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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Guadalupe Pacheco, MSW1, Juanita Dimas, PhD2, Ellen L. Marks3, Adrienne Y Semidey3, and C. Godfrey Jacobs, BA3. (1) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, 5515 Security Lane, Rockwall Bldg. II, 10th Floor, Suite-1000, Rockville, MD 20852, 301-443-3379, gpacheco@osophs.dhhs.gov, (2) Alameda Alliance for Health, 1240 South Loop Road, Alameda, CA 94502, (3) ORC Macro, 11785 Beltsville Drive, Calverton, MD 20705
As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, health care organizations and providers are interacting more often with patients/consumers from many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The development of appropriate organizational and system wide approaches to better serve the health care needs of diverse populations is becoming more paramount to the health care industry. Furthermore, managed care organizations are increasing their market share in serving low-income and diverse patients. This paradigm shift makes it more imperative that managed care organizations respond appropriately to the health care needs and preferences of culturally and linguistically diverse patient populations. The Office of Minority Health developed national recommended standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) to assist health care organizations in providing care to racially and ethnically diverse communities. The provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services to diverse patient populations has the potential to improve access to health care, quality of care, health outcomes and ultimately reduce health disparities.
The CLAS standards are currently being implemented as a pilot project in a managed care organization that provides care to diverse populations through a network of affiliated providers. Anticipated data to be acquired from the study will contribute to the evidence base regarding the impact of the CLAS standards on organizational, provider, and patient behavior and help clarify concerns related to their costs and benefits. The CLAS standards and the project’s design, research methods, and preliminary results will be presented.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to
Keywords: Access to Care, Underserved Populations
Related Web page: www.omhrc.gov
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.