Health Literacy

Epilepsy Alliance Florida’s Health Literacy Workshop Program

 

Epilepsy Alliance Florida’s (EAF) Health Literacy/Coverage to Care Workshop was developed and implemented as part of the ACA Healthcare Navigation education initiative in 2014. Piloted in Belle Glade, a rural area of Palm Beach County consisting of underserved and historically underprivileged communities, EAF partnered with local service providers who hosted our workshops. The workshops success garnered national recognition from CMS as a best practice. As a result, we were asked to present our workshop on a national CMS Assister webinar, serve as panelists on Coverage to Care at the 2017 CMS Assister Summit, and mentor other navigator organizations through the CMS Pilot Mentorship Program. In 2018 Florida Blue Foundation spotlighted the workshops by honoring EAF with the Blue Sapphire Award during their yearly Community Health and Sapphire Awards Symposium.

 

The workshop provides consumers with the knowledge they need to feel empowered and make informed decisions about their health. Our consumers are encouraged to bring their insurance cards, Summary of Benefits statements, and any additional correspondence from providers for discussion during the workshop. The success of our program is based on the following important factors:

 

– Our health literacy materials are created with descriptive diagrams and real-life experiences.

– Workshops are delivered in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole.*

– Workshops are hosted by trusted community partners who already deliver services to these consumers.

– Workshops are interactive and delivered at a literacy level appropriate to the population being addressed.

 

Our Health Literacy workshop for consumers brought to light the need for medical staff to obtain health literacy as it relates to their patients. We created Health Literacy for Residents, a separate workshop that educates medical school students, residents, and medical staff with communication methods and tricks on identifying low health literacy in patients. In 2021, we witnessed an abundance of misinformation, miseducation, and myths surrounding COVID-19, and we are currently incorporating COVID-19 best practices within both of our workshops.

 

All workshops are preceded and followed by a knowledge assessment. The workshop participants are provided with an interactive Word Match activity to assess participant understanding of health literacy and health insurance terminology covered in the workshop.

 

      

*Workshops are available in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole and are currently only being offered virtually.

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