AI-Powered Health Literacy: A New IHA Tool Offers a Competitive Advantage in Patient Communication

The Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA) leans on decades of health literacy expertise and generative AI to offer a tool that helps transform patient education into a driver of both equity and efficiency.

// By Althea Fung //

Healthcare organizations produce a lot of content, from patient handouts to digital campaigns. But making this information accessible and understandable for diverse populations is a significant challenge that can impact health outcomes.

Low health literacy is a costly issue, contributing an estimated $106 billion to $238 billion in unnecessary healthcare spending annually in the U.S. These costs stem from preventable hospitalizations, emergency visits, medication errors, and poor chronic disease management. As healthcare systems aim to control costs and improve outcomes, addressing health literacy is crucial.

Stan Hudson, director of professional development & training at the Instituted for Healthcare Advancement (IHA)

The Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA) is tackling this problem with HealthLiteracyCopilot™, an AI-powered web application that assesses, revises, and translates health information into plain language while considering cultural appropriateness. This tool enables organizations to create clearer communications without overburdening staff.

“We’ve always championed the importance of plain language and health literacy,” says Stan Hudson, director of professional development & training at IHA. “But even when organizations train someone in these principles, staff turnover and the high material volume of health communication can make it challenging to be consistent. HealthLiteracyCopilot addresses the scalability gap with technology.”

Here, we’ll see how this new health literacy platform works, who has access to it, and why human oversight is still needed.

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