Universal Patient Language: Transforming patient communication for better health outcomes

Did you know that approximately 9 out of 10 adults have difficulty using everyday health information that is available to them in our healthcare facilities?

Low health literacy is directly associated with more hospitalizations, lower vaccination and screening rates, poorer ability to take medications properly and interpret labels, poorer health statuses and higher mortality rates among the elderly.

At Bristol Myers Squibb, we take patient centricity and health literacy seriously and understand that how we communicate with our patients and their communities is vital to the speed at which we deliver our medicines.  From clinical trial information to brand materials, and across all therapeutic areas, BMS continuously evolves our approach to engaging patients and caregivers.  To better meet these needs, BMS developed the Universal Patient Language capability as part of our Patient Experience team. The Universal Patient Language (UPL) team is charged with providing enterprise-wide teams with the necessary tools to translate complicated scientific information into digestible information with relatable content.  Through this process our patients can better understand the materials that we give them to appropriately educate themselves and work towards better healthcare decisions and outcomes.  The UPL program has been part of the BMS culture and embedded in our ways of working since 2014.  

As the capability continues to grow and our patient’s educational needs expand, we look for ways to continue to drive this innovative capability to new levels. In collaboration with our Label & Launch Operations team, BMS began efforts to ensure our consumer Important Safety Information (ISI) on social media laddered up to UPL standards.  Since our patients' health outcomes may be improved by their increased use of social media to research health information, by providing safety information in patient-friendly language, we can increase patient understanding and healthcare decisions and outcomes.

Universal Patient Language allows us to consider how patients want to find, explore and share the information most relevant to them, thinking holistically about how their online and offline experiences connect.  Moving forward, BMS is committed to embedding UPL across our patient and caregivers’ communications and engagements. By improving health literacy, we can make meaningful improvements in health equity.