George J. Isham, M.D., M.S. is Chief Health Officer and Plan Medical Director for HealthPartners Health Plan in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His many responsibilities include overseeing programs of health promotion and disease prevention, research, professional education, strategic planning, quality and utilization management.

Dr. Isham is active nationally, as well. He works with a wide range of associations including America’s Health Insurance Plans, Alliance of Community Health Plans, Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, and Bridges to Excellence. Dr. Isham chairs the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Roundtable on Health Literacy.   

In this podcast, he talks with Helen Osborne about economic side of health literacy. Topics include:

• Framing health literacy economics in terms of effectiveness and efficiency
• Looking at the relationship between health literacy and health outcomes
• Making a compelling case for organizations to invest in health literacy

More ways to learn:

• IOM Roundtable on Health Literacy, http://www.iom.edu/?id=32786
• Isham G, Halvorson G, 2003. Epidemic of Care: A Call for Safer, Better, and More Accountable Health Care. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA.
• Nielsen-Bohlman L, Panzer AM, Kindig DA, (ed), 2004. Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion. The National Academies Press: Washington DC.
• Osborne, H. “In Other Words…Making a Bottom-Line Case for Health Literacy,” On Call magazine, Sept/Oct 2006. Available at http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=4804

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