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An interactive e-learning course designed to increase your understanding of the business, medical (quality/safety) and legal reasons for providing language access services to Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients.

The Situation: Nationally, nearly 20% of Americans speak a language other than English. In some states and communities that percentage is over 40% of the population. Despite these dramatic demographic shifts however, a substantial body of national research establishes that few physicians are familiar with the language access laws that govern the use of interpreters, bilingual staff and translated written materials. As a result, high quality patient care and safety are frequently compromised.

Our Solution: Language Access and the Law is designed to help remedy these problems. It provides two hours of case-based instruction on the law of language access and immigrant medicine. This interactive program is designed to teach medical professionals the most common problems associated with the provision of language access in a wide variety of medical settings. It also includes web links to clinical guidelines, national best practices, practical business, medical and legal advice and valuable medical references to additional resources. The e-learning format makes it easy to complete and review course content whenever your schedule permits.

The Instructional Format is Designed to Quickly and Effectively Teach

Clinicians How To

• Grow your practice in response to increased demand from culturally and linguistically diverse patients.

• Effectively discharge your legal obligations to provide language access services under federal and state law, the CLAS standards and new Joint Commission requirements.

• Avoid common problems in the provision of language access services.

• Work effectively with interpreters.• Provide high-quality language access

services that increase patient safety.• Avoid unwanted litigation through

proactive, proven risk management techniques.

Critical Measures 4627 Nicollet Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55419 [email protected]

Language Access and the Law E-Learning ProgramA Cost-Effective

Program For Time-Limited Providers

• User friendly, on-demand training program delivered via Internet or intranet.

• Available 24/7 - at your command from any location, any time.

• Bookmark your place and start again where you left off.

• Cost-effective alternative to expensive classroom courses.

• Save time traveling to and from live training classes.

• Obtain 2.25 CME credit hours.

• Users learn and retain more than conventional classroom programs by being required to interact with the material, answer questions and obtain feedback on their choices.

Want More Information?Contact David B. Hunt, J.D., President and CEO of Critical Measures, LLC, a national management consulting and training firm specializing in cross-cultural medical care.P: (612) 746-1375 orP: (612) 558-0028 (cell)E: [email protected] visit www.cmelearning.com

Critical Measures worked with a Midwestern multi-hospital system from 2011 to 2013 to conduct a CLAS-based organizational assessment, Language Access Audit and a Provider Cultural and Linguistic Competence Assessment.

Our CLAS-based organizational assessment and Language Access Audit identified many quality and safety issues with the client’s provision of language access services to Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Deaf and Hard of Hearing patients. We worked with the client to remedy many of these issues.

Then, we conducted our electronic Provider Cultural and Linguistic Competence Assessment. Over 500 doctors, nurses and advanced practice providers took the assessment. The results for the client’s providers showed:

• 97% treated LEP patients. (Similar to US average)• Nearly half of the client’s providers felt “less than well

prepared” to care for these patients.• Client’s primary care M.D.s (Family Practice, OB-GYN,

Pediatricians, and Internists, by their own self-evaluation were the least well prepared to provide care to LEP patients despite the fact that they had the most freqent contact with them.

• 30% did not routinely use qualified interpreters to obtain the informed consent of LEP patients. Further, approximately 50% did not routinely record the use of an interpreter in the patient’s record.

• 92% treated immigrants and regugees, but over 60% of the client’s providers felt “less than well prepared” to do so effectively.

• 56% to 70% did not routinely ask about patients’ country of origin or recent travel history despite the fact that the answers to these questions could have substantially affected the patients’ ultimiate diagnosis.

• 52% were unfamiliar with Schistosomaisis and an additional 65% were unfamiliar with Stronglyoides--two of the five most common diseases found in immigrants and refugees to the U.S.

The results noted above proved so distressing to our hospital client that they approached the hospital’s foundation for a substantial grant to pay providers to take Critical Measures’ CME accredited e-learning course on Language Access and the Law.

The client began offering our Language Access and the Law e-learning program in the fall of 2013. As of the fall of 2014, over 400 providers have now taken and completed the course. Here is a sample of users’ initial results:

• 92% of users (382 of 416) strongly agreed/agreed that the information presented would help them to improve patient care.

• 85% would recommend the program to colleagues.

• Prior to taking the course, 50% felt very confident/confident about their ability to treat LEP patients.After completing the course, 95% felt very confident/confident about their ability to treat LEP patients. (Total gain: +45%)

• From pre-test to post-course evaluation, the number of users who stated that they would increase their future use of qualified medical interpreters when treating LEP patients increased by 23%.

• From pre-test to post-course evaluation, more than 50% of users stated the number of users who stated that they would decrease their future use of family members, friends, and minor children as interpreters for LEP patients.

Critical Measures 4627 Nicollet Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55419 [email protected]

Language Access and the Law E-Learning Program

Want More Information?P: (612) 746-1375 orP: (612) 558-0028 (cell)E: [email protected] visit www.cmelearning.com