The Health Literacy Style Manual - Covering Kids & Families

To avoid making readers guess, consider these suggestions:
• Substitute easier words or phrases for more difficult ones.
• If you must use a difficult word, explain it to readers
immediately after using it or provide a simpler
alternative in parentheses.
Simplifying some of the difficult words in this sentence, and explaining the
remaining difficult wo r d —p r ov i d e r—helps to make this message easier to read:
Before:
Only health care providers or health maintenance organizations (HMOs)
that are enrolled or contracted as Medicaid providers may serve
MediKids enrollees.
After:
Only health plan providers or providers who take Medicaid can give
health services to children who are in MediKids.
A p r o v i d e r is a doctor, nurse, physician assistant, hospital, clinic, or
other health care professional.
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