Download our essential tools: the Maryland Plain Language Checklist and our Web Content Review Tool.
Health Literacy Basics
New to health literacy? Start here! You can find foundational information on health literacy in different contexts in this section.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Health Literacy Find background information, research, and key resources on health literacy in public health and health care.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality AHRQ's Health Literacy resources help health care professionals and delivery organizations make information easier to understand and systems easier to navigate.
Health Literacy Resources: Introduction to Health Literacy The Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland Baltimore curates and maintains a wide-ranging collection with articles, videos, government resources and more.
Roundtable on Health Literacy The mission of the Roundtable is to inform, inspire, and activate a wide variety of stakeholders to support the development, implementation, and sharing of evidence-based health literacy practices and policies.
Essential Tools
The Hub is finding, adapting, and creating health literacy resources for health information communicators and consumers in Maryland. Here you'll find our essential tools to help with writing, visuals, web content, and more.
The Hub's State and Local Agency Workgroup created this plain language checklist based on one from the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. Applying this checklist to revise existing content or write new content will help agencies comply with the plain language requirements in the Hub law.
This Horowitz Center-created Web Content Review Tool helps organizations review their web content. The tool addresses three categories of health literacy principles: actionable items, plain language, and content organization.
Population and Audience Research
The HINTS and Pew Research surveys provide national data on knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to health information and access. The PIAAC provides adult literacy and numeracy data.
The National Cancer Institute collects regularly collects national data on the public's knowledge of, attitudes about and use of cancer and other health-related information.
Pew Research Center collects, display and interprets the results of public surveys on major, nationally-discussed topics, including health and science.
The PIACC Skills Map provides model-based estimates of adult literacy and numeracy in all U.S. counties, states, and the District of Columbia. There are also estimates of literacy and numeracy proficiency by age and education groups at the state and county levels.