Joint Commission: "One Size Does Not Fit All: Meeting Health Care Needs of Diverse Populations".

The report urges health care organizations to assess their capacity to meet patients' unique cultural and language needs.

Based on successful practices now being used in hospitals, it underscores the need to move away from a "one size fits all" approach that negatively affects the quality and safety of care for diverse patients.

Language Line Services has long assisted hospitals and other health care providers in adapting to the needs of changing patient populations, from policies and procedures development and demographic assessment to staff training and the provision of language services.

To download a free copy of "One Size Does Not Fit All: Meeting the Health Care Needs of Diverse Populations" please visit www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/HLC/.

To learn more about Language Line Services' health care products and services, visit www.languageline.com/page/industry_healthcare/, call 1-800-752-6096 option 3, or drop us a note at healthletter@languageline.com

"Primary-care doctors who treat many minority patients have problems providing high-quality care."

A national study shows that primary-care physicians treating black and Latino patients face distinct problems, says a press release published on the Health Affairs Web site.

These physicians typically earn less, see more patients, provide more charity care, treat more Medicaid patients, and receive lower private insurance payments than their counterparts who treat fewer minority patients.

The study, "Do Primary-Care Physicians Treating Minority Patients Report Problems Delivering High-Quality Care?" was sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund.

These primary-care physicians also reported more problems providing high-quality care, ranging from inadequate time with their patients to difficulty obtaining specialty care.

"The findings indicate that the lower resources flowing to physicians treating more minority patients are associated with racial and ethnic disparities," says James D. Reschovsky, senior researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change and coauthor of the study with HSC senior researcher Ann S. O'Malley.

Complete results of the study, sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund, can be found here.

A printable version (PDF) is here.

IMIA Seeks Telephone Interpreters as Members!

The IMIA has just announced its "Telephone Interpreters Outreach Campaign". If you are primarily a telephone interpreter, this is an offer you should really consider.

The IMIA is offering you a free one-year membership (a $50 value) when you apply between now and June 30, 2008.

Simply answer that you are primarily a telephone interpreter as you fill out the application form online at http://www.mmia.org/join/application.asp. Then ignore the payment section of this process.

Once your membership is approved, you will receive an email from the IMIA. You will then start receiving monthly newsletters, and many other benefits.

For more information about the IMIA, go to www.imiaweb.org

The IMIA is a non-profit organization committed to equal access to quality health care for all people through the advancement of professional medical interpreting.

Founded in 1985, with over 1,500 members, IMIA is the oldest and largest medical interpreter association in the country.

Language Line Services Forms Independent Global Advisory Council to Enhance the Availability of Trained, Tested and Certified Medical Interpreters

Health Care and Interpreter Industry Experts to Help Guide the Quality Standards and Expand the Reach of Company's Medical Certification Programs

MONTEREY, CA - (May 28, 2008) - As part of its ongoing commitment to improve the quality of medical care provided to limited-English speaking patients, leading interpretation services provider Language Line Services has gathered health care and medical interpreting experts, patient advocates and other language service providers to form an independent Global Advisory Council (GAC) that will help guide the company's interpreter certification programs and medical interpreting-related policy initiatives.

The GAC will work collaboratively with Language LineŽ University, the company's globally recognized interpreter training and certification subsidiary, to develop and expand the availability of educational and "best practice" guidelines that simplify and standardize training and testing for interpreters working in the medical field.

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