The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66056

Susan E. Palsbo, PhD, MS, NRH Center for Health & Disability Research, Suite 400, 1016 Sixteenth St. NW, Washington, DC 20036-5724, 202/466-1904, Susan.E.Palsbo@medstar.net

The large disparities in health services between people with disabilities and people without disabilities are well documented in HP2010. A growing body of evidence from quantitative and qualitative studies suggests that the root cause of these disparities is lack of knowledge about disability and health care needs. Yet most federal funding on health literacy addresses only the health literacy of the patients or the linguistic competency of the providers. This paper asserts that health plans, themselves, are “disability illiterate.” A public system to hold health plans accountable for being equipped to provide care to people with disabilities could help our nation reach its HP2010 goals. I propose a Disability Literacy checklist, closely modeled on national and state-level public education accountability programs. The 4 criteria for measures that should be on the checklist are: measure functional literacy; improve access to care; not be too costly to implement; and be easy for people with disabilities to verify. The 10-item checklist includes: 1) ADA compliant providers shown in plan directories; 2) Universally accessible web pages and paper information materials; 3) Established curb cuts to specialists and Rx; 4) Maintenance of a disability registry; 5) More time allocated, and compensated, for physicians and other clinicians at all appointments. The presentation will conclude by discussing the features of two disability-literate health plans for adults with physical disabilities.

Learning Objectives:

• Define “literacy,” “cultural competency,” and “community” as these terms relate to people with disabilities and HP2010.
• Discuss how national educational accountability initiatives can translate to health plan accountability.
• List 4 criteria and analyze 10 measures of disability literacy in health plans.
• Describe features of two successful “disability literate” health plans for adults with physical disabilities.

Keywords: Disability, Healthy People 2000/2010

Related Web page: www.nrhchdr.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.