A Dataset and Resources for Identifying Patient Health Literacy Information from Clinical Notes

Madeline Bittner, Dina Demner-Fushman, Yasmeen Shabazz, Davis Bartels, Dukyong Yoon et al.|March 19, 2026arXiv

Key Takeaway

Automated health literacy detection from clinical notes is now possible with HEALIX, a curated dataset that could help clinicians identify patients needing extra support without adding screening burden.

Summary

Researchers created HEALIX, the first public dataset of 589 clinical notes annotated for patient health literacy levels (low, normal, high). Health literacy—a patient's ability to understand medical information—affects treatment outcomes, but current screening tools are impractical.

data applications evaluation

Key Terms

curated-dataset active-learning zero-shot-learning few-shot-learning