Many groups are addressing the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services. The Joint Commission does not endorse specific cultural competency programs or products; however, the websites listed below should provide helpful information. In addition, a compilation of selected resources is also available that contains information on standards and regulations, training tools, reports, websites, and general resources.
24 Languages: Consumer Health Brochures in Multiple Languages
Electronic access to over 200 health education brochures in 24 different languages.
The Access Project
The Access Project has served as a resource center for local communities working to improve health and healthcare access since 1998.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
AHRQ is the Nation's lead Federal agency for research on health care quality, costs, outcomes, and patient safety.
Aging with Dignity
Aging with Dignity provides the popular Five Wishes advance directive which addresses the personal, emotional, and spiritual issues that people say matter most to them during times of serious illness. It is available in 20 different languages.
America’s Health Insurance Plans
AHIP is the national association representing nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans.
American Hospital Association
The AHA leads, represents and serves hospitals, health systems and other related organizations that are accountable to the community and committed to health improvement.
American Indian Health
This Web resource on American Indian Health, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine, is designed to bring together health and medical resources pertinent to the American Indian population including policies, consumer health information, and research.
American Medical Association - Minority Affairs Consortium
The AMA-MAC provides a national forum for advocacy on minority health issues and professional concerns of minority physicians and medical students.
American Medical Association - Ethical Force Program
The AMA's Ethical Force program is a credible means for developing mutual and multilateral accountability in ethics among all participants in the health care delivery system.
American Public Health Association – Eliminating Health Disparities
The American Public Health Association is the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world and has been working to improve public health since 1872.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 130,000 members and affiliates who are speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists in the United States and internationally.
Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
The APIAHF is a national advocacy organization dedicated to promoting policy, program, and research efforts to improve the health and well-being of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander (AA,NHOPI) communities.
Association of American Indian Physicians
The AAIP was founded in 1971 as an educational, scientific, and charitable non-profit corporation.
Association of Asian-Pacific Community Health Organizations
The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations hopes this website serves as a vehicle for easy access to information for better serving the health needs of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
Association of Professional Chaplains
The Association of Professional Chaplains is an interfaith professional pastoral care association of providers of pastoral care endorsed by faith groups to serve persons in physical, spiritual, or mental need in diverse settings throughout the world.
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Black Women's Health Imperative
The Black Women's Health Imperative is a national, not-for-profit educational, advocacy and leadership development organization that's committed to eliminating the health disparities that exist for Black women.
The California Endowment
The California Endowment is a private, statewide health foundation that was created in 1996 as a result of Blue Cross of California's creation of WellPoint Health Networks, a for-profit corporation. The California Endowment's mission is to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians.
California Healthcare Interpreting Association
The California Healthcare Interpreting Association is a public charity dedicated to improving the quality and availability of language services in the delivery of healthcare.
The Center for Cross-Cultural Health
The CCCH is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is 'to integrate cultural competency into health and human services through information, training, research, and consulting.'
Center for Studying Health System Change
The HSC is a nonpartisan policy research organization located in Washington, D.C. that designs and conducts studies focused on the U.S. health care system to inform the thinking and decisions of policy makers in government and private industry.
The Center for the Health Professions: Network for Multicultural Health
The Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco focuses its efforts on understanding the challenges faced by the health care workforce and developing programs and resources that assist in making successful transitions to the emergent health care systems. The Network has focused its efforts on reducing health disparities in health care through education, training, and by fostering organizational change.
Centers for Disease Control – Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities
The Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (OMHD) aims to accelerate CDC’s health impact in the U.S population and to eliminate health disparities for vulnerable populations as defined by race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, geography, gender, age, disability status, risk status related to sex and gender, and among other populations identified to be at-risk for health disparities.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
CMS is the federal agency responsible for administering the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments), and several other health-related programs.
The Commonwealth Fund
The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults.
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
The CBCF was established in 1976 as a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute.
The Cross Cultural Health Care Program
The Cross Cultural Health Care Program is a nonprofit organization whose nationally-recognized medical interpreter training program, Bridging the Gap, has trained thousands of professionals around the United States and internationally.
Disparities Solution Center
The Disparities Solutions Center is dedicated to the development and implementation of strategies that advance policy and practice to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
Diversity RX
DiversityRx is produced by Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care (RCCHC) and Drexel University School of Public Health’s Center for Health Equality.
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Endowment for Health
The Endowment for Health, New Hampshire's largest health foundation, was established in 1999 as a statewide, independent, private nonprofit foundation.
Ethnic Health Institute
The EHI, as a community service of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, is engaged in coordinating health education, research, health provider training, and community outreach and awareness for the entire community, with a special focus on underserved and minority populations.
Hablamos Juntos
Hablamos Juntos (Spanish for “We Speak Together”) is a unique project designed to forge connections between health care providers and the rapidly growing Latino health market.
Health Care for All
HCFA seeks to create a consumer-centered health care system that provides comprehensive, affordable, accessible, culturally competent, high quality care and consumer education for everyone, especially the most vulnerable. We work to achieve this as leaders in public policy, advocacy, education and service to consumers in Massachusetts.
Health Information Translations
Health Information Translations has written and audiovisual materials for over 300 topics in 18 languages. Topics include diagnostic tests, disaster preparedness, diseases and conditions, home care, pregnancy, safety, surgery, and many others.
Health Research and Educational Trust
Through its affiliation with the American Hospital Association, HRET accesses valuable resources, data and thought leadership. HRET's goal is to advance ideas and practices beneficial to health care practitioners, institutions, consumers and society at large.
Health Resources and Services Administration
HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.
Institute of Medicine
The nation turns to the IOM of the National Academies for science-based advice on matters of biomedical science, medicine, and health. A nonprofit organization specifically created for this purpose as well as an honorific membership organization, the IOM was chartered in 1970 as a component of the National Academy of Sciences.
International Medical Interpreters Association
The International Medical Interpreters Association is committed to the advancement of professional medical interpreters as the best practice to equitable language access to health care for linguistically diverse patients.
Kaiser Family Foundation - Minority Health
A leader in health policy and communications, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., with a growing role in global health. Unlike grant-making foundations, Kaiser develops and runs its own research and communications programs, sometimes in partnership with other non-profit research organizations or major media companies.
Limited English Proficiency, a Federal Agency Website (LEP.gov)
This website supports fair, reasoned and consistent implementation of Executive Order 13166, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of1964, and the Title VI regulations regarding language access. This site also acts as a clearinghouse, providing and linking to information, tools, and technical assistance regarding limited English proficiency and language services for federal agencies, recipients of federal funds, users of federal programs and federally assisted programs, and other stakeholders.
MedQIC: Medicare Quality Improvement Community
MedQIC supports Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) and providers of services to Medicare beneficiaries in finding, using, and sharing quality improvement resources thereby advancing the quality improvement community.
Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center
The Midwest Latino Health Research, Training, and Policy Center seeks to improve the health status and quality of health care to Hispanics/Latinos living in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
Multicultural Health Communication Service: Index of Health Publications by Language (New South Wales, Australia)
The NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service was established in 1997 as a result of NSW Health's Plan "Health Services for a Culturally Diverse Society" (1995). The plan identified the need for the development of a co-ordinated statewide approach to provide information about health issues and health services to people who speak languages other than English.
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National Alliance for Hispanic Health
The National Alliance for Hispanic Health is the premier organization focusing on Hispanic Health. Alliance members reach over 14 million Hispanic consumers throughout the U.S.
National Asian Women's Health Organization
NAWHO is a national non-profit health organization with a mission to achieve health equity for Asian women and families.
National Association of Community Health Centers
NACHC is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to expanding health care access for America’s medically underserved through the community-based health center model.
National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems
The National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems represents more than 100 of America's most important safety net hospitals and health systems.
National Association of Social Workers
NASW is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world.
National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research
The NCAIANMHR is sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and is the only program of this type in the country focusing specifically on American Indian and Alaska Native populations.
National Center for Cultural Competence
The mission of the NCCC is to increase the capacity of health and mental health programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems.
National Council on Interpreting in Health Care
NCIHC is a multidisciplinary organization based in the United States whose mission is to promote culturally competent professional health care interpreting as a means to support equal access to health care for individuals with limited English proficiency.
National Health Law Program
The National Health Law Program is a national public interest law firm that seeks to improve health care for America's working and unemployed poor, minorities, the elderly and people with disabilities.
National Hispanic Medical Association
The National Hispanic Medical Association is a non-profit association whose mission is to improve the health of Hispanics and other underserved populations.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
The Centers for Population Health & Health Disparities are designed to support cutting-edge research to understand and reduce differences in health outcomes, access and care. The program is supported by four NIH institutes or offices, including the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.
National Limited English Proficient Advocacy Task Force
The National LEP Advocacy Task Force advocates for the rights of individuals in the U.S.
National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM)
Advancing the progress of medicine and improving the public health through access to health information.
National Medical Association
Advancing the art and science of medicine for people of African descent through education, advocacy, and health policy to promote health and wellness, eliminate health disparities, and sustain physician viability.
New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition
The New Hampshire Minority Health coalition is composed of community-based organizations, state and local agencies, local companies and private residents representing diverse, underserved minority communities who are concerned about the appropriate delivery of health care services to these communities.
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Office for Civil Rights
OCR is part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). OCR enforces a number of civil rights laws and the Federal law that protects the privacy of health information.
Office of Minority Health
The mission of the Office of Minority Health (OMH) is to improve and protect the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will eliminate health disparities.
Office of Minority Health – Center for Linguistic and Cultural Competency in Health Care
The mission of Center for Linguistic and Cultural Competency in Health Care (CLCCHC) is to collaborate with federal agencies and other public and private entities to enhance the ability of the health care system to effectively deliver linguistically appropriate and culturally competent health care to limited English-speaking populations.
RAND Health
RAND Health is a research division within the RAND Corporation. For 60 years, RAND has been working to improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
RWJF focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. The Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change.
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research is one of the nation's leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California.
Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association
The goal of the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association is to provide social, educational, and economic development services to Southeast Asian residents in Marathon County, Wisconsin in order to enhance and strengthen their transition and integration into the local communities while preserving their cultural heritage.
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