HTML Version of Message

What you need to know about the
hidden health care crisis

Health Literacy in the U.S.: An Overview

Health literacy is the ability to read, understand and act on health information. The Partnership for Clear Health Communication serves as an information source on health literacy.

> You can learn about us at P4CHC.org

Low health literacy is one of the least recognized yet most widespread challenges to achieving better health outcomes and lowering health care costs in the U.S.

People with low functional health literacy have:

	Poorer health status
	Less treatment adherence and a greater number of medication/treatment errors
	Higher usage of health care services, including 29-69 percent higher hospitalization rates

Improving Health Communication:
FDA Unveils New Format for
Prescription Drug Labels

In light of the Partnership for Clear Health Communication's ongoing outreach to government agencies, we are encouraged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's announcement that it is simplifying the format of its prescription drug package inserts. The new label format will provide the most important information about the medication in a format that is better understood, more easily accessible and more memorable for physicians - and patients should benefit as well. Some additions include:

	"Highlights" section outlining the most important information about the drug's risks and benefits
	New Table of Contents section with easy reference to safety information
	Date of initial product approval, making it easier to determine how long a product has been on the market
	Toll-free phone number and website for reporting suspected adverse events

The insert guidelines will apply to all new drugs. Use of the new labels will also be phased in over the next seven years for those drugs already on the market, as well as those now under FDA review.

SPRING 2006

Low Health Literacy:
A Patient's Story

"I was too humiliated to reveal to the doctor and nurse that I did not know what had been done to me."

I was in my early 30s and having problems with my girl parts. The doctor told me that it would be an easy repair and could be done. The surgery was set up.

On the night before surgery, I remember having lots of papers pushed toward me to sign. I signed them because I needed to do this...

I went for my six-week follow-up visit and was asked by the nurse how I was doing since my hysterectomy. No one had ever used those words before... I was too humiliated to reveal to the doctor and nurse that I did not know what had been done to me."

-- Excerpted from the Institute of Medicine's 2004 report Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion

Learn more about how Toni Cordell helps patients, health and literacy professionals and students learn about the value of clear health communication:

> Visit her at www.tonicordell.com

DID YOU KNOW...

Nearly half of the U.S. adult population - 90 million people - has low functional health literacy. (National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) data)

Literacy skills are a stronger predictor of health status than age, income, employment status, education level or racial/ethnic group. (Partnership for Clear Health Communication)

Learn more about health literacy and how it affects public health and health care costs.

The Partnership for Clear Health Communication (PCHC) serves as an information source regarding the scope and impact of health literacy, as well as what providers and patients can do to improve health communication in every provider-patient interaction. PCHC is a national, non-profit organization of health literacy experts, health care provider organizations, consumer groups, public health associations and others committed to raising awareness of and developing solutions for the nation's health literacy crisis.