Since the launch of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), minorities across the U.S. have made significant gains in healthcare coverage. While the future of the ACA is uncertain, Bueschel states it is a fact that our country is becoming more demographically diverse.
As a measure for addressing the growing diversity of the population, the Office of Minority Health in the Department of Health and Human Services published in September a revised National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS). The standards aim to improve health care quality and advance health equity by establishing a framework for organizations to serve the nation’s increasingly diverse communities.
Bueschel points out a few highlights from CLAS on how health care organizations can address and implement more culturally-competent care:
- Recruit, promote and support a culturally and linguistically diverse governance, leadership and workforce that are responsive to the population in the service area
- Educate and train governance, leadership and workforce in culturally and linguistically appropriate policies and practices on an ongoing basis.
- Offer language assistance to individuals who have limited English proficiency and/or other communication needs, at no cost to them, to facilitate timely access to all health care and services.
- Provide easy-to-understand print and multimedia materials and signage in the languages commonly used by the populations in the service area.
