Amid growing concerns about racial, ethnic and language disparities in health care, The Joint Commission and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights have worked together to support language access in health care organizations with the video Improving Patient-Provider Communication: Joint Commission Standards and Federal Laws.
Health care organizations face challenges to accommodate increasingly diverse patient populations – more than 28 million people with hearing loss and about 47 million people who speak a language other than English. Language access remains a matter of national importance. Effective communication is a critical aspect of safe, quality patient care. Many patients of varying circumstances require alternative communication methods, and this new video will help health care organizations to determine the best methods of care for meeting these communication needs.
The video highlights what is required by Joint Commission standards as well as Federal civil rights laws with respect to patients who are deaf/hard of hearing or limited English proficient. Accompanying the video is a list of resources and tools that health care organizations can use to build effective language access programs.
To access the video (via YouTube), follow this link: Improving Patient-Provider Communication
Running Time: 31:57
Download video * (Part 1 - Part 4):
* Requires Windows Media Player
Closed captioned copies of the video are available upon request.
Please e-mail hlc-info@jointcommission.org to request a copy.
Download the list of resources: Resources Related to Effective Communication (.pdf file)
For additional information on federal laws related to language access and for additional resources on effective communication, please visit the Office for Civil Rights Web site.
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For more information on the Hospitals, Language, and Culture study or to sign up for the HLC list serve, contact us at hlc-info@jointcommission.org. |