odphp.health.gov Blog

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is fortunate to have an active health literacy workgroup that represents over a dozen agencies. Its mission is to advance health literacy across our department. HHS currently defines health literacy as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions...

Diabetes agents are some of the most common medicines associated with emergency department visits for adverse drug events (ADEs) in people age 65 and older. As such, diabetes agents are one of three medication classes included in the National Action Plan for ADE Prevention. To help achieve the plan, ODPHP developed Preventing Adverse Drug Events: Individualizing Glycemic Targets Using Health Literacy Strategies...