AHRQ to create rating system for patient-focused info
With the amount of patient-direct information growing, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is developing a rating system, called the Health Information Rating System. The system was discussed in a Federal Register posting and pays particular attention on patient data provided by EHRs.
The agency's notice stated that health education materials delivered by EHRs “are rarely written in a way that is understandable and actionable for patients with basic or below basic health literacy,” which may be as many as 77 million people. “Persons with limited health literacy face numerous healthcare challenges. They often have a poor understanding of basic medical vocabulary and healthcare concepts.”
Agency officials expect the rating system to address that challenge by giving clinicians a method to determine the quality of the data their systems provide or that such resources are even available.
A draft version of the rating system was applied by researchers at AHRQ to sample educational materials on asthma and colonoscopy and indicated some of the material had “low understandability or low actionability.” The agency plans to next use consumer panels to test the accuracy of the rating system.
Other related health literature activities planned by AHRQ include creating a library of patient health education materials, a review of EHR's patient education capabilities and education of EHR vendors and users.
The agency's notice stated that health education materials delivered by EHRs “are rarely written in a way that is understandable and actionable for patients with basic or below basic health literacy,” which may be as many as 77 million people. “Persons with limited health literacy face numerous healthcare challenges. They often have a poor understanding of basic medical vocabulary and healthcare concepts.”
Agency officials expect the rating system to address that challenge by giving clinicians a method to determine the quality of the data their systems provide or that such resources are even available.
A draft version of the rating system was applied by researchers at AHRQ to sample educational materials on asthma and colonoscopy and indicated some of the material had “low understandability or low actionability.” The agency plans to next use consumer panels to test the accuracy of the rating system.
Other related health literature activities planned by AHRQ include creating a library of patient health education materials, a review of EHR's patient education capabilities and education of EHR vendors and users.
Beth Walsh,
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.