Organizational Change to Improve Health Literacy - Workshop Summary

Released:	October 15, 2013

Note: Workshop Summaries contain the opinion of the presenters, but do NOT reflect the conclusions of the IOM. Learn more about the differences between Workshop Summaries and Consensus Reports.

Health literacy is the product of the interaction between individuals’ capacities and the health literacy-related demands and complexities of the health care system. Systematic changes are needed to better align health care demands with the public’s skills and abilities.
In early 2012, members of the IOM Roundtable on Health Literacy published a discussion paper that focused on the attributes of a health literate health care organization or system. The paper detailed 10 attributes of a health literate health care organization, along with references and suggestions on how to achieve those attributes.
To examine what is known about implementation of the attributes of a health literate health care organization, the Roundtable on Health Literacy held a workshop on April 11, 2013. Workshop participants discussed topics ranging from implementation approaches to the creation of a network of health literacy implementers who can share information about health literacy innovations and problem solving. This document summarizes the workshop.