2nd Edition of AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit Now Available

2nd Edition of AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit Now Available

AHRQ Releases 2^nd Edition of Health Literacy Toolkit

Only 12 percent of U.S. adults have the health literacy skills needed to manage the demands of our complex health care system, and even these individuals' ability to absorb and use health information can be compromised by stress or illness. Experts recommend assuming that everyone may have difficulty understanding and creating an environment where all patients can thrive. Like with blood safety, universal precautions should be taken to address health literacy because we can't know which patients are challenged by health care information and tasks at any given time.

The AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit – 2^nd edition can help primary care practices reduce the complexity of health care, increase patient understanding of health information, and enhance support for patients of all health literacy levels. New with the 2^nd edition are:

• An enhanced assessment and quality improvement planning tool.
• A companion Implementation Guide.
• Tool 21: Make Referrals Easy.
• A crosswalk showing how implementing health literacy tools can help meet standards for patient-centered medical home certification

To download a copy of the AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, Second Edition, go tohttp://www.ahrq.gov/literacy/

Learn more about how to improve primary care by visiting AHRQ’s National Center for Excellence in Primary Care at:http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/primary-care/index.html.

Find out about more AHRQ health literacy resources at Health Literacy Topics http://www.ahrq.gov/health-care-information/topics/topic-health-literacy.html.