Policy Manual sample

MDT Home Health Care Agency, Inc. delivery of health care to its people. As such, our Agency is pleased to present the Cultural Competency Plan, a plan that provides information and internal structures necessary to educate the Patients/Clients, Families, caregivers, Agency’s employees and systems to ensure culturally competent care. As reflected in the 2006 Florida Department of Health’s Healthy People 2010 Minority Health Report, “Our Agency assists in the reduction of racial and ethnic health disparities through the education of health professionals, the use of non-traditional service delivery methods, addressing language assess issues, and a focus on cultural competence.” With cultural competency training as the foundation to improve care, these ideologies are promoted through inclusion in our strategic plans, goals, and objectives; integration into training and in- service/training; in contract performance measures; in collaborative efforts with families, patients, caregivers, and policy makers, and through the promotion of service access to all populations with specific attention given to traditionally underserved populations. Although our Agency serves a small subset of Florida’s population, it is not expected to significantly impact disparate health outcomes at the state level. Our mission is to develop and implement a new and replicable care management model that will contain cost and improve quality, while simultaneously serving as a platform for continuous improvement in the way minorities receive home health care services in Florida. PURPOSE The Cultural Competency Plan has been updated to outline the methods used by our Agency to ensure that our patients receive care that is delivered in a culturally and linguistically sensitive manner. The Cultural Competency Plan is comprehensive and incorporates all patients, families/caregivers and agency’s staff (Administration, Human Resources, Customer Service, Case Management, Nursing/Professional Services, Grievance and Appeals, Care Management, and Community Liaison). Our Agency recognizes that respecting the diversity of our patient/client has a significant and positive effect on outcomes of care. Our Agency has adopted the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards as developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, as our official guidelines for providing culturally sensitive services. GOALS 1. Ensure that services are provided in a culturally competent manner to all patients, including those with limited English proficiency. 2. Caregivers, Agency’s employees, and systems will effectively provide services to people of all cultures, races, ethnic backgrounds, and religions in a manner that recognizes values, affirms, and respects the worth of the individual and protects and preserves the dignity of each. 3. Our Agency will complete an annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the CCP. We will track and trend any issues identified in the evaluation and implement interventions to improve the provision of services. A description of the evaluation, its results, the analysis of the results and interventions to be implemented will be described in the annual CCP submitted the Agency. Our Agency will provide high-quality, culturally sensitive services by identification, delivery and continual monitoring of patient’s needs. We hires bilingual staff and develops education training for all relevant staff regarding cultural competency. Our Quality Improvement Team monitors and evaluates the level of cultural competency through regular supervision visits to all of our field staff. We develop plans and programs for improving cultural awareness, where a need is identified, Home Health Agency Policies A-164