Cultural Competency and Language Access:

Other Web Sites

The Joint Commission

This section of The Joint Commission’s Web site provides information about a three year study designed to explore how 60 hospitals across the country provide healthcare to culturally and linguistically diverse patient populations. The results of this study are to serve as a foundation for setting realistic expectations for hospitals to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the populations they serve.

Speaking Together

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this program is working to identify, test and improve the ways that hospitals provide language services to patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). Through a learning collaborative of 10 hospitals, strategies to improve the availability and quality of language services are assessed and shared with hospitals throughout the nation.

http://www.healthtranslations.com/

The Missouri Hospital Association developed Health Translations.com to serve as a repository of translated materials specific to healthcare. With more than 650 translated documents and more than 70 resources for non-English speaking individuals, this Web site assists hospitals in giving the same quality of care to all patients, regardless of English proficiency.

National Health Law Program

NHeLP is a national, public interest law firm that aims to improve healthcare for those most in need and with the fewest resources. This section of their Web site contains a wealth of information on the issue of language access, including summaries of state law requirements addressing language needs in healthcare, federal legislative and administrative activities, promising practices, and links to pertinent research.

National Council on Interpreting in Health Care

This multidisciplinary organization promotes culturally competent professional healthcare interpreting as a means to support equal access to healthcare for limited English proficient individuals.

Hablamos Juntos

Hablamos Juntos, which means “we speak together,” is a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that is working with 10 demonstration sites to develop affordable models for healthcare organizations to offer language services to Latinos. Information about the project, including reports, key results, interpreter services and universal symbols for healthcare are available on their Web site.

Last Updated: July 1, 2008