Cultural Diversity in Healthcare: Addressing Differences To Overcome Barriers, a May 18, 2005 audio conference on CD-ROM, covers how healthcare organizations are working with culturally diverse populations to improve their access to care and the quality of care they receive.

The First National Report on U.S. Healthcare Quality and Disparities by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that while improvements are being made, there are still significant differences in the quality and access to care among culturally diverse populations in the United States.

During this 90-minute audio conference on CD-ROM, you learn about the approaches two organizations are using to serve the needs of culturally diverse populations. Your expert panel of speakers, Elsa Batica, cross-cultural health development and training manager, Children's Hospital and Clinic (Minneapolis) and Loretta Estes, coordinator, cultural and linguistics services, Passport Health Plan provide details on the diversity programs at their organizations, including:

• Training culturally responsive healthcare providers;
• Addressing language barriers in healthcare access/delivery;
• Building management support for cultural diverse programs;
• Working with the community to address cultural issues; and
• Reviewing case studies of the way their organization is serving culturally diverse populations.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS AUDIO CONFERENCE?

CEOs, medical directors, executives responsible for culturally competent healthcare, disease management directors, managers and coordinators, health plan executives, care management nurses, business development and strategic planning directors.

Here's what participants said about the live audio conference:

"Relays valuable information to healthcare about examples of successful cultural competence implementation," said Dougals Scarboro, University of Tennessee

"Presenters demonstrated excellent knowledge base and solid experience in program implementation," said Dr. Elizabeth Peterson-Vita. "It was thorough, professional and delivered what it promised. The CD-ROM also enabled us to share the material beyond the limited number of staff who could be present for the conference, and to do so in a time and cost-effective manner."

"Good ideas to apply in our workforce," said Betsy Burtis, manager of training and development with Southern New Hampshire Medical Center.

"I thought the speakers were well-versed on the issue," said Gretchen Nash, cultural competency provider manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. "I found the discussion valuable."

Provided the opportunity to understand some of the best practices other organizations have in place. I learned a lot and I believe the information is not only timely, but important to any organization with a diverse population," according to Sherry Ghillyer, sales and marketing training with AMERIGROUP Florida.

"Great review of how cultural competence can be disseminated," according to a project manager with a quality improvement organization

Gave us an opportunity "to compare the activities our company has implemented," according to the vice president of quality management at a health plan.

ABOUT OUR PANELISTS:

Elsa J. Batica

Elsa J. Batica is consultant of Cross Cultural Health Development & Training for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics. In her role at Children’s, Batica develops and delivers cultural competence training to health care providers and other staff; coordinates activities of the organization's Diversity Action Council; works with leadership, directors and managers on activities to enhance Children’s health care services to linguistic and cultural minority populations; helps Children’s develop collaborative relationships with multi-cultural community organizations; and coordinates implementation of select community-based projects.

Batica has extensive experience in participatory action research, instructional design, group facilitation and one-on-one counseling on workplace diversity and management issues. Throughout her career, she has developed and delivered hundreds of workshops, consultations and facilitated sessions to a diverse client list of government, corporate, education, health, non-profit and community settings. She is currently an adjunct professor teaching Human Resources: Effective Employee Selection, Leadership and Management course for Law Enforcement and Strategic Management of Diverse staff. She is a trained and experienced civil rights mediator.

Batica received an M.A. in Urban Planning & Community Development, Divine Word University, Tacloban City and a B.S. in Chemical engineering, Cebu Institute of Technology, Cebu, Philippines.

Loretta Estes

Loretta Estes currently serves as the coordinator of cultural and linguistic services, and as a community affairs coordinator for Passport Health Plan. After twenty years spent in the customer service arena, Estes joined the Plan as a member services representative at the time of the organization’s inception in 1997. After two years in that position, she joined the Public Affairs department as a member educator, which led to a promotion as a community affairs coordinator and to her current position.

Estes, who received her certification as a cultural diversity trainer from the Cross Cultural Health Program (CCHP) in Seattle, Washington, serves as the Plan’s primary advocate for members with limited English proficiency and other special communication needs. She is also responsible for the organization’s on-going compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the CLAS Standards, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

One of her most significant achievements has been the design and development of Passport Health Plan’s Provider Toolkit for Cultural and Linguistic Competency in Healthcare, which, in many instances, has provided medical and other human service practices with the foundation for developing their own cultural competency programs.