Leveraging Telehealth to Improve Rural Health Literacy

October is health literacy month – and we’re taking a deep dive into the positive impact that telehealth can have on health literacy, specifically for rural and other underserved populations.

Understanding Health Literacy 

Health literacy isn’t just about medical terminology – it’s about how easily someone can access and obtain their own health information. This is vitally important to making informed choices about care and other decisions that can impact overall health. When referring to health literacy there are two distinct types to keep in mind – personal health literacy and organizational health literacy.

Personal Health Literacy

Personal health literacy is what most people think of when health literacy comes to mind. It’s the ability of individuals to find, use, and understand their own health data. A person with a high level of health literacy is able to access their own health data easily and use it to inform their medical decisions. While promoting individual health literacy is important, much of individual health literacy relies on good organizational health literacy.

Organization Health Literacy

When we discuss organizational health literacy, we’re looking at health literacy from a macro level. Health literacy on an organizational level is looking at how organizations and large entities enable individuals to access and understand their own health information. Health equity ties into organizational health literacy in a big way – in order to move towards a more equitable healthcare ecosystem, organization health literacy must be easy and accessible for all people.

Telehealth and Health Literacy 

So how does telehealth tie into health literacy? As technology advances and telehealth becomes increasingly normalized as part of the healthcare landscape, there are a surprising number of ways that the two intertwine.

Though patient monitoring devices for both remote psychologic and therapeutic monitoring, patients have gained an increasingly detailed look into their own health. Devices that monitor aspects of health like blood pressure can give patients a more nuanced look into how their behaviors can tangibly impact their health. Working together with providers, patients can use the insights gained from remote monitoring devices to understand and improve their health. Additionally, telehealth can allow support systems to become involved in patient care in a way in-person care can’t. With consent, family members and friends can attend appointments with patients and gain a clearer understanding of their health. This can be remarkably helpful for certain populations like aging adults and those who are learning English as a new language.

These are far from only ways that telehealth can promote health literacy – organizational health literacy can be fostered when organizations and large entities utilize telehealth to ensure that all members or employees are able to connect with appropriate care. Patients can monitor their own health through patient portals and other digital health tools. As technology continues to advance, there will surely be other ways that telehealth and digital health will be used to foster understanding and provider access to health information.

Rural Populations and Health Literacy 

Rural populations face a number of unique barriers to achieving health literacy. Oftentimes, rural communities face provider shortages and a lack of specialty care providers. This can make it hard for rural residents to obtain the sort of care that is needed to understand ones one health. Additionally, organizational health literacy may not be a priority in areas where care is scarce. Telehealth cannot overcome every one of these barriers, but it can certainly help in some cases.

One of the most important ways that telehealth can assist rural communities with obtaining health literacy is by providing greater access to providers. The first step to understanding health is to obtain appropriate care – telehealth can do that. By connecting rural communities with care, telehealth can provide vital first steps to achieving equitable health literacy.