Are Drug Labels Prescriptions for Mistakes? New Health Literacy Tool Helps Industry Make Health Information Health Literate
Posted on: Thursday, 30 November 2006, 12:00 CST
BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Annals of Internal Medicine study shows that many Americans do not take their medications for one simple reason: they don't understand what the medication label says or are unable to follow the label's instructions.
In fact, some 90 million Americans -- roughly half the adult population -- do not understand what the health care industry is trying to tell them. Otherwise known as "low health literacy," this growing public health issue not only increases the cost of care, but adversely impacts patient care; when patients do not understand their health care, they will not receive the care they need.
This problem includes printed information the health care industry creates -- medication inserts and prescription labels, patient brochures and instructions sheets, informed consent forms, and web sites, among other information that reaches the nation's health consumers on a daily basis.
To help simplify health information before it gets to the consumer, Health Literacy Innovations introduces the Health Literacy Advisor(TM), the nation's first software tool to help make health information health literate.
As a "health literacy checker," the Health Literacy Advisor streamlines the health literacy review process using electronic readability indices, including the Fry-based formula, and taps into a glossary of more than 8,000 interchangeable terms. The program, which is add-on to Microsoft Word, operates like a "spell-checker" and scans a document for its readability and its health literacy. If it finds words or terms that reduce health literacy, it will highlight those words and offer an alternative.
The Health Literacy Advisor is ideal for any health care provider, insurer, pharmaceutical company, hospital, association, government agency, or other entity who wants to make health information health literate.
About Health Literacy Innovations
Health Literacy Innovations, a privately-held firm in Bethesda, Md., creates innovative tools to enhance health literacy. Health Literacy Innovations, an America's Health Insurance Plan's (AHIP) Solutions Partner, believes if it can empower communicators to create, produce, print, display, share, advertise - health literate information, it can improve health care communication one word at a time. For more information visit http://www.healthliteracyinnovations.com/ or call 301.230.4966.
Aileen Kantor Aileen@prhealthcare.com 301-229-6782
Health Literacy Innovations
CONTACT: Aileen Kantor, +1-301-229-6782, Aileen@prhealthcare.com, forHealth Literacy Innovations
Web site: http://www.healthliteracyinnovations.com/
Source: PRNewswire
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