Developing a Comprehensive Language Services Program--A Health Plan's Response to SB 853

SB 853 was signed into law in 2003 requiring the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) and the California Department of Insurance (CDI) to develop regulations establishing standards and requirements to provide plan enrollees with access to language assistance for health care services.

Information on racial and ethnic characteristics is needed to target quality improvement efforts, identify the nature and extent of disparities, and monitor progress. A key provision of the regulation requires plans to “develop a demographic profile of the plan's enrollee population through identification of an enrollee's preferred spoken and written language, race, and ethnicity. ” The “demographic profile” data is intended to be shared with the provider community and the plan regulators, not only for purposes of providing language assistance services, but also for quality improvement purposes.

In an effort to develop and implement a comprehensive language assistance program, Health Net of California (HNCA) embarked on a complex implementation structure that required the involvement and buy-in of departments and management across the company. The goals were to expand access to language services, improve quality of care and ultimately reduce disparities within the health care setting. The implementation structure included an Executive Committee, Advisory Committee and six functional work groups to implement this two-year project. Challenges and successes of managing and implementing the project, processes of program development, evaluation measures, transportability and applicability of lessons learned will be discussed.