Health-literacy standards
PEMAT: is it understandable, and can people act on it?
AHRQ’s Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool scores two things a readability formula can’t: whether people can understand a material, and whether they can act on it.
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In 30 seconds
- PEMAT is a checklist from AHRQ that a reviewer completes. It is not a readability formula.
- It gives two scores from 0 to 100%: understandability and actionability. Studies often treat 70% or higher as understandable or actionable.
- PEMAT-P is for printable materials. PEMAT-A/V is for audiovisual materials.
- Pair it with a readability formula and, where you can, testing with readers.
What it measures
How understandable and actionable patient education materials are, in print and audiovisual form. PEMAT was developed by AHRQ (2013).
Two versions
PEMAT-P is for printable materials such as handouts, letters and PDFs. PEMAT-A/V is for audiovisual materials such as videos and multimedia.
PEMAT-P
Printable materials
- Handouts
- Letters
- PDFs
PEMAT-A/V
Audiovisual materials
- Videos
- Multimedia
How it scores
0–100% for understandability and for actionability. A reviewer rates each item agree or disagree, or not applicable, and the score is the share of applicable items rated agree. Studies often treat 70% or higher as understandable or actionable.
- Understandability: purpose, plain words, numbers, organization, layout and visual aids
- Actionability: at least one clear action, steps the reader can take, and tools such as checklists
Synthetic example
One handout, two separate scores
Understandability
- Purpose is clear: agree
- Plain words: agree
- Numbers are clear: agree
- Organized in short sections: disagree
- Layout is easy to scan: agree
- Visual aids help: agree
5 of 6 applicable items rated agree = 83%
Actionability
- At least one clear action: agree
- Steps the reader can take: disagree
- A tool such as a checklist: disagree
1 of 3 applicable items rated agree = 33%
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What it doesn’t tell you
PEMAT does not give a reading grade, and two trained raters can disagree on an item. Pair it with a readability formula and, where you can, testing with the people the material is for.
How HealthLiteracyCopilot uses it
HealthLiteracyCopilot reports PEMAT scores alongside N-PLAT and readability formulas.
Your next step
Paste a public notice. See its reading level by three instruments, the gap to your target and up to three passages to fix first. No account.
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Sources
Questions
Is PEMAT a readability formula?
No. It is a checklist a reviewer completes. It covers understandability and actionability, not reading grade.
What is a good PEMAT score?
Studies often use 70% or higher. Your own policy may set a different target.