ADVISORY/National Crisis That Costs Americans More Than $1,000 per Family Topic of IHA Health Literacy Conference in Anaheim.

News Editors/Assignment Desks

ADVISORY...for Thursday and Friday (May 13-14)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

WHEN:    Thursday, May 13, and Friday, May 14
         8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

WHAT:    The Third Annual IHA Health Literacy Conference will address
         a number of possible solutions to a growing national crisis.
         A disconcerting 90 million American adults are either
         functionally illiterate or read at or below the fifth-grade
         level. When it comes to reading medical information -- most
         of which is written at a 10th-grade level or higher -- this
         lack of understanding creates more than $73 billion in
         unnecessary healthcare expenditures, or more than $1,000 per
         family. For example, low-literate patients annually incur 6%
         more hospital visits, spend two extra days in the hospital,
         and need to make extra trips to the doctor.

WHO:     The La Habra, Calif.-based Institute for Healthcare
         Advancement (IHA) and more than a dozen low-literacy experts,
         including:

         -- Dean Schillinger, M.D., UCSF/San Francisco General
            Hospital
         -- Ariella D. Herman, Ph.D., Anderson Graduate School (UCLA)
         -- Rima Rudd, Sc.D., Harvard School of Public Health

WHERE:   Crowne Plaza Hotel
         12021 Harbor Boulevard (corner of Harbor and Chapman)
         Garden Grove, Calif.

WHY:     There is a strong, proven correlation between low reading
         skills and poor health status. This conference will bring
         together some of the leading researchers and analysts on the
         subject for a critical two-day review of the most innovative
         and most effective solutions to improve health literacy in
         the U.S.

BREAKOUT
SESSIONS: -- Choosing methods to evaluate your materials' reading
             level
          -- Writing easy to read, easy to use health information
          -- Assessing the impact of self-help health books in
             research
          -- Creation of a statewide health literacy initiative

INTERVIEWS:

         For members of the news media unable to attend the
         conference, a number of the guest speakers have agreed to
         make themselves available for one-on-one phone interviews
         prior to or immediately following their presentations.