Health literacy plays a major role in patient outcomes. Pay for Performance and Disease Management are on the horizon and it’s all about outcomes and patient self-management! Getting to patient empowerment and self-management requires a knowledgeable patient. Yet the newest research findings on health literacy are staggering. The population that seeks homecare has the largest statistics on functional illiteracy. So understanding how to reach this population and overcome those barriers is imperative. This 35 minute presentation will review some of the findings from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy and strategies for homecare agencies to implement to improve their outcomes! The use of standardized patient educational materials that incorporate the CMS recommendations will be highlighted.