Research shows that 80% of American hospitals see Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients frequently, yet less than 33% have quality assurance efforts underway to improve their language access services.
Critical Measures’ language access audit can help your organization to identify legal risks and improve the quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of language access services. Language access assessments compare healthcare organizations’ systems, policies and practices against:
- Federal law (Title VI and the ADA)
- State laws (all 50 states now have language access laws)
- National best practices, including the new Joint Commission Cultural Competence Accreditation Standards, NCQA, AHRQ and National Quality Forum standards
- The new 2013 CLAS Standards
Each of these components reinforces the other. Comparing your performance against federal and state legal requirements answers the baseline question of whether your organization is in regulatory compliance with minimum standards on cultural and linguistic competence. However, if your organization seeks to distinguish itself in cultural competence, then it must also compare itself against national best practices in culturally and linguistically competent care.