The CommunicateHealth team partnered with Anvita Health, a private healthcare analytics company, to translate 1,000 unique clinical alerts into plain language messages for consumers.
Result: In order to accomplish this task, CommunicateHealth identified the essential components of a consumer message, drawing from the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action, and lessons learned from previous formative research studies with consumers.
Each message included:
- Context to explain why the patient is getting the message (“We noticed you are taking prescription pills to help you sleep.”)
- Recommendation or alert (“Because you have sleep apnea, this type of medicine might not be the best choice for you.”)
- Action step (“Talk with your doctor about safe medicines to help you sleep.”)
Client: Anvita Health
Since 2008, CommunicateHealth has been translating clinical recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force into actionable messages for consumers.
The Task Force, an independent panel of medical experts, conducts scientific evidence reviews of a broad range of clinical preventive health care services (such as screening, counseling, and preventive medications) and develops recommendations for clinicians and health systems.
Result: The CommunicateHealth team developed the interactive myhealthfinder tool for healthfinder.gov. The tool provides Task Force recommendations based on age, sex, and pregnancy status. The clinical recommendations are translated into actionable messages for consumers. The tool was developed in several iterations based on usability testing.
Our team continues to maintain the myhealthfinder tool. In 2009, when the Task Force changed its recommendations for routine mammograms for women in their 40s, CommunicateHealth developed new decision-support tools for women, including printable Questions to Ask the Doctor.
Client: Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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