A Health Social Work article says that “Low health literacy is highly prevalent in the United States, particularly among older adults and racial or ethnic minorities.” This not only impacts outcomes but also creates a barrier toward simply navigating the health care system. Filling out required forms, understanding insurance coverage limitations and benefits, and managing one’s medications all require some level of healthcare literacy so including this type of educational opportunity becomes a key aspect of any member engagement strategy.

Historically, all healthcare-related communication was delivered via phone, face-to-face or postal correspondence. While more costly than some of the newer, digital solutions available, these more traditional methods are still effective and appropriate for many people and should be included within a health plan’s toolkit to enhance member engagement, as applicable.


Still, for many members, digital educational platforms can support communications. Sending a link to a credible, well-conceived video that educates a member on things like preventative care is an easy, low cost, and effective way to impact health literacy. Many solutions are integrated with population health management platforms to provide a seamless experience between the health plan and member. This outreach can be accomplished either as a one-on-one experience where a health plan care manager ‘sends’ content to the member individually or via the identification of population cohorts who all need to receive the same educational content.

3) The Impact of SDOH
Engaging in one’s health is lower on the scale of importance than finding food for their next meal or a roof over their head. If these issues are not sufficiently resolved, it is difficult to get a person to ensure they have not forgotten to go to their doctor appointment or fill out their health risk assessment.

Street medicine may be required along with the documentation of SDOH such as food insecurity, homelessness, and transportation challenges so that appropriate interventions can be implemented. In these cases, it is important for the care manager to gain trust and help people solve their basic problems first, so they can be enrolled in the more typical phone or digitized communication experiences once they are on better footing.

When it comes to the actual engagement with these members, it is important to note that the ‘digital divide’ is also being considered as an additional social determinant of health. This NPJ Digital article says that “greater reliance on digital tools has the potential to increase disparities between those who have skills and access to digital tools and those who do not and thereby existing health disparities.” It also goes on to describe digital literacy as a “super social determinants of health.” This means that tools such as portals, apps, online health literacy solutions, and telemedicine will not likely have much of an impact for those within the divide, so using a combination of solutions, including ‘boots on the ground,’ might provide the most promise.

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