Culture and Quality Part III--10 Resources

In lieu of another article in this part, I decided that sharing resources that will help you frame culture and quality together would be valuable. While I intended to share these resources in the final quarter so to speak, I thought they would be helpful now.

By no means is this meant to be a definitive list. In fact, I welcome suggestions on what should be added to it that allows us to see the connections between cultural competency and quality more clearly. We want (continuing for some and beginning for others) to make this an integral part of our foundation for creating seamless connections of cultural competency, diversity, and inclusion with our collective organizational quality development, mission, and of course, for healthcare reform.

Culture and Quality: Joining the Levers (2002)
Dr. Mark D. Smith, MD, MBA, CEO of the California Healthcare Foundation clearly illustrates the movements of cultural competency and quality and their connection. He frames the presentation around “What are we going to do?” It is important to note that this was 2002 when Dr. Smith presented at the Third National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations. It is 2009, the issue has risen in priority, the presentation is very timely to this day.

The Providers Guide to Quality and Culture
Management Sciences for Health has created a very comprehensive website focused on Quality and Culture for healthcare providers. This site is very comprehensive and frames the quality dynamics with succinct descriptions and a broad grouping of subjects. The site was created with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Bureau of Primary Health Care.

National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Efforts
NCQA has taken great efforts to align quality and cultural competency for health plans. In fact, many health plans have been actively making cultural competency and the reduction/elimination of health disparities a priority for years. (more)