Dao Management Consulting Services, Inc.: CLAS Standard 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.”

A clearly written strategic plan is the framework for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. While it is important to identify the barriers in patient care, it is even more important to outline the changes we must make.

According to the Office of Minority health, a strategic plan should help an organization “define and structure activities, policy development, and goal settings relevant to culturally and linguistically appropriate settings.”

Defining what strategies and activities relevant to specific community may seem daunting at first, especially for a small health care organization. However, one of the easiest and most valuable way to address a community’s need to speaking to leaders and active individuals in that community. We will expand on working with community members in Standard 12.

The Office of Minority steps recommends a multi-step plan to define and carry out culturally and linguistically appropriate services. A few of these steps include:

· An internal assessment of the organization, its staff, and members

· A “community profile”

· Engaging the community

· Ensuring a linguistically diverse staff that caters to community needs

· Conducting ongoing assessment of staff and organizational structure

· An organization’s missions that commits to culturally and linguistically appropriate services for people serve.

A healthcare organization needs to have synergy with its mission, goals, values, strategic plan, and be in sink with its consumer’s cultural and linguistic unique needs. The next is a diagram explaining the “Synergetic Model”.