capability statement - communicatehealth … · capability statement prepared for: unitedhealth...

Capability StatementPrepared for: UnitedHealth Group

Health Literacy Innovations Program

April 29, 2013

26 Market StreetNorthampton, MA 01060413-582-0425www.communicatehealth.com

CommunicateHealth, Inc. is a health education and communication firm specializing in improving health literacy through user-centered design, research, and content development. We design health information that can be understood and used by people to make health decisions in their everyday lives.

At CommunicateHealth, we apply leading theories of health behavior change and communication to translate complex medical and scientific information into consumer messages. Our proven formula for communicating understandable and actionable health information — both in print and on the web — has been tested with more than 800 consumers, many of whom have limited health literacy skills.

Translating complex health information into actionable messages for consumers:

• Since 2007, our team has been developing and maintaining plain language content for the Health Topics on healthfinder.gov. The content has won numerous awards, including the ClearMark Award for best plain language public sector website.

• Since 2008, CommunicateHealth has maintained the myhealthfinder tool, an interactive, evidence-based tool on healthfinder.gov. We take clinical guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the American Academy of Pediatrics and translate them into actionable messages for consumers. Users enter their age, sex, and pregnancy status to get personalized recommendations for preventive services.

• After the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010, our team led the integration of preventive services in the ACA into healthfinder.gov. Consumers can now find plain language information about the ACA throughout the Health Topics and the myhealthfinder tool.

Capability Statement 1


We believe people deserve clear and simple information about their health — and their health care.

Core Competencies

Plain Language Messaging

+ Developing actionable messages that inspire behavior change

+ Translating scientific and medical information into accessible content for consumers across a variety of web-based platforms

+ Health literacy consulting

User-Centered Design: Websites, Mobile, and Interactive

+ Conducting formative research with diverse audiences: in-depth interviews, focus groups, card sorting, and prototype testing

+ Iterative development and rapid prototyping

+ Usability testing — in labs and in the field

+ Translating research findings into concrete next steps

Award-Winning Creative

+ Designing for usability and accessibility

+ Print, digital, and multimedia

Knowledge Transfer

+ Developing innovative platforms to bring researchers and decision-makers together

+ Designing and testing new tools to support shared decision-making at the point of care

+ Finding new ways to communicate about evidence and risk with patients and their caregivers



2


Capability Statement

CommunicateHealth Approach

When it comes to health content, plain language is not enough. Health communication aims to change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Sure, simplifying information is important. But so is:

• Motivating people to take action

• Increasing self-efficacy

• Building health-related knowledge to improve health literacy

• Engaging consumers in health content

CommunicateHealth has a proven approach for creating understandable and actionable health information and tools.

User-centered design is the process of involving consumers as co-creators of communication products. This approach ensures that a product has:

• Relevant information when and where a consumer needs it

• An organizational structure that reflects the consumers’ needs and goals

• A visual design that is appealing and reinforces logical groupings of information

• Content written in a way that consumers can understand and act on

Health Education Theory

Plain Language Usability

User-Centered Design

Health Information

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Examples of Our Work

Client: Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

Project: Integrate plain language information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into the Health Topics and myhealthfinder tool on healthfinder.gov.

CommunicateHealth’s Role: After the ACA was passed in March 2010, ODPHP asked CommunicateHealth to develop a plan to fully integrate the preventive services included in the ACA into healthfinder.gov. The CommunicateHealth team identified opportunities to promote the ACA in existing content and recommended new content to fill gaps.

As a result of our assessment, we worked with ODPHP to make the following changes to healthfinder.gov:

• Added a feature that shows consumers where they can get more information about the services included in the ACA

• Integrated information about the ACA into over 40 plain language topics and tools

• Developed new topics for parents on preventive services for children ages 0 to 18 years

• Expanded the myhealthfinder tool to reflect all of the preventive services included in the ACA






Project: The Health Topics on healthfinder.gov website includes plain language information on more than 100 prevention and wellness topics.

CommunicateHealth’s Role: Since 2007, the CommunicateHealth team has been translating evidence-based public health recommendations into actionable consumer messages for healthfinder.gov. We have overseen formative research and usability testing with more than 800 participants to inform the design and content of the site. In 2010, healthfinder.gov won the ClearMark Award for best plain language public sector website.




Project: The myhealthfinder tool on healthfinder.gov is an interactive, evidence-based tool that provides recommendations for preventive services based on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Bright Futures Guidelines. Users enter their age, sex, and pregnancy status to get personalized recommendations for preventive services.

CommunicateHealth’s Role: Since 2008, the CommunicateHealth team has been responsible for maintaining the myhealthfinder tool. After the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in March 2010, we led the integration of all of the preventive services covered by the ACA into the myhealthfinder tool. Every recommended service in the tool is covered by the ACA and is linked to a related health topic.



Client: American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

Project: The Healthy Active Living for Families (HALF) Project is AAP’s early childhood obesity prevention initiative for infants and young children.

CommunicateHealth’s Role: The CommunicateHealth team worked with AAP to develop obesity prevention materials for parents of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. AAP held focus groups with parents from across the country to find out what they had to say about everything from picky eaters to TV for toddlers. We helped them turn these stories into practical tips for parents and pediatricians.

We applied best practices in user-centered design and plain language writing to:

• Develop plain language messages for parents

• Design the HALF website

• Create an interactive widget and quiz to educate parents about obesity prevention in a fun, nonjudgmental format

• Provide guidance to pediatricians to help them integrate the HALF messages into their practices



Client: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Project: A national effort to reduce cardiovascular disease through the implementation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines

CommunicateHealth’s Role: We worked with NHLBI to conduct research on the implementation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPG). Our research will inform content, approach, materials and tools, channels, and dissemination strategies to foster uptake of the CPG.

The CommunicateHealth team shadowed clinicians and dieticians as they treated patients at risk for cardiovascular disease. We observed workflow, conducted interviews, and developed recommendations for audience-specific, user-friendly materials and tools for clinicians, health care systems, and patients.

The CommunicateHealth team also conducted a collaging study with clinicians and patients to uncover subconscious preferences and beliefs related to cardiovascular health.

''Clinic'A:'Map!

Exam!room!

Nurse!sta4on!

Intake!room!

Restrooms!

Pa4ent!educa4on!materials!

14' !Pa4ent!A1!Profile!

Health'concerns'•  Hypertensive!•  Metabolic!syndrome!

Age:'65!Sex:'Female!Height:'5’4”!Weight:'197!BMI:'34!(obese)!Rela#onship:'Married!to!husband!Ethnicity:'La4no!

Medica#ons'Hypertension!med!!

Other'notes'•  Swims!for!1!hour!and!walks!4!blocks,!2!to!3!days/week!•  Stopped!using!cane!•  Has!hard!4me!keeping!a!food!log!•  Husband!is!responsible!for!food!prepara4on!•  RD!recommended!reducing!carbs!and!increasing!exercise!by!adding!a!

block!every!few!weeks!•  Hypertension!under!control!with!medica4on!and!lifestyle!changes!!!

29'



Client: National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Project: Illustrate the burden of asthma as a major public health issue for individuals and the nation

CommunicateHealth’s Role: The CommunicateHealth team worked with NCEH to make its asthma data meaningful to consumers. One in 12 people in the United States suffers from asthma, leading to approximately $20 billion annually in health care expenditures and lost productivity.

We translated asthma-related data into:

• Custom infographics to be used on websites and blogs (compliant with Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act)

• A custom Twibbon to increase asthma awareness and drive traffic to social media platforms

• Tailored social media messages aimed at different target audiences

• An Asthma Twitter Chat where customers and professionals asked and answered questions in real time




Project: Health Literacy Online: A Guide to Writing and Designing Easy-to-Use Health Web Sites is a research-based how-to guide for creating health websites and web content for the millions of Americans with limited literacy skills and limited experience using the web.

CommunicateHealth’s Role: CommunicateHealth team members served as the lead writers, editors, and designers for the Health Literacy Online guide.

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Client: Anvita Healthcare Analytics

Project: Clinical alerts for healthcare providers and patients

CommunicateHealth’s Role: We translated 1,000 unique clinical alerts into plain language messages for consumers. Using clear and simple language, each patient message includes specific steps for taking action.

Message Type: Drug Recommendation

Provider Description:

Patients with familial hypercholesterolemia should be receiving therapy with a cholesterol-lowering drug.

Patient Message:

We noticed that you aren’t taking medicine to lower your cholesterol. Our records show that high cholesterol runs in your family. This puts you at risk for a heart attack.

Medicines that lower your cholesterol can help prevent a heart attack. In order for cholesterol medicine to work, you need to take it regularly.

Take Action:

• Talk with your doctor about taking medicine to lower your cholesterol.

• If you are already taking cholesterol medicine, be sure to follow the directions from your doctor or pharmacist.

• Remember to refill your prescription when you run out.

Capability Statement



Partial Client List

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

Anvita Health Care Analytics

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

+ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

+ National Center for Environmental Health

+ National Center for Health Marketing

Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Secretary (DHHS)

+ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Fallon Community Health Plan

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

+ National Library of Medicine

+ National Cancer Institute

+ National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

World Health Organization (WHO)

Epilepsy Foundation of America



About Us

The CommunicateHealth family includes a talented team of plain language writers, designers, experienced usability facilitators, researchers, and health educators. Our senior leadership team — Stacy Robison, Xanthi Scrimgeour, and Sandy Williams Hilfiker — are all masters level communicators and national advocates for health literacy and user-centered design.

NAICS: 541990 (primary), 518210, 519130, 541430, 541512, 541519, 541611, 541613, 541690, 541712, 541720, 541810, 541910, 611430, 611710

Point of Contact:Stacy Robison, President P: 413-582-0425 [email protected]

CommunicateHealth is an economically disadvantaged, woman-owned small business.

capability statement - communicatehealth … · capability statement prepared for: unitedhealth...

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