California is well underway in implementing the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), with a daunting array of laws, changes, and opportunities for health care consumers. To help educate Californians about their rights and opportunities under Health Care Reform, HRA conducted an electronic survey of organizations serving California’s health care consumers, to assess the needs for information on health care reform. HRA also assessed available consumer resources about the ACA. Results showed that providers have a need for easy-to-understand resources in multiple languages and that most of the resources currently available are too difficult for clients to understand. To help meet these needs, HRA developed materials in a variety of media and languages for California’s Office of the Patient Advocate and Department of Managed Health Care. HRA used best health literacy practices to create fact sheets, a health reform glossary, preventive care worksheets, videos, and social networking resources.
As part of its materials development process, HRA conducts usability tests with consumers to assess the readability, navigability, and usefulness of materials. For this project, HRA conducted usability tests in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

HRA produced videos on preventive care, interpreter services, and consumer assistance services. The videos will be available here and will be posted on the OPA website soon. The videos are in English, Spanish, and Chinese (in both Mandarin and Cantonese versions). ASL videos were also developed. All videos have both captioned and uncaptioned versions.

HRA also prepared social media versions of the video and print content, and developed presentation materials for trainers working with community groups to educate people about their rights and opportunities in the wake of health reform.