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Abstract #159397

Robert Weech-Maldonado, MBA PhD¹, Marc N. Elliott, PhD², Janice L. Dreachslin, PhD³, Cameron Schiller¹, Allyson Hall, PhD⁴, and Ron D. Hays, PhD⁵. (1) Department of Health Services Research, Management, and Policy College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, 101 S. Newell Drive, Room 4151, PO Box 100195, Gainesville, FL 32610-0195, (352) 273-6080, rweech@phhp.ufl.edu, (2) RAND, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407, (3) Management Division, Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies, 30 E. Swedesford Road, Malvern, PA 19355, (4) Department of Health Services Research, Management & Policy, University of Florida, PO Box 100195, Gainesville, FL 32610, (5) The RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407

Cultural competence has been defined as an “ongoing commitment or institutionalization of appropriate practices and policies for diverse populations” (Brach and Fraser, 2000). The national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in health care, set forth by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health, provide guidelines on policies and practices aimed at developing culturally competent systems of care. The Cultural Competency Assessment Tool for Hospitals (CCATH) is a survey instrument used to assess hospital's performance based on the CLAS standards. The purpose of this study is to examine the organizational and market characteristics associated with hospital's adherence to 14 CLAS standards.

Data consist of 2006 CCATH survey data, Hospital Inpatient Discharges, American Hospital Association Annual Survey, and the Area Resource File for acute care hospitals in California. The dependent variable is adherence to the CLAS standards, which represents the proportion of the 14 CLAS standards that are being practiced by the hospital. The independent variables include organizational and market variables hypothesized to be associated with CLAS adherence. Organizational characteristics include proportion of racial/ethnic minority patients in the hospital, size (total inpatient days for the year), teaching hospital status, health system membership, ownership status (government, not-for-profit, for-profit), and payer mix (proportion of Medicaid patients). Market characteristics include hospital competition and the proportion of racial/ethnic minorities in the service area. We will regress the hospital's adherence to CLAS standards to organizational and market variables.

Learning Objectives:

• To describe the Cultural Competency Assessment Tool (CCATH) as a tool to assess hospital's adherence to the culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) standards.
• To examine the relationship between organizational and market factors and hospital's adherence to the CLAS standards.
• To discuss the policy implications of the research findings.

Keywords: Cultural Competency, Vulnerable Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.