As a health care administrator, you might be responsible for ensuring that communications from your agency and materials developed by your agency adhere to best practices on health literacy. Understanding the health literacy needs of your target audience or community will influence the approaches you might take to ensure that information is clearly articulated and effectively understood. While health literacy may present a definite challenge for health care administrators to address, understanding how to promote effective health literacy is essential to an agency’s visibility and commitment toward fulfilling the health service needs of their target population.

1. Simple language. Keep your language simple. Avoid confusing people with medical terminology or complicated terms.
2. Make visuals. Use visual aids like images, graphics and videos to simplify complex concepts. People may be able to understand complex information faster and more efficiently by using visual aids.
3. Personalize information for the target audience. Understand your community’s health literacy needs and adapt information accordingly. You should use language and examples that relate to the audience’s experiences and their cultural backgrounds.
4. Teach-back: Patients or members of the community should be asked to repeat information to verify that they understand it. This can be used to identify any areas in need of clarification or explanation.
5. Multimedia communication: You can reach diverse audiences using a range of channels, including websites, social media and brochures.
6. Collaboration with community partners. Work together with patient advocates and community organizations to make sure that culturally-appropriate information is accessible and easily accessible.
7. Continuous evaluation of communication efforts. Continuously assess the effectiveness and make any necessary adjustments to increase health literacy.

By implementing these strategies, health care administrators can promote effective health literacy, improve patient outcomes, and strengthen their agency’s commitment to fulfilling the health service needs of their target population.