Cultural Competency
Advancing from cultural competency to cultural humility
A more inclusive approach to equitable care
Health care is shifting from cultural competency to cultural humility. This evolution recognizes each patient as an expert in their own health journey.
- Cultural competency encourages understanding and respect for patients’ experiences and needs
- Cultural humility reinforces a commitment to lifelong learning and reducing barriers created by bias and power imbalances
How to deliver more culturally responsive care
Cultural awareness
Understand and accept the positive effects a patient’s culture, values and beliefs have on their treatment and health outcomes.
Social drivers
Assess, report and monitor the impacts of social drivers of health on a patient’s well-being, health outcomes and quality of life.
Language differences
Download and share the I Speak card card to help your patients identify their preferred language and arrange for interpretation services.
Showcase your cultural humility
Enhance your visibility in the provider directory by including these profile details:
- Cultural competency training
- Race and ethnicity
- Languages spoken by the provider and staff, and access to interpreter services
- Specialties and areas of expertise
Cultural humility training and education
Featured course:
Delivering Inclusive Care: Cultural Competency and ADA Compliance for Care Providers
This course guides providers to approach care with cultural humility while ensuring equitable access for all patients. It explains ADA requirements to support full and inclusive health care for people with disabilities.
Free CME Credit Courses
Optum Health Education™ (OHE): OHE is an accredited provider of medical, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, psychology, social work, dental and dietitian continuing education.
Department of Health and Human Services: The Office of Minority Health offers accredited continuing education programs, as well as tools to help you provide respectful, understandable and effective services.
Resources to enhance inclusive and respectful care
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Planning Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services
An approach to defining the needs of multi-ethnic members and developing culturally and linguistically appropriate services for them.
The Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (3rd edition)
A free resource to improve interactions between patients and staff. For the fastest engagement, begin with the Quick Start Guide.
Other resources
American Indian and Alaska Native Culture Card
The culture card enhances cultural competence when serving American Indian and Alaska Native communities. It covers regional differences, cultural customs, spirituality, communication styles, the role of veterans and older adults, and health disparities.
American Medical Association (AMA): Health Equity
Access articles and tools focused on addressing health care disparities, social drivers of health, cultural humility and physician workforce diversity to support more equitable health outcomes.
Georgetown University National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC)
The Cultural and Linguistic Competence Health Practitioner Assessment (CLCHPA) self-guided learning activity developed by the NCCC, is designed to enhance the delivery of high-quality services for diverse patient/client populations and promote cultural and linguistic as essential approaches addressing health and healthcare disparities.
I Speak language assistance card for office
This resource allows individuals to identify their preferred language and provides directions to arrange interpretation services for UnitedHealthcare members.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Service
Information on National CLAS Standards and education including free continuing education e-learning programs, resources to recorded presentations, quarterly newsletters, case study video units and more.