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Readmissions, HCAHPS and Leapfrog's consent-form standard all touch the papers patients take home

80% of hospitals in the readmissions program carry a penalty in FY2027. HCAHPS now asks about care coordination and information about symptoms. Leapfrog publishes whether your consent forms read at 6th grade. HealthLiteracyCopilot fixes discharge, education and consent materials, checks every dose and step, and keeps your clinicians in charge of each change.

In English and Spanish, with Spanish measured as Spanish.

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  • 80%

    of hospitals in the readmissions program carry a penalty in FY2027: 2,334 hospitals, up from 78%.

    Source: CMS FY2027 HRRP data, as reported by Healthcare Dive (2026-10-08)

  • 1.46x

    the rate of 30-day readmission or ED return for patients with low health literacy, compared with adequate health literacy.

    Source: Mitchell et al., Journal of Health Communication (2012)

  • 6th grade

    the reading level Leapfrog asks of consent forms. It publishes each hospital's answer.

    Source: The Leapfrog Group, 2026 Informed Consent Fact Sheet

Sketch of a discharge sheet with three numbered steps, morning, evening and night medicine boxes and a red when-to-call box, beside a patient in a teach-back conversation.123Teach-back

What we fix

A discharge sheet people can follow at home

  • Numbered steps in the order the patient does them.
  • Medicines by time of day, and when to call, each in its own place.
  • Staff check understanding with teach-back.

Illustrative example.

Most patients leave with a gap

78% of emergency-department patients showed gaps in understanding at least one part of their care or discharge instructions. Clear papers help close that gap. So does teach-back before they leave.

78%

of emergency-department patients showed gaps in understanding at least one part of their care or discharge instructions

Source: Engel et al., Annals of Emergency Medicine, 2009

One path, from the first visit to staying well

A patient gets papers at every step of care. Here is where each one sits, what we do with it and the measure it feeds.

  1. Stage 1: Find & Schedule

    Touchpoints
    Appointment letters, Prep texts, Portal messages
    What we do
    SMS and email versions with channel checks
    Measure it feeds
    No-show rate (your data)

  2. Stage 2: Register & Consent

    Touchpoints
    Consent forms, Financial notices, Privacy notice
    What we do
    Revise to target grade; Spanish, and content in 45 languages and regional variants; accessibility review
    Measure it feeds
    Consent-process tracer findings

  3. Stage 3: Diagnose & Explain

    Touchpoints
    Condition handouts, Test-result letters
    What we do
    Create handouts from your trusted sources, with citations
    Measure it feeds
    HCAHPS communication items

  4. Stage 4: Treat & Prepare

    Touchpoints
    Pre-procedure instructions, Medication guides
    What we do
    Clinical integrity check: dose, route, step order, "do not" rules
    Measure it feeds
    Day-of-procedure cancellations (your data)

  5. Stage 5: Discharge

    Touchpoints
    Discharge instructions, Medication lists
    What we do
    Teach-back handouts; Teach-Back simulator for staff
    Measure it feeds
    Information Transfer PRO-PM; HCAHPS Information About Symptoms

  6. Stage 6: Recover & Follow-up

    Touchpoints
    Warning-sign sheets, Follow-up texts
    What we do
    Journeys with persona variants across text, call guide and letter
    Measure it feeds
    Follow-up visit completion, 30-day readmissions

  7. Stage 7: Prevent & Sustain

    Touchpoints
    Screening reminders, Chronic-care plans
    What we do
    Action plans and checklists at target grade
    Measure it feeds
    Preventive-care measures, portal engagement

Measures these touchpoints feed. Clear papers are one part of each measure. A study against your own starting point shows how much they add.

Measures this work supports

  • HCAHPS: how staff talk with patients, plus the new items on symptoms and care coordination.
  • Value-Based Purchasing: HCAHPS is part of the Hospital VBP program's person and community engagement domain.
  • Information Transfer PRO-PM: part of outpatient quality reporting from 2027.
  • Readmissions: the 30-day return-to-hospital measures behind the FY2027 penalties.

Clear instructions are one lever your team controls. We help you measure what that lever adds.

Source: CMS, Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program; CMS, Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program (Information Transfer PRO-PM, required from CY2027); CMS FY2027 HRRP data, as reported by Healthcare Dive (2026-10-08).

Prove it on your own patients

Pick one unit or service line and draw its weeks at random before it starts. Patients discharged in half the weeks get the revised sheets, the rest get today's.

Before it starts, you pick the measure (7-day callbacks, and 30-day ED returns or readmissions) and write the rule that decides, such as "expand if the revised group does better and the 95% interval excludes zero." No lift is promised. Your data decides, not ours.

We work from templates only. Your patients' data stays with you.

One discharge instruction, made clear

Here is one passage from a discharge sheet. We show the grade, the fixes and the check that the dose stayed the same.

Illustrative passage, not a real patient's record. Grades measured with the HealthLiteracyCopilot readability engine. A clinician approves the final text.

Before · Grade 11.7 · Reading ease 33

Take metoprolol tartrate 25 mg PO BID1. Monitor for signs and symptoms of hypotension, bradycardia, or syncope2, and notify your provider immediately if these symptoms occur. Follow up with cardiology in 1–2 weeks for medication titration3.

After · Grade 2.4 · Reading ease 95

Take 1 metoprolol pill (25 mg) by mouth 2 times a day.1 Take one in the morning and one at night. Call your heart doctor right away if you feel dizzy or faint. Also call if your heartbeat feels very slow.2 See your heart doctor in 1 to 2 weeks. They may change your dose.3

What changed and why
  1. 1Clinical integrity check: the dose (25 mg), route (by mouth) and frequency (2 times a day) match the original.
  2. 2Plain words: symptoms are named the way patients feel them; the urgency ("right away") is kept.
  3. 3Meaning check: "1 to 2 weeks" is kept exactly; "titration" becomes "may change your dose".
Clinical integrity
Dose, route and frequency unchanged: passed
Meaning check
Same follow-up window, same urgency: passed
Approval
A clinician approves the final text

Dates that set the calendar

Since 2026-01-01
Joint Commission National Performance Goals in effect, including patient-communication goals.
Since 2026-10-01
FY2027 readmission penalties apply: 2,334 hospitals, 80% of those in the program.
2027-01-01
Information Transfer PRO-PM becomes required in Hospital OQR.
2027-04-26
ADA Title II web and document accessibility for public entities of 50,000+ people, incl. public hospitals.
2027-05-11
HHS §504 accessibility for recipients with 15+ employees.
2028-04-26 / 05-10
ADA Title II and §504 dates for smaller organizations.

Applicability depends on the entity, the content and the exceptions. ADA Title II and HHS §504 dates verified 2026-10-08 against the Federal Register: DOJ interim final rule, 91 FR 20902 (2026-04-20); HHS interim final rule, FR doc 2026-09266 (2026-05-11), 45 CFR 84.84(b). Both keep WCAG 2.1 AA.

Accessible documents, checked before the dates

Public hospitals face ADA Title II dates from April 2027. Many groups paid by HHS face §504 dates from May 2027. Both use WCAG 2.1 AA.

We check discharge sheets, consent forms, notices and web pages in Word and HTML for headings, alt text, tables, contrast and links. A trained reviewer decides on each finding. The same pass checks reading level, and you keep a record of what was checked and fixed.

Your counsel decides whether you comply. A review finds likely barriers; it does not promise compliance.

See how accessibility review works

AI drafts a clinician reviewed, on record

AI drafts of patient messages read at about 8th grade. Clinicians write at about 6th. In one study, 7.1% of unedited drafts posed a safety risk.

Some states now set rules. In California, AI messages need a notice unless a licensed provider reviewed them. Texas requires review and a notice.

HealthLiteracyCopilot scores each draft. It flags missing safety steps, like when to seek care. A named reviewer approves it. The record backs up your AI oversight work, including Joint Commission RUAIH certification.

One draft, checked

On a reading-grade scale, clinicians write at about 6th grade and AI drafts read at about 8th. The draft is scored, a missing "when to seek care" step is flagged, and a named reviewer approves it on record.Reading gradeAI drafts: 8thClinicians: 6thAI draft to a patientMissing: when to seek careA named reviewer approvesKept on record with the draft
Illustrative. Grades as stated in the text.

Source: Becker's Hospital Review (AI drafts vs clinician replies); Mass General Brigham, Lancet Digital Health, 2024; California AB 3030 (2025); Texas SB 1188 (2025) and HB 149 (2026); The Joint Commission, RUAIH Certification (2026).

Get the AI-Drafted Content Review Kit

Why HealthLiteracyCopilot

  • Instead of your team and an agency

    "Reviewers argue about wording, and every cycle is opinion."

    Standards, not opinion: IHA's N-PLAT, AHRQ's PEMAT and reading grade on every version, with a reason for each change.

    See the standards we score with

  • Instead of ChatGPT or Copilot

    "AI might change a dose, a date or a disclaimer."

    Built for regulated text: a clinical anchor gate, protected terms, and a scorer that never grades its own revisions.

    How we differ from general AI

  • Instead of a translation vendor

    "Spanish and Section 1557 are where we get caught."

    Spanish measured as Spanish, translation risk set by language, and a human translator for any segment that could lose a dose, a number or a "do not".

    How we measure Spanish

  • Instead of a readability checker

    "Where do we start with 2,000 templates?"

    Portfolio Scan ranks the whole library worst first, by the measure each document touches.

    See how a library scan works

  • Instead of focus groups

    "Will people actually understand it?"

    Test before you send: simulated readers built from your personas, and a teach-back simulator for staff.

    See persona testing

  • Instead of shared drives and email

    "We have to prove it to NCQA, The Joint Commission or MLR."

    The record reviewers ask for: the criteria, the version, the reviewer and the date for every document.

    See the review record

In their words

What people using it say

  • …for English content, we felt like it does an amazing job. I like that it enforces best practices with our team…
    Director of patient education, multi-hospital health system
  • I expected there to be some maybe inherent biases in an automation tool like this, an AI tool. … we did not see that. And in fact, it removed biases … when it was existing in the original content.
    Director of patient education, multi-hospital health system

From people using HealthLiteracyCopilot, shared anonymously by role and type of organization. Trimmed where marked (…), never reworded.

Built for each role on your team

What each person is measured on, the documents they own and the parts of the platform they'd use most.

Get ready for your next tracer

The Joint Commission packet has a tracer kit and a Goal 4 action plan. You can start it this month. The Recovery-Instructions Pack checks your recovery sheets. Use it before patients get them. Or try one discharge sheet free.

Get a free assessment of one discharge sheetGet the Joint Commission packetGet the Recovery-Instructions Pack

Send a blank template, not a copy with a patient's or member's details.

HealthcareGPS is SOC 2 Type II audited and HIPAA compliant. How we protect your documents

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Questions

Does HealthLiteracyCopilot integrate with our EHR?

It works alongside your EHR. You export Word, PDF or HTML, or call the Guard API from your own systems.

Who approves the changes?

Your clinicians. Every revision shows its rationale, and the clinical integrity check flags any change to a dose, route, step or "do not" rule for review.

Do you need patient data?

No. Send a blank template or a sample sheet, never a patient's copy.

Is this a Joint Commission compliance check?

No. It is a preparation aid. The review record is evidence of review, not of compliance, and it implies no endorsement by The Joint Commission.