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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Beccah Rothschild, MPA, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley, Health Research for Action, 2140 Shattuck Ave., 10th Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704 and Shelly Martin, School of Public Health, University of California, 140 Warren Hall, MC 7360, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, 510-643-9177, shelleym@berkeley.edu.

Health Research for Action, a center in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health is partnering with the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) to increase California's HMO members' knowledge of health information and their health care rights through state policy change.

To do this, UC Berkeley rewrote sections of the Knox Keene Act (KKA), the California legal code that regulates HMOs and stipulates exact language that HMOs must use in certain written communication with their members. The KKA addresses issues such as filing a grievance and continuity of care. All KKA revisions are based on best health literacy practices. UC Berkeley conducted usability testing on the original and revised KKA sections with a diverse group of HMO members. Consumer advocacy groups also reviewed and contributed to the revisions. The revised sections are currently in the state legislative process.

Additionally, UC Berkeley evaluated the consumer section of the DMHC web site to assess readability, usability and ease of navigation. Upon completion of this evaluation, UC Berkeley wrote, rewrote and redesigned the site, which includes information on types of health plans, COBRA, benefits and rights, and complaint processes. Passages from the revised KKA language are incorporated into the web site.

This presentation will focus on: Health Research for Action's successful collaboration with a statewide regulatory agency; the evaluation, development, and testing of HMO consumer materials; and the use of these techniques to affect policy. This presentation will include a brief explanation of health literacy and its relevance to the project.

Learning Objectives: