PARTNERSHIP FOR CLEAR HEALTH COMMUNICATION HIRES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Anita Boles to Oversee Development of Low-Cost Health Literacy Solutions For Patients and Health Care Providers

WASHINGTON – The Partnership for Clear Health Communication (PCHC), a national, non-profit coalition of organizations that are working together to promote awareness and solutions around the issue of low health literacy and its effect on health, announced today the appointment of Anita Boles as its new executive director. With a background in leading national coalitions, program development and awareness campaigns, Ms. Boles was most recently the executive director of National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, a Washington-based organization dedicated to improving the health and safety of mothers, babies and families through education and collaborative partnerships of public and private organizations.

"I am pleased to be taking on this challenging role in working to address the important public health issue of health literacy," said Ms. Boles. "I look forward to working closely with Partnership for Clear Health Communication member organizations to develop new solutions for improving patient outcomes through clearer health communication."

Low health literacy – the ability to read, understand and effectively use basic medical instructions and information – can affect anyone of any age, ethnicity, background or education level. According to the Institute of Medicine , nearly half of all American adults – 90 million people – have difficulty understanding and using health information. Low health literacy is estimated to cost the U.S. health care system up to $58 billion annually.

The PCHC promotes awareness of and solutions to low health literacy and its effect on health outcomes while furthering the cause of increased, meaningful communication between patients and providers by:

• Educating patients and providers
• Developing and applying practical solutions to improve patient-provider communication
• Conducting nationally coordinated research to further define the health literacy issue and evaluate solutions
• Increasing support for health literacy policy and funding

The PCHC and its members are committed to offering free and low-cost resources and programs that deliver information, medical education and practice management tools to health care providers and groups that provide information to patients. One such tool is Ask Me 3, a patient and provider education tool developed by the Partnership to facilitate clear health communication in every health care interaction. More information about the program can be found at www.AskMe3.org .

"We are excited to have Anita lead the Partnership forward and grow the organization's reach and impact as its new executive director," said Barbara DeBuono, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Medical Director/Group Leader, Public Health at Pfizer Inc and Chair of the Partnership's Board of Directors. "Through her extensive background managing non-profit and government initiatives, we look forward to Anita's expansion of the Partnership's programs – such as our work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop clear health communication Medicare Part D materials. Other programs include management of new outreach efforts, including health literacy trainings for communications and health care professionals."

About the Partnership for Clear Health Communication

The Partnership for Clear Health Communication serves consumers, public health officials, health care professionals, health educators, literacy specialists, patient advocates and caregivers, health associations and policy makers through the promotion of awareness and solutions around the issue of low health literacy and its effect on health outcomes. The PCHC and its more than 250 members are committed to offering resources and programs that deliver information, medical education and practice management tools to providers of care and information to patients.

PCHC Board of Directors Members Include:
American College of Nurse Practitioners
American Medical Association Foundation
American Pharmacists Association
American Public Health Association
America 's Health Insurance Plans
California Literacy, Inc.
Miami-Dade County Health Department
National Alliance for Caregiving
National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation
National Association of Community Health Centers
The National Council on the Aging
National Health Council
National Medical Association
Janet Ohene-Frempong, MS
Partnership for Prevention
Pfizer Inc
ProLiteracy Worldwide

For more information on the Partnership for Clear Health Communication
or Ask Me 3, please visit our Web site: www.npsf.org/askme3