Revised CLAS Standards


From the Office of Minority Health


Closing the Gap, Cultural Competency Part II • February/March 2001 

1.	 Health care organizations should ensure that patients/consum- 9. Health care organizations should conduct initial and ongoing 

ers receive from all staff members, effective, understandable, organizational self-assessments of CLAS-related activities and 

and respectful care that is provided in a manner compatible are encouraged to integrate cultural and linguistic competencewith their cultural health beliefs and practices and preferred related measures into their internal audits, performance imlanguage. provement programs, patient satisfaction assessments, and 

outcomes-based evaluations. 

2.	 Health care organizations should implement strategies to recruit, retain, and promote at all levels of the organization a 10. Health care organizations should ensure that data on the indidiverse staff and leadership that are representative of the de- vidual patient’s/consumer’s race, ethnicity, and spoken and 

mographic characteristics of the service area. written language are collected in health records, integrated 

into the organization’s management information systems, and 

3.	 Health care organizations should ensure that staff at all levels periodically updated. 

and across all disciplines receive ongoing education and training in culturally and linguistically appropriate service delivery. 11. Health care organizations should maintain a current demographic, cultural, and epidemiological profile of the commu4.	 Health care organizations must offer and provide language nity as well as a needs assessment to accurately plan for and 

assistance services, including bilingual staff and interpreter ser- implement services that respond to the cultural and linguistic 

vices, at no cost to each patient/consumer with limited English characteristics of the service area. 

proficiency at all points of contact, in a timely manner during 

all hours of operation. 12. Health care organizations should develop participatory, collaborative partnerships with communities and utilize a variety 

5.	 Health care organizations must provide to patients/consumers of formal and informal mechanisms to facilitate community 

in their preferred language both verbal offers and written no- and patient/consumer involvement in designing and impletices informing them of their right to receive language assis- menting CLAS-related activities. 

tance services. 

13.	 Health care organizations should ensure that conflict and griev6.	 Health care organizations must assure the competence of lan- ance resolution processes are culturally and linguistically sensiguage assistance provided to limited English proficient pa- tive and capable of identifying, preventing, and resolving crosstients/consumers by interpreters and bilingual staff. Family cultural conflicts or complaints by patients/consumers. 

and friends should not be used to provide interpretation services (except on request by the patient/consumer). 14. Health care organizations are encouraged to regularly make 

available to the public information about their progress and 

7.	 Health care organizations must make available easily under- successful innovations in implementing the CLAS standards 

stood patient-related materials and post signage in the lan- and to provide public notice in their communities about the 

guages of the commonly encountered groups and/or groups availability of this information. 

represented in the service area. 

8.	 Health care organizations should develop, implement, and *Note: The standards are organized by three themes. 

promote a written strategic plan that outlines clear goals, poli- 1. Culturally Competent Care (Standards 1-3) 

cies, operational plans, and management accountability/over- 2. Language Access Services (Standards 4-7) 

sight mechanisms to provide culturally and linguistically ap- 3. Organizational Supports for Cultural Competence 

propriate services. (Standards 8-14). 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center	 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services