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Culturally Competent Care
Culturally competent care is a life-long learning journey.
It is developed through consistent encounters with patients. Building a good rapport with patients can help them understand their health care needs, and have happier, heathier outcomes. Cultural competence is an ongoing learning process, that includes skills, values and principles that acknowledge, respect, and contribute to effective interactions between individuals and the cultural groups you come in contact with.
Highmark Health Options has assembled a list of resources and web-based tools that are intended to help build sensitivity to the cultural and linguistic differences, and to foster improved understanding and communication.
If you or your staff would like to better understand how cultural issues can affect health care and health care outcomes, use this guide as a starting point. We've done the research for you and have a wealth of information that will help you gain a better understanding of cultural competency and health equity.
Additionally, please help us improve the Highmark Health Options member experience by completing the Cultural Competency Data Form (PDF).
Resources
Georgetown University's National Center for Cultural Competence
This site offers self-assessment tools that can be used to measure growth.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health
The mission of the Office of Minority Health is to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities.
