The Primary Care Health Literacy Assessment is available in Word (31 KB) and as a PDF (280 KB).
Please select one answer that most accurately describes your practice:
Doing Well: Our practice is doing this well.
Needs Improvement: Our practice is doing this, but could do it better.
Not Doing: Our practice is not doing this.
Not Sure or N/A: I don't know the answer to this question OR This is not applicable to our practice.
Prepare for Practice Change
- Our health literacy team meets regularly.
- Our practice regularly reassesses our health literacy environment and updates our health literacy improvement goals.
- Our practice has a written Health Literacy Improvement Plan and collects data to see if objectives are being met.
- All staff members have received health literacy education.
- All levels of practice staff have agreed to support changes to make it easier for patients to navigate, understand, and use health information and services.
- All staff members appreciate that we have a responsibility to make sure that patients can understand and act on health information and services.
- Our Health Literacy Team understands how to implement and test changes designed to improve performance.
Improve Spoken Communication
- All staff members speak clearly (e.g., use plain, everyday words and speak at a moderate pace).
- All staff members listen carefully to patients without interrupting.
- All staff members limit themselves to 1-3 key points and reinforce those points.
- All staff members use simple pictures and models and audio/video materials to promote better understanding.
- Our practice ensures patients have the equipment and know-how to use recommended audio-visual materials and internet resources.
- All staff members review educational materials they hand out to patients and emphasize the important information.
- All staff members ask patients to state key points in their own words (i.e., use the teach-back method) to assess whether they have been clear enough.
- Clinicians routinely review with patients all the medicines they take, including over-the-counter medicines and supplements, and ask patients to demonstrate how to take them.
- Our practice routinely provides patients with updated medicine lists that describe in easy-to-understand language what medicines the patient is to take and how to take them.
- Our practice trains patients to use our patient portal.
- Our practice contacts patients between office visits to ensure understanding or to follow up on plans made during the visit.
- Our practice assess patients鈥 language preferences and record them in the medical record.
- Our practice always uses acceptable language access services if patients, or companions who are participating in the visit, want to use a language other than English.
- When staff members give directions for finding the office, they refer to familiar landmarks and public transportation routes as needed.
- If there is an automated phone system, one option is to speak with a person.
- Our practice can respond to phone calls in the main languages spoken by our patients.
- All staff members offer everyone help (e.g., filling out forms, using patient portal) regardless of appearance.
- Our practice welcomes family and friends and includes them in visits as much as patients want.
Improve Written Communication
- At least one staff member knows how to assess, select, and create written materials that are easy to understand and act on.
- Our practice gets patient feedback on written materials.
- Our practice assesses whether written materials are easy to understand.
- Our practice's patient education materials are concise, use plain language, and are organized and formatted to make them easy to read and understand.
- If appropriate, our written materials are available in languages other than English.
- Our practice's forms are easy to understand and fill out, collect only necessary information, and use inclusive language.
- Lab and test results letters are concise, use plain language, and are organized and formatted to make them easy to read and understand (e.g., avoid the use of "positive" or "negative" results).
- The name of the practice is clearly displayed on the outside of the building, and signs are posted throughout the office to direct patients to appropriate locations (e.g., practice entrance, restrooms, check-in, check-out, lab, etc.).
- Our practice selects easy-to-understand and relevant materials for the waiting room and ensures that we do not to overwhelm patients.
- 35. Office signs use large, clearly visible lettering and plain, everyday words such as "Walk鈥怚n" and "Health Center" rather than formal words such as "Ambulatory Care" or "Primary Care Practice."
- Office signs are written in English and in the preferred languages of our patients (e.g., if most of the patients read English or Spanish, signs are written in English and Spanish).
Improve Self-Management and Empowerment
- Our practice creates an environment that encourages patients to ask questions (e.g., asking, 鈥淲hat questions do you have?鈥 instead of, 鈥淒o you have any questions?鈥) and get involved with their care.
- Our practice helps patients choose health goals and develop action plans to take manageable steps toward goals.
- Our practice follows up with patients to determine if their action plan goals have been met.
- All clinicians consider patients' culture 鈥 including customs, beliefs, and values 鈥 when devising treatment options.
- All clinicians write precise instructions for taking medicine that are easy-to-understand (e.g., "take 1 pill in the morning and 1 pill at bedtime" instead of "take twice daily").
- Staff members discuss different methods for remembering to take medicines correctly and offer patients assistance setting up a system (e.g., pill organizers, electronic reminders).
- Our practice requests feedback from patients.
Improve Supportive Systems
- Our practice assesses patients' social needs, including their ability to pay for medicines.
- Our practice asks patients if they are interested in improving their reading or math skills.
- Our practice maintains an up-to-date lists of community resources and assistance programs.
- Our practice connects patients with community resources and assistance programs and gets patients help filling out applications, as needed.
- Our practice offers patients help with referrals, such as making appointments.
- Our practice shares important referral information (e.g., reason for referral, pertinent medical history, test results) directly with the organization we are referring the patient to.
- Our practice follows up to confirms that a referral has been completed.
- Our practice welcome questions about healthcare costs.
- Our practice gives patients accurate, understandable information about their share of costs before they make treatment decisions.