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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ACP Foundation's Fourth Annual National Health Communication Conference, "Practical Solutions to the Problems of Low Health Literacy," first aims to present new and proven practical interventions that counter the effects of low patient health literacy. These interventions will be presented to an audience filled with experts and leaders representing organizations that have the capacity to improve low health literacy. The second aim of this conference is engage conference presenters and participants in operational discussions whereby industry-specifc action steps to improve low health literacy can be developed using the information already presented at the conference as well as the expertise of the conference participants. In the long-term, the Action Steps developed at the conference will be used, as they have been in past years, by the ACP Foundation and by other participating organiztions to improve programming surrounding health literacy. Furthermore, the outcomes from this conference will be published in an executive summary released jointly by the IOM and the ACP Foundation, which will be avialable as a resource to the public via the Foundation's website. By equipping leaders and experts with evidence-based measures to improve low health literacy, this conference has significant potential to impact public health by empowering all patients to become knowledgable and engaged in their health management. The patients who will most feel the effects of efforts to improve low health literacy will be the 90 million American adults who suffer from limited health literacy, which disporportionately affects poor, elderly, and minority populations (IOM: 'A Prescription to End Confusion', 2004). A recent report by the Institute of Medicine declares health literacy to be a "neglected, final pathway to highquality care" ('Healty Literacy', 2004). According to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), over 90 million American adults, or 47 percent, suffer from limited health literacy. The ACP Foundation's "Practical Solutions to the Problems of Low Health Literacy," Conference will present tested solutions for low health literacy to the experts and leaders that are best-equipped to implement health literacy changes on a national level.