Topic:A growing pol of patients is unable to read and write in the English language. Language is a barrier to effective care delivery as well as patient compliance.
Assignment #1
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Assignment #1 Title: A growing pol of patients is unable to read and write in the English language. Language is a barrier to effective care delivery as well as patient compliance.
Health Problem Language barriers does affect the level of patient care that is provided to patients. Close to 20 million people in the United States do not speak English with majority of them being immigrants from non-English speaking countries. Patient are most affected by this problem since limited ability to discuss symptoms with a patient can result in inadequate treatment and even death. This problem also affects the physicians since inadequate treatment can lead to lawsuits, brings stress upon the physician, the facility and the patient when there is a barrier in communication. On a daily basis, physicians are coming in contact with patients of diverse ethnic background who cannot read, write, or speak English.
Healthy People 2020 During my research on Healthy People 2020, the only thing that I was able to find about language barriers was from social determinants of health, and the words"language/literacy"were in a bulleted list. Other than that, Healthy People 2020 does not discuss the problems of language barriers in the U.S.
Healthy People 2020 states that efforts to eliminate disparities over the years, and achieve health equality have focused mainly on illness and diseases. They state that, throughout the next decade they will assess health disparities in the U.S. that are related to race and ethnicity ("Disparities," 2016). I think that this may be the reason that language barriers are not mentioned on the website and assume from their statements that they will cover this problem over the next few years.
Official Title and Citation of the Legislation The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the most important piece of legislation when it comes to Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The Act states: "No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
Currently, different USA states treat language barriers differently bases on the Limited English Proficiency (LEP)ratio in a particular state. This provides patients with an opportunity to file a civil rights complaint if they feel that they are being discriminated against through denial of access to language services (Monroy, 2015).
Describe the public policy response The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights is working to ensure that all people have equal access healthcare as well as reduce the barriers between LEP and healthcare organizations. In September 2015, OCR issued a proposed rule to advance health equity and reduce disparities under Section 1557 in the Affordable Care Act. Under the rule, covered entities would need to:
• Post a notice of consumer rights providing information about the availability of free language assistance.
• Inform individuals that these services are available by posting taglines in the top 15 languages spoken by individuals with LEP nationally ("HHS Continues to Improve Access for LEP Individuals," 2015).
Status: As of today, the status of the health policy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is still in place.
Conclusion: From my findings, I would say that the health policy does not adequately address the health problem associated with language barriers. It was very challenging for me to find anything that had to do with legislation that was set in stone for states.
The laws and rules are all over the place. This has become such a problem that there should be a nationwide resolution that all healthcare organizations should be required to follow. This way there is no question about legalities and healthcare is available to everyone who needs it no matter the language that they may speak.
Resources for Updates: Updates on policies are available on HHS.gov and healthcare organizationscan utilize this. This site is the home of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and contains the latest on up to date policies as well as many other helpful updates.
References
Healthy People 2020 (2016, March 25). "Disparities." Retrieved from
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/foundation-health-measures/DisparitiesBoyles, Salynn (2016).
"Language Barrier Affecting Health Care." Retrieved from
https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/20060719/language-barrier-affecting-health-careMonroy, Marianne (2015, August 5).
"Patient Language Barriers: Why are Responsible."
Retrieved from
https://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/news/patient-language-barriers-why-physicians-are-responsible
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2015, December 1).
"HHS Continues to Improve Access for LEP Individuals."
Retrieved from
https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/special-topics/limited-english-proficiency/hhs-continues-to-improve-access-for-lep-individuals/