making the business case for culturally and linguistically appropriate ...

CLAS BUSINESS CASE PROJECTS AND RESULTSThe following table summarizes CLAS business cases in this report. The table provides:• A brief description of each project;• The organizational setting in which it was conducted; and• Business benefits and other project successesAn explanation of cases and related CLAS Standards was provided earlier in thisreport. Case studies are included in Appendix A-M.Summary CLAS Business Case ProjectsProject Organizational Setting CLAS ActivityImplementedBenefits & ResultsBilingual Deaf AccessProjectThe Young Children's HealthCenter,Albuquerque, NM.Community-based, pediatricmedical center, part ofChildren’s Hospital of NewMexico (part of theUniversity of New MexicoHospital System) thatprovides comprehensivehealth services to familieswith children from birth toyoung adulthood. The clinicis located in a relativelyisolated, impoverished areapopulated by individuals ofmany different cultures andethnicities and is the primarylocation for child health care.Established a partnershipwith the University of NewMexico Department ofLanguage, to providebilingual and biculturalhealth care services inMexican sign language todeaf children and familieswho are non-Englishspeaking.• Early identification and accessto health care services forchildren with special needs.• Increased its deaf outreachservices from 5 patients toover 70 patients, in two years,all of whom have some formof health care coverage.• Decreased the number ofinappropriate hospitalemergency room visits amongLEP and deaf patients.• Provider of choice for deafand hard of hearing childrenand families in New Mexico.Bilingual MaternityDischarge ClassesHoly Cross Hospital,Silver Spring, MD.A faith-based, missiondrivencommunity teachinghospital in the Marylandsuburbs of Washington, DC,serving primarily theresidents of Montgomeryand Prince George’sCounties. The hospital is amember of Trinity Health ofNovi, Michigan, the nation’sfourth largest Catholic healthcare system.Implemented bilingualbiculturalgroup dischargeclasses in Spanish, toprovide culturallycompetent and languageappropriate maternityservices to their Latinapopulation and to expeditethe hospital dischargeprocess.• 265 women discharged twohours earlier (annually) due totimely provision of dischargeclasses.• Produced fiscal savingsassociated with promptdischarge of patients.• Increased improvements inquality of care and customersatisfaction.Bilingual EmployeeIncentive ProgramThe Young Children's HealthCenter,Albuquerque, NM.Community-based, pediatricmedical center, part ofChildren’s Hospital of NewMexico (part of theUniversity of New MexicoHospital System) thatprovides comprehensivehealth services to familieswith children from birth toyoung adulthood. The clinicis located in a relativelyisolated, impoverished areapopulated by individuals ofmany different cultures andethnicities and is the primarylocation for child health care..Institutionalized theBilingual EmployeeIncentive Program, anincentive program andmonetary human resourcebenefit for bilingual staffwho provide Spanishlanguage interpretationservices to non-Englishspeaking patients.• Program saved organization$50,000 in interpretationcosts, even after adjusting forsalary increases to theemployees who are fulfillingthe interpretation function.• In addition, by using YCHCemployees in the role ofinterpreters, the schedulingand management of theprocess has improved.• Delays associated withwaiting for an interpreter werelargely eliminated.19