Culturally Competent Care
AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care's cultural competency program helps prepare our providers to deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services to all of our members, regardless of their culture, country of origin, language, race, or ethnicity. With our participating providers like you, we work to meet the unique needs of our diverse membership through customized health-related information and services.
We can help when your practice has questions about delivering effective health services to these diverse populations.
For help serving members with limited English knowledge, low literacy proficiency, or sensory impairments, contact Member Services at 1-866-533-5490 (TTY 711), 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.
Cultural Awareness and Responsiveness Training Opportunities, Continuing Medical Education (CME) Credits, and Resources for Providers
Why cultural awareness and responsiveness are important
The cultural background of the members of your patient community can impact how they respond to, accept, and manage their health care needs. It can impact:
- Adherence to care plans
- Proactive health measures
- Unconscious biases
- Patient trust
As a service to our providers, we have curated a collection of no-cost CME-accredited classes and learning resources that support continuing education in this area. All courses have been vetted or recommended by leading best-practice organizations for practitioners and health care professionals.
No-cost training resources for CME
The Office of Minority Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, offers the following accredited continuing education (CE) programs:
- A Physician's Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care, accredited for physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists.
- Culturally Competent Nursing Care: A Cornerstone of Caring, accredited for nurses and social workers.
Both programs are accredited for CE credits and available online at no cost to participants.
The Fenway Institute: National LGBT Health Education Center
- CME credits offered.
- Various training topics — view list of offered trainings.
- Visit the National LGBT Health Education Center website.
The Health Education Center offers no-cost webinars, publications, and talks led by clinicians and leading researchers on providing supportive LGBTQ health care.
Learning and supportive resources
The following resources are not available for continuing education credit; however, they are recommended resources for improving cultural responsiveness.
Georgetown University: National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) Distance Learning
- Free to access
- Various training topics
- Curricula and learning tools include relevant materials, articles, and publications, and provide users with instructional and self-discovery strategies
- Visit the NCCC Distance Learning website
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health literacy training
- Various health literacy topics
- Visit the CDC health literacy training website
The Joint Commission: Health equity standards
There are no standards that prohibit a bilingual practitioner from communicating directly with a patient in another language while providing care, treatment, or services. However, it is recommended that the organization has a process to make sure that communication with the patient in the non-English language is effective and meets the patient's needs.
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