Download our essential checklists: the Maryland Plain Language Checklist and our Web Content Review Tool. New to health literacy? Start with the basics.
How We're Evaluating the Hub's Impact
Every public health initiative needs an evaluation plan and activities to know if the initiative is working as intended and achieving its planned outcomes. The Hub is following this best practice and working with Sharp Insight, a Maryland-based evaluation firm, to assess if the Hub is meeting the state's plain language, language access, and information distribution goals. Read the Hub evaluation plan.
The Hub must file an annual report with the Maryland General Assembly each year. The first report is due June 30, 2024. Stay tuned to see what we've accomplished so far!
The Hub's Purpose and Goals
Purpose
The Hub's purpose is increase plain language and language access to health, health insurance, safety, and social services benefits information and services in Maryland.
Goals
We can help Maryland organizations and professionals with plain language and language access requirements through
- training and education
- criteria, certifications and best practices
- templates and model language
- recommendations on health literacy practices
- annual reports to the Maryland Legislature
2022 Medical Assistance Program Dental Coverage for Adults
General Assembly Page Full Text
This law expands Medicaid dental benefits to adults. While not explicitly focused on health literacy, it necessitates clear communication to beneficiaries about what the new benefits are and how they can be accessed. (Passed)
2019 Patient Bill of Rights
General Assembly Page Full text
This law establishes a Bill of Rights for hospital patients and requires hospital administrators to provide every patient with a written copy in plain language as well as provide translation, interpretation, or accommodation for patients who need the Bill in another language or format. (Passed)
2018 Bill to Establish Task Force on Oral Health in Maryland
General Assembly Page Full text
The task force would identify barriers to receiving dental services including the impact of low oral health literacy. (Did not advance)
2015 Health Care Disparities, Cultural and Linguistic Competency, and Health Literacy Recommended Courses
General Assembly Page Full text
This law requires the Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities to provide a list of recommended continuing education courses to the boards certifying health professionals in the state. (Passed)
2012 Cultural Competency and Health Literacy Act
General Assembly Page Full text
This act requires the Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities to develop courses with cultural competency, sensitivity, and health literacy, that are designed to address the problem of racial and ethnic disparities in health care access, utilization, treatment decisions, quality, and outcomes. (Passed)
Marylanders will soon have a new and reliable ‘hub’ for accessing consumer health information
July 8, 2022 - Published in the Baltimore Sun
Dean Boris Lushniak wrote a commentary the passing of HB1082 in which he discussed the impacts of the bill on the Center's work addressing health literacy concerns in Maryland.
New Law Makes UMD’s Horowitz Center for Health Literacy a Statewide Health Information Hub
June 16, 2022 - Published in UMD SPH's News Feed
This article describes the scope and purpose of the law created by HB1082. Center director Dr. Cynthia Baur and health policy expert Leni Preston are quoted speaking to the importance and innovativeness of the new law.
Opinion: Health Literacy – This Is Personal
March 16, 2022 - Published in Maryland Matters
Independent health policy expert Leni Preston wrote this op-ed prior to the passage of HB1082 about the need for the bill. She spoke to the system-wide challenges of navigating the healthcare system and her personal experiences managing her care.
Maryland Bill Aims to Make Center for Health Literacy the State's Consumer Health Information Hub
March 7th, 2022 - Published in UMD SPH's News Feed
This article, written before the passage of the bill, explains the need for a consumer health information hub. Dr. Baur and Dr. Mariam Assi, a legislative staff member of Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk, speak to the ubiquity of health literacy in all health matters, the intended health equity impacts of the bill, and the necessity of a systems-level approach to tackling health literacy issues.