Organizational Change to Improve Health Literacy is the summary of a workshop convened in April 2013 by the Institute of Medicine Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice Roundtable on Health Literacy. As a follow up to the 2012 discussion paper Ten Attributes of a Health Literate Health Care Organization, participants met to examine what is known about implementation of the attributes of a health literate health care organization and to create a network of health literacy implementers who can share information about health literacy innovations and problem solving. This report discusses implementation approaches and shares tools that could be used in implementing specific literacy strategies.

Although health literacy is commonly defined as an individual trait, there is a growing appreciation that health literacy does not depend on the skills of individuals alone. Health literacy is the product of the interaction between individuals' capacities and the health literacy-related demands and complexities of the health care system. System changes are needed to better align health care demands with the public's skills and abilities. Organizational Change to Improve Health Literacy focuses on changes that could be made to achieve this goal.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• PLANNING COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE TO IMPROVE HEALTH LITERACY
• ROUNDTABLE ON HEALTH LITERACY
• Reviewers
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Panel 1: Implementing Attributes of a Health Literate Organization
  • BRIDGET McCANDLESS, M.D
  • KAREN ROGERS, M.S.N., R.N.-B.C
  • LAURA NOONAN, M.D
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 3. Panel 2: Implementing Attributes of a Health Literate Organization
  • THOMAS BAUER, M.B.A
  • KAREN KOMONDOR, R.N
  • TERRI ANN PARNELL, D.N.P., M.H.A., R.N
  • H. SHONNA YIN, M.D., M.Sc
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 4. Panel 3: Implementing Attributes of a Health Literate Organization
  • PALOMA IZQUIERDO-HERNANDEZ, M.S., M.P.H
  • AUDREY RIFFENBURGH, M.A
  • LORI HALL, R.N
  • MARY ANN ABRAMS, M.D., M.P.H
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 5. Concluding Panel
  • SABRINA KURTZ-ROSSI, M.Ed
  • RICARDO WRAY, Ph.D., M.S
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCE
• APPENDIXES
  • Appendix A Workshop Agenda
  • Appendix B Speaker Biosketches

Rapporteurs: Melissa French and Lyla M Hernandez.

This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HHSP233200900537P); the American College of Physicians Foundation; America's Health Insurance Plans; the California Dental Association; the East Bay Community Foundation (Kaiser Permanente); Eli Lilly and Company; the Health Resources and Services Administration (HHSH25034004T); Humana; Johnson & Johnson; Merck and Co., Inc.; the Missouri Foundation for Health (09-0290-HL-09); the North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System; the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; and the UnitedHealth Group. The views presented in this publication are those of the rapporteurs and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

Suggested citation:

IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2013. Organizational change to improve health literacy: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

NOTICE: The workshop that is the subject of this workshop summary was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.