An Assessment of Organizational Health Literacy Practices at an Academic Health Center

Background: Organizational health literacy is the degree to which an organization considers and promotes the health literacy of patients. Addressing health literacy at an organizational level has the potential to have a greater impact on more health consumers in a health system than individual-level approaches. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess health care practices at an academic health center using the 10 attributes of a health-literate health care organization. Methods: Using a survey research design, the Health Literate Healthcare Organization 10-Item Questionnaire was administered online using total population sampling. Employees (N = 10 300) rated the extent that their organization's health care practices consider and promote patients' health literacy. Differences in responses were assessed using factorial analysis of variance. Results: The mean response was 4.7 on a 7-point Likert scale. Employee training and communication about costs received the lowest ratings. Univariate analyses revealed that there were no statistically significant differences (P =.05) by employees' health profession, years of service, or level of patient contact. There were statistically significant differences by highest education obtained with lowest ratings from employees with college degrees. Conclusions: Survey responses indicate a need for improvements in health care practices to better assist patients with inadequate health literacy.