Fifty-eight year old cancer patient Marty found himself drowning in a “scary sea of medical jargon” after a cancer diagnosis. He describes himself as well-educated, but struggled to understand his diagnosis and treatment.

Health literacy is defined as “The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information, and services needed to make appropriate decisions.”

Low health literacy costs taxpayers $3.3 -$7.3 billion each year - in Missouri alone. Nationwide, that figure approaches $240 billion.

In response, Dr. Ingrid Taylor of Allies in Healthcare developed a workbook called My Health Companion. MantyTV stated that demand for My Health Companion has skyrocketed. Dr. Taylor’s clients report writing down more information during an appointment, exploring medical terms, and being more assertive in communicating with their doctor.

“If you don’t follow a health plan, your chronic illness just festers and gets bigger.” Dr. Taylor said.

Marty survived his bout with cancer, but wishes he and his doctors had paid more attention to details: “Everything I went through would have been preventable. Maybe I should have been more agressive or maybe I should have questioned…but I thought they knew.”

Understanding medical jargon can go a long way toward increasing your knowledge of health issues. Check out myPHR’s glossary for definitions of common medical and insurance terms.

Get started with a paper-based PHR similar to My Health Companion. Download and child and adult PHR forms, in English or Spanish.

Watch the complete Health Literacy Missouri video on YouTube.

Tags   personal health records phr, health information, insurance, chronic illness, health literacy