March 6- City Club Friday Forum: What did you say? Why Health Literacy Matters for Health Outcomes

Program Information: Doors open at 11:30am; Program begins at 12:15pm.

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What did you say? Why Health Literacy Matters for Health Outcomes

At least half the population has low health literacy, meaning that they are at risk for worse health outcomes, may not be able to take medication properly, are more likely to end up in the emergency room, and more likely to be sicker when they get there. If we don’t fix health literacy, all our efforts at health care reform are at risk because people won’t be able to take charge of their health. Often there is a gap in communications between the medical professional and the patient that creates barriers to quality care. Dr. Dean Schillinger is a national expert in closing that gap. He has led on projects with diabetic youth that has shown promising outcomes when it comes to health literacy and improving quality care. Oregon’s health care future depends on reducing health disparities to improve outcomes. To do this we have to learn how to talk to each other.

Dean Schillinger MD is a practicing primary care physician and Professor of Medicine in Residence at the University of California San Francisco and Chief of the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. He also directs UCSF’s research program about health communication with vulnerable populations. He has developed health system communication interventions for lower literacy adults with diabetes and heart disease that have improved outcomes. Dr. Schillinger has authored over 200 publications about this work. Dr. Schillinger recently co-founded a novel public health literacy campaign called “The Bigger Picture,” created a public health literacy campaign with minority youth to prevent diabetes.