Resources for Professionals

This is a list of resources that Say Ah! has compiled to help you learn more about health literacy and enhance the quality of your care.

Please note that we do not endorse nor are we paid by or otherwise receive any benefit from any listed organization. We provide these links solely for your benefit.

General Health Literacy 
The following links will give you a good overview of health literacy:

MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthliteracy.html

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/factsbasic.htm
http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/default.htm
http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/HTML/Volume1/11HealthCom.htm

The Plain Language Action and Information Network
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/populartopics/health_literacy/index.cfm

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Heath
http://www.nih.gov/clearcommunication/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Terminology
http://www.hrsa.gov/healthliteracy/

Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.
http://www.chcs.org/publications3960/publications_show.htm?doc_id=291711

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
http://www.iom.edu/?id=19750

Institute of Education Sciences: National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006483

Assessing Patient Health Literacy Tool
http://www.ahrq.gov/populations/sahlsatool.htm

Policy Briefs
The following links help explain the impact of health literacy on our health care system:

America’s Health Literacy Why We Need Accessible Health Information
http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/issuebrief/2008IssueBrief.pdf

Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy
http://www.npsf.org/updates-news-press/press/new-report-estimates-cost-of-low-health-literacy-between-106-236-billion-dollars-annually/

Literacy and Health Outcomes
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/littp.htm

Low Literacy, High Risk: The Hidden Challenge Facing Health Care in California
http://cahealthliteracy.org/pdffiles/healthliteracylongreport012704_3.pdf

Low Health Literacy Skills Increase Annual Health Care Expenditures by $73 Billion
http://www.agingsociety.org/agingsociety/publications/fact/fact_low.html