STRATEGIC PLAN - ASPE - U.S. Department of Health and Human ...

CHAPTER 2: Health careWorkforce Support EffortsCultural Competence. OPHS’s OMH is mandated todevelop the capacity of health care professionals toaddress the cultural and linguistic barriers to healthcare delivery and increase access to health care forpeople with limited English proficiency. The Center forLinguistic and Cultural Competence in Health Care wasestablished in FY 1995 as a vehicle to address the healthneeds of populations with limited English proficiency.National Standards on Culturally and LinguisticallyAppropriate Services. These standards have beendeveloped and are primarily directed at healthcare organizations; however, individual providersalso are encouraged to use the standards to maketheir practices more culturally and linguisticallyaccessible. The principles and activities of culturallyand linguistically appropriate services should beintegrated throughout an organization and undertakenin partnership with the communities being served. Thestandards are organized by three themes: CulturallyCompetent Care, Language Access Services, andOrganizational Supports for Cultural Competence.Mental Health and Substance Use DisordersPrevention and Treatment. SAMHSA supportsefforts to identify and articulate key workforcedevelopment issues in the mental health and substanceuse disorders prevention and treatment fields andto encourage the retention and recruitment of aneffective compassionate workforce. These effortsinclude support for programs that train behavioralhealth professionals to work with underserved minoritypopulations, training for mental health and substanceabuse providers, and leadership training programs.Support to Family Caregivers. The National FamilyCaregiver Support Program, developed by AoA, callsfor all States working in partnership with local areaagencies on aging, faith- and community-serviceproviders, and tribes to offer five direct services thatbest meet the range of family and informal caregivers’needs: information about available services; assistancein gaining access to supportive services; individualcounseling, organization of support groups, andtraining to assist caregivers in making decisions andsolving problems relating to their roles; respite care toenable caregivers to be temporarily relieved from theircaregiving responsibilities; and supplemental services,on a limited basis, to complement the care provided.Direct Support Workforce. To address the emerging“care gap” between the number of long-term careworkers and growing demand, providers, policymakers,and consumers are likely to consider a broad range ofstrategies: improving wages and benefits of direct careworkers, tapping new worker pools, strengthening theskills that new workers bring at job entry, and providingmore relevant and useful continuing education andtraining. A key strategy in this mix will be a focus onworkforce development—providing workers with theknowledge and skills they need to perform their jobs. Inaddition, ASPE and its partners in and outside HHS areengaged in a series of research projects aimed at moreaccurately enumerating the long-term care workforce,describing the types of tasks performed and assessingthe impact of workforce development programs.HHS Strategic Plan FY 2007-201247