Promising Practices

These resources describe promising practices, principles, and recommendations for delivering culturally and linguistically competent care across various health care settings, including hospitals, primary care, and safety-net clinics.

Health Literacy Practices In Primary Care Settings: Examples from the Field

This resource presents findings from a study that identifies five health literacy practices that staff considered especially valuable for patients and potentially applicable to other clinics.

Taking Cultural Competency from Theory to Action

This resource provides principles and recommendations for implementing culturally competent practices in the field based on six principles.

Providing Language Services to Diverse Populations: Lessons from the Field

This resources contains best practices for providing language assistance services to those with limited English proficiency, based on collaboration with hospitals, health systems, and health plans. These best practices are centered on tailoring language assistance programs based on settings, populations served, and availability of resources. 

Designing Safety-Net Clinics for Cultural Sensitivity

This report provides a framework and recommendations for designing culturally sensitive safety-net clinics with an emphasis on the role of physical environment in patient-provider relationships.

Patient-Centered Communication with Vulnerable Populations: Examples from Eight Hospitals

This report describes strategies for hospital and health system leaders to encourage patient-centered communications to provide safe, clear, and effective health care for patients with limited or no English proficiency, limited health literacy, or cultural backgrounds that are not well understood by staff.