Is your peanut butter safe? Is it safe to order drugs online? The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates products that we use everyday – food, human and animal drugs, dietary supplements, medical devices, vaccines, tobacco – the list sometimes seems endless. The FDA shares information about these products every day, so it’s essential […]
Healthcare
How Much is Plain Language Worth?
Joe Kimble, professor of law at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, has just finished his long awaited new book, Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law. Carolina Academic Press, which also published his earlier book Lifting the Fog of Legalese, is the publisher. The book sets out the elements of […]
“Summary of Benefits and Coverage” brings clarity to health plan
At last, consumers will have a “Summary of Benefits and Coverage” as a standardized, plain language tool to understand their health plans. Under a rule announced last week by HHS, health insurers are now required to provide consumers with clear, consistent, and comparable summary information. Here’s the link: http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/files/Files2/02102012/blank-sbc-template-finalpdf.pdf Testing by Consumers’ Union showed that […]
Why blame the patient?
by Joanne Locke On March 1, the Washington Post published an article by Sandra Boodman’s on the need for clear health communication: “When Understanding is Critical” She describes the some serious problems that can result when patients don’t understand how to comply with their doctor’s instructions. But she seems to be blaming the victim. Rather […]