Health Literacy Media

What Health Literacy Media does

Health Literacy Media (HLM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2009 and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, originally established as Health Literacy Missouri and rebranded in November 2016 to reflect a national and international service mandate. The organization specializes in plain language health communication, offering health literacy review, content development, training, and program design to help healthcare organizations, research institutions, and patient-facing programs communicate complex medical information to low-health-literacy and limited-English-proficiency audiences. Its work is grounded in a proprietary 103-principle health literacy review checklist and evidence-based methodology developed by a team with more than 100 years of combined domain experience, led by President & CEO Catina O'Leary.

HLM operates two flagship programs. C3T (Clearly Communicating Clinical Trials) provides plain language clinical trial content and results summaries to pharmaceutical sponsors, research institutions, and patient communities, and was the basis for a 2026 Emmy-nominated video. Explore Transplant & Living Donation (ET/ELD), integrated via a 2017 partnership with Dr. Amy Waterman at UCLA, delivers patient and family education for transplant evaluation and living donation; revised materials were released in April 2018 and curricula have been adapted for Canada, Ethiopia, and Singapore. The organization also operates the UNOS Kidney Transplant Learning Center under a partnership with the United Network for Organ Sharing, giving its content national distribution across the U.S. transplant system.

HLM's business model is project- and grant-based rather than product- or subscription-based. Revenue is derived from corporate grants (e.g., $15,000 from UnitedHealthcare in May 2016), foundation grants (e.g., $12,600 from HCFGKC in July 2016), multi-year federal awards (e.g., a three-year HRSA grant for living organ donation awareness), and fee-for-service contracts with named clients including Merck, Sanofi Genzyme, Baylor, and regional health systems. The organization reports 11–50 employees and does not publicly disclose total revenue. It has received ClearMark, Telly, and Digital Health Awards, indicating external recognition for content quality, but no AI/ML capabilities, proprietary software products, or platform technology are disclosed in available information.

Name

Health Literacy Media

Legal name

Health Literacy Media

Website

https://healthliteracy.media

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Health Literacy Media is a St. Louis-based nonprofit that provides plain language health content, review, and training to pharmaceutical sponsors, research institutions, transplant authorities, and federal agencies, serving low-health-literacy and limited-English-proficiency patients through its C3T and Explore Transplant programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Health Literacy Consulting & Communications

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Health Literacy (Navigating Care, Medication, Preventive Info) (EDAAAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Multilingual, Accessibility & Health Literacy Enablement (HLACAEAN)

Keywords

• Health literacy services
• Patient education materials
• Clinical trial communication
• Plain language health content
• Transplant education programs

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Professional Services: Consulting, training, and custom health literacy material development services for pharmaceutical companies, healthcare systems, and research organizations
2. Educational Materials Sales: Sale of Explore Transplant and Explore Living Donation education materials (print and digital) through purchasable programs at exploretransplant.org
3. Grants and Donations: Grant funding from government agencies (HRSA) and foundations (Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Missouri Foundation for Health) for community projects and specific initiatives
4. Corporate Partnerships: Sponsorship and partnership arrangements with healthcare companies such as Sanofi Genzyme for supporting transplant education resources and programs

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Health Literacy Media provides health literacy consulting, plain language writing, training, and custom material development services that translate complex health, science, and clinical trial information into clear, actionable content. Its two flagship programs are C3T (Clearly Communicating Clinical Trials), which serves research teams with plain-language clinical trial communications, and Explore Transplant & Living Donation (ET/ELD), which delivers kidney transplant education, patient materials, provider training, and animated videos for end-stage renal disease patients and their families.

Product overview

Health Literacy Media offers a portfolio of health literacy communication services centered around two flagship programs: C3T (Clearly Communicating Clinical Trials), which provides clinical trial communication strategy and plain language materials for research teams, and Explore Transplant & Living Donation (ET/ELD), which provides kidney transplant education including patient materials, provider training, animated videos (My Kidney Transplant & Paired Donation Coach), and the Living Donor Storytelling Project. Additional offerings include health literacy video series, educational materials, and training services. The organization applies evidence-based health literacy principles including plain language, audience research, and user-centered design across all products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• C3T (Clearly Communicating Clinical Trials): A clinical trial communication strategy, messaging, and design program that addresses the lack of health literacy integrated in clinical research and trials.
• Explore Transplant & Living Donation (ET/ELD)

Products and services

• C3T (Clearly Communicating Clinical Trials) A clinical trial communication strategy, messaging, and design program that helps research teams communicate study information in plain language, building trust and understanding with participants through recruitment materials, consent forms, study updates, and patient-friendly summaries.
• Explore Transplant (ET) Patient education program helping kidney patients learn about kidney disease treatment options and explore next steps including transplant and living donation, developed in collaboration with Dr. Amy Waterman from UCLA.
• Explore Living Donation (ELD) Education program helping patients, loved ones, and potential donors learn about the benefits and risks of living kidney donation, including strategies to find living donors.
• Custom Health Literacy Materials Development (Consulting & Content Services) Custom health literacy consulting, plain language writing, training, and design services that translate complex health, science, and clinical trial information into clear, actionable content for pharmaceutical companies, healthcare systems, research institutions, and community organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 28,000+ kidney patients educated through Explore Transplant programs
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Explore Transplant (Dr. Amy Waterman/UCLA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 January 2017Partnership with Dr. Amy Waterman from UCLA to manage Explore Transplant and Explore Living Donation programs. HLM handles trainings for new partners, sales and service of educational materials, and develops international versions for Canada, Ethiopia, and Singapore.
• United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to create the UNOS Kidney Transplant Learning Center (KTLC) at transplantliving.org/kidney. HLM structured and developed comprehensive transplant education content serving 670,000+ people with end-stage renal disease.
• Sanofi GenzymemajorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsorship of HLM's family of transplant resources and education materials. Company sponsors Explore Transplant and Explore Living Donation programs.
• UnitedHealthcareminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to conduct 12 focus groups with Medicaid consumers, uninsured community members, and healthcare providers in southeastern Missouri to understand barriers to healthcare access.
• Truman Medical Center Behavioral HealthminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration from 2015-2016 to improve patient-provider communication, increase understanding and access to care at Kansas City's largest mental health services provider (17,000 clients annually).
• JohegominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity-led technology app for health and social service referrals developed through HLM's community project in Hannibal, Missouri. App downloaded 500+ times with professionals using it daily.
• Cover Missouri CoalitionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on Healthy Hannibal and Healthy Salem projects helping people access and use health insurance. Coordinated by HLM.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority HealthminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHHS OMH partnership during National Minority Health Month 2018 focusing on collaborations that promote health equity and improve health of minorities.
• Terasaki Research InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partner on UNOS Kidney Transplant Learning Center project.
• National Kidney FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partner on UNOS Kidney Transplant Learning Center project.
• Donate Life AmericaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partner on UNOS Kidney Transplant Learning Center project.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Staywell: Large patient education and consumer health engagement company (formerly Krames) delivering vetted health content, care transitions, and patient engagement platforms to health systems and plans - a much larger incumbent whose content production overlaps with HLM's educational materials and Explore Transplant-style programs.
• WCG: Large clinical trial solutions provider offering IRB, site support, and patient-facing trial services; their broader clinical research services overlap with HLM's C3T (clinical trial communication) for pharma sponsors, though WCG addresses a much wider portfolio of needs.
• Healthwise: Established patient education content and decision aid provider (now part of WebMD Ignite) supplying plain-language health information to health systems - broader incumbent serving similar patients with similarly accessible content.
• Wolters Kluwer Health: Major medical publisher (Lippincott, Ovid) producing clinical and patient-facing health content, including evidence-based decision aids and drug information; competes for the same pharmaceutical and health system budgets that fund HLM's C3T and educational material work.
• PatientPoint: Point-of-care patient education and engagement platform deployed in physician offices and hospitals across the U.S.; overlapping with HLM's mission of simplifying patient-provider communication at scale but with broader distribution and a digital-first model.

Others

• Center for Plain Language: Advocacy nonprofit that runs the ClearMark Awards (which HLM has won, including the 2026 Grand Prize); not a direct competitor but a closely coupled ecosystem partner that validates and elevates HLM's work and certifies the broader plain-language market.

Direct peers

• Institute for Healthcare Advancement: Nonprofit publisher of health literacy books (the "What to Do" series), operator of the IHA Health Literacy Solutions Center and annual conference, and promoter of the IHA Published Materials Award (which HLM has won) - directly comparable mission and content focus.
• CommunicateHealth: Health communication and health literacy consultancy specializing in plain-language patient materials, provider resources, and digital tools for federal agencies and health systems - directly comparable service offering and customer set to HLM's professional services and C3T-style work.
• Health Literacy Partners: Consulting firm offering health literacy training, organizational assessments, and plain-language editing for hospitals, health plans, and pharma - directly overlapping with HLM's training, consulting, and material review services.
• Health Literacy Consulting (Helen Osborne): Solo health literacy consultancy providing plain-language training, keynote speaking, and editing; produces the Health Literacy Out Loud podcast. Comparable target audience (health professionals) and service mix to HLM's training and education offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/healthlitmedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/healthliteracymedia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/healthliteracymedia
• Instagraminstagram.com/healthlitmedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Health Literacy Media