more likely to report poor health, and lack of medical insurance. Based on these statistics, it is safe to assume that without efforts to improve health literacy among adult populations, that the population will remain unhealthy. Without user-friendly and available information, health care literacy may not improve.

The Content Library is Written in Plain Language.

Medical professionals are highly educated and skilled individuals, often their vocabulary surpasses that of the average person. Medical jargon may be difficult to understand and appropriately interpret for the layman. Often patients may not understand their physicians care instructions, and become non-compliant patients simply due to miscommunication. The average person may be overwhelmed or confused by particular medical terms. Hosting a patient information library on your medical practice website that has been written by professional writers can help your patients become healthier individuals. A patient information library can provide patients with valuable information about conditions you treat, and services you provide, in a way they can understand and comprehend.

Dr. Leonardo Can Help Your Medical Practice Improve Health Literacy.

Dr. Leonardo is a website builder designed for medical practices. In three easy steps, you can have your medical practice's website live on the Web. For more information on where to start, contact us.