National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically
Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS)
1. Health care organizations should ensure that patients/consumers receive from all staff members effective, understandable, and respectful care that is provided in a manner compatible with their cultural health beliefs and practices and preferred language. (Guideline)
2. Health
care organization should implement strategies to recruit, retain, and promote
at all levels of the organization a diverse staff and leadership that are
representative of the demographic characteristics of the services area. (Guideline)
3. Health
care organizations should ensure that staff at all levels and across all
disciplines receive ongoing education and training in culturally and
linguistically appropriate services delivery. (Guideline)
4. Health
care organization must offer and provide language assistance services,
including bilingual staff and interpreter services, at no cost to each
patient/consumer with limited English proficiency at all points of contact, in
a timely manner during all hours of operation. (Mandate)
5. Health
care organizations must provide to patients/consumers in their preferred
language both verbal offers and written notices informing them of their right
to receive language assistance services. (Mandate)
6. Health
care organization must assure the competence of language assistance provided to
limited English proficient patient/consumers by interpreters and bilingual
staff. Family and friends should not be used to provide interpretation services
(except on request by the patient/consumer). (Mandate)
7. Health
care organization must make available easily understood patient- related
materials and post signage in the language of the commonly encountered groups
and/or group represented in the service area. (mandated)
8. Health
care organizations should develop, implement, and promote a written strategic
plan that outlines clear goals, policies, operational plans, and management
accountability/oversight mechanisms to provide culturally and linguistically
appropriate services. (Guideline)
CLAS Continued
9. Healthcare
organizations should conduct initial and ongoing organizational self-assessment
of CLAS-related measures into their internal audits, performance improvement
programs, patient satisfaction assessment , and outcome-based evaluations (Recommendation)
10. Health care organizations should ensure that
data on the individual patient’s/consumer’s race, ethnicity, and spoken and
written language are collected in health records, integrated into the
organization’s management information systems, and periodically updated (Guideline)
11. Health
care organization should maintain a current demographic, culturally, and
epidemiological profile of the community as well as a needs assessment to
accurately plan for the implement services that respond to the cultural and
linguistic characteristics of the services area. (Guideline)
12. Health care organization should develop participatory, collaborative partnership with communities and utilize a variety of formal and informal mechanisms to facilitate community and patient/consumer involvement in designing and implementing CALS –relate activities. (Guideline)
13. Health
care organizations should ensure that conflict and grievance resolution process
are culturally and linguistically sensitive and capable of identifying,
prevention, and resolving cross-cultural conflicts or co9mplaints by
patients/consumers. (Guideline)
14. Health care organizations are encouraged to
regularly make available to the public information about their progress and
successful innovations in implementing the
National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically
Appropriate Services in Health Care. Final Report.