What if clinical trial participation is less about recruitment and more about trust, access, and what has to happen before someone is ever ready to say yes?

In this episode of Health Literacy IRL, host Megan Freeland, PharmD talks with Tiffany Whitlow, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer at Acclinate, about the real-world barriers that shape who gets to participate in clinical research. Together, they explore why participation starts long before a consent form — and why community engagement, trusted relationships, and better system design matter so much.

In this episode:

• Why recruitment is an incomplete frame for inclusive research
• What real-life barriers affect participation long before consent
• How Acclinate approaches trust-building through community engagement
• What Tiffany sees ahead for the future of clinical research

Connect with Tiffany and Megan on LinkedIn, and Tiffany on Instagram.

What does it look like to operationalize health literacy inside a large academic medical center?

In this episode of Health Literacy IRL, host Megan Freeland, PharmD talks with Katie Leath, MPH, MA, Director of the Center for Health Literacy at UAMS, about how health literacy can move from a side project to an embedded organizational priority. Katie shares how her team supports patient education, plain language, translation, training, and research communication across UAMS and beyond.

In this episode:

• Why health literacy is often misunderstood
• What organizational health literacy looks like in practice
• How UAMS’s center supports internal and external partners
• What institutions need to make health literacy part of how they operate

Connect with Katie and Megan on LinkedIn.

What if the greatest problem isn't that patients don't understand health information — but that we're handing them too much information under too much pressure, with no tools to process it.

In this solo episode of Health Literacy IRL, host Megan Freeland, PharmD explores why healthcare marketing, health communications, health literacy, and patient experience teams need to stop operating in silos — and start building cohesively around the patient journey.

She also elaborates on an uncomfortable and inconvenient truth: that providing more information isn't always the solution. And the system — not the patient — is largely to blame.

In this episode:

• Why siloed teams fall short of patients' needs
• A mouth-watering analogy that reframes information overload
• What patients face during high-stakes medical decision-making
• The largely untapped opportunity for organizations to map health information to the patient journey

Connect with Megan on LinkedIn.

In this episode of Health Literacy IRL, I’m joined by Byron Jasper, MD, MPH, founder and CEO of Byja Clinic in Louisiana, to break down what DPC is, what it isn’t, and why the model naturally creates more space for people to understand and use health information in real life.

We talk about:

• What DPC looks like day-to-day (and why “if you’ve seen one DPC practice, you’ve seen one DPC practice”)
• How time becomes a health literacy intervention (think: hour-long visits, fewer rushed decisions)
• How transparent pricing and fewer “insurance hoops” can help patients become better healthcare consumers
• Why access (texts/calls, same-day help) reduces “bargaining with your health”
• What equitable DPC can look like—including creative approaches like scholarship care and nonprofit support
• Real stories of breakthrough moments for patients

If you’ve been curious about DPC — or spending time thinking about how to improve health outcomes or health literacy through innovation — you'll certainly want to tune in!

Connect with Us

Host – Megan Freeland, PharmD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-n-freeland/

Guest – Byron Jasper, MD, MPH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/byron-jasper-03bt04/

Byja Clinic on FB: https://www.facebook.com/byjaclinic/

Byja Clinic on IG: https://www.instagram.com/byjaclinic/

What happens when a pharmacist becomes part of a direct primary care (DPC) clinic?

In this episode of Health Literacy IRL, I sit down with Ellen Jones, PharmD, a pharmacist and faculty member who practices inside a DPC clinic in Arkansas. We dig into how the direct primary care model — and pharmacist-led services — can transform health literacy, medication management, and the patient experience.

In this episode, we cover:

• What direct primary care (DPC) is and how it differs from concierge medicine
• How Ellen built a role as a pharmacist in a DPC clinic while serving as pharmacy faculty
• The day-to-day responsibilities of a DPC pharmacist
• Health literacy-friendly characteristics of the the DPC model (e.g., longer visits, unlimited follow-ups, text access)
• Why time, emotions, and readiness to learn are essential for effective patient education
• The impact of administrative “bloat” on traditional primary care — and what changes when you step outside that system
• Creative ways pharmacists and DPC clinicians can partner, even when budgets are tight

Connect with Us

Host – Megan Freeland, PharmD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-n-freeland/

Guest – Ellen Jones, PharmD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenjonespharmd/

If this episode helped you understand direct primary care, pharmacist roles in primary care, or health literacy better, hit Subscribe, give the video a thumbs up, and share it with a pharmacist, clinician, or health leader who needs to hear this.

Following on the heels of part 1, we'll continue discussing how to not only bring health literacy out of hiding within your health org, but how to connect disparate programs, initiatives, and materials more intentionally for the advancement of patient outcomes.

In part 1, we discussed the first step: Identify. Listen to part 2 for the remaining 5 steps.

Know someone who'd be an excellent guest? Complete the guest recommendation form: https://forms.gle/T67gHNChCiLU5x3p7

It can be common to feel disconnected from others within your organization who are also working on health literacy. This lack of awareness or connection can feel like difficult challenges to overcome, but it's worth it to take what time you can to identify where others are advancing health literacy initiatives — even by another name! — throughout your organization.

Oftentimes, organizational health literacy initiatives are hiding in plain sight, and in this episode, we'll discuss common departments and verticals where they're often found. With greater awareness, we can more effectively coordinate efforts, avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts, and ultimately, make more substantial headway with health literacy programs and initiatives.

Know someone who'd be an excellent guest? Complete the guest recommendation form: https://forms.gle/T67gHNChCiLU5x3p7

Health literacy is a systemic problem, not an individual one. And all health institutions play a role in improving health literacy.

In this episode, I expand on the difference between personal health literacy and organizational health literacy. Then we explore examples of organizational health literacy for:

• hospitals/health systems
• biopharma
• payors
• direct patient care

Know someone who'd be an excellent guest? Complete the guest recommendation form.

The estimated cost of low health literacy in the US ranges from $106 to $238 Billion-with-a-B annually. Even though low health literacy is often framed as an individual problem, it's really a systemic one.

Welcome to the Health Literacy IRL podcast, where we'll explore how health institutions are assuming responsibility for the advancement of health literacy.