CLAS in Health Care: Implementation of the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care at the Alameda Alliance for Health (Executive Summary and Final Report)

“Census 2000 data has revealed, as has long been predicted, significant increases in minority, foreign-born (28 million), and non-English-speaking (44 million) populations across the United States, in both urban and rural areas. The increasing diversity of the Nation brings many challenges experienced increasingly in health care facilities of all kinds. Culture and language are vital factors in how health services are delivered and received. A report by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) on the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in health care proposed the standards as one strategy to eliminate health disparities among racial, ethnic, and linguistic minority populations that experience unequal access to health services. An area of particular interest to OMH is to explore what evidence can be generated to demonstrate that adoption of the standards for CLAS may contribute to improving delivery of health services that result in positive outcomes for racial, ethnic, and linguistic minority populations.” – Publisher’s description