Multicultural Health Standards Around the World
Julia Puebla Fortier
DiversityRx – Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care
DiversityRx 2013 Conference – Oakland, CA
Workshop references and additional resources
Country level policies
United States
California Department of Managed Health Care, Second Biennial Report to the Legislature on Language Assistance. Sacramento: July 2011.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, 2000.Assuring cultural competence in health care: recommendations for national standards. Federal Register: December 22, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 247) [80865–80879]
US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, 2001. National standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services in health care: Final Report.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights.Effective Communication in Hospitals - National Origin.Enforcement Success Stories Involving Persons with Limited English Proficiency: Summary of Selected Complaint Investigations and Resolution Agreements
The Joint Commission. Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient-and Family-Centered Care (Standards and Roadmap)
National Committee for Quality Assurance, Standards and Guidelines for Distinction in Multicultural Health Care.
National Quality Forum Healthcare Disparities and Cultural Competency Consensus Standards.
The Healthcare Disparities and Cultural Competency Consensus Standards project seeks to expand on NQF’s previous work where a set of criteria to evaluate disparities-sensitive measures was identified and 35 disparity-sensitive measures for the ambulatory care setting were endorsed.
Institutes of Medicine. Race, ethnicity, and language data: standardization for health care quality improvement. Washington, DC, 2009
Goode. T. et al. State-Level Strategies to Address Health and Mental Health Disparities through Cultural and Linguistic Competency Training and Licensure: An Environmental Scan of Factors Related to Legislative and Regulatory Actions in States. Washington: National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, Georgetown University Medical Center, 2008. Summary available at:
Diamond, LC et al.Do Hospitals Measure up to the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards? Med Care 2010;48: 1080–1087.
Australia
Victoria (Australia) Department of Health.Cultural Responsiveness Framework. Melbourne: 2009.
and
Scotland
Checking for change: a building blocks approach to race equality in health, 2009. In National Resource Centre for Ethnic Minority Health. Final annual report achievements and challenges in ethnicity and health in NHS Scotland. NHS Health Scotland, 2009 (
Checking for Change (executive summary)
Bhopal R and Lorant V. Comparing policies to tackle ethnic inequalities in health: Belgium 1 Scotland 4. European Journal of Public Health, 21:2, 235-240.
National Resource Centre for Ethnic Minority Health
Other Europe
MIGHEALTHNET. The MIGHEALTHNET project aims to stimulate the exchange of knowledge on migrant and minority health through the development of interactive databases in participating European countries.
Fernandes A, Pereira Miguel J. eds. Health and migration in the European Union: better health for all in an inclusive society. Lisbon, InstitutoNacional de SaudeDoutor Ricardo Jorge, 2009.
Padilla B, Portugal R., Ingleby D, De Freitas C, Lebas J, Pereira Miguel J. Good practices on health and migration in the EU. In: Health and migration in the European Union: better health for all in an inclusive society. Lisbon, InstitutoNacional de SaudeDoutor Ricardo Jorge, 2009
Bataller A. Population Information System (SIP): A powerful population database (Valencia, Spain). Abstract, Sixth National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations. Minneapolis, 2008 ( accessed 25 January 2010
Directorate of Health (Norway). Migration and health – challenges and trends. Oslo, May 2009.
International policy frameworks
WHO-HPH Task Force on Migrant Friendly and Culturally Competent Health Care. Preliminary standards for equity in healthcare.
World Health Organization, International Organization for Migration, and Spanish Ministry of Health and Social Policy, 2010.Health of migrants: the way forward - report of a global consultation, Madrid, Spain, 3-5 March 2010. Available online (PDF):
“Migrant-sensitive health services, inHealth of migrants: the way forward - report of a global consultation, Madrid, Spain, 3-5 March 2010. World Health Organization, International Organization for Migration, and Spanish Ministry of Health and Social Policy, 2010.
The MFH Project Group. The Amsterdam Declaration Towards Migrant-Friendly Hospitals in an ethno- culturally diverse Europe. 2004. amsterdam_declaration_english.pdf
Council of Europe. Recommendation CM/Rec(2011)13 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on mobility, migration and access to health care. Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 16 November 2011 at the 1126th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies.
Julia Puebla Fortier, DiversityRx -- 2013