Why Collect Race, Ethnicity, and Primary Language

Numerous studies document that racial and ethnic minorities often receive lower quality care than non-minorities. Although much information on health care comes from health care organizations, data on race, ethnicity, and primary language are often unavailable or incomplete.

In addition, deaf and hard of hearing populations face challenges in accessing high-quality health care. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders report, "Statistics about Hearing Disorders, Ear Infections, and Deafness" (2007), approximately 28 million Americans have hearing loss. 

Valid and reliable data are fundamental building blocks for identifying differences in care and developing targeted interventions to improve the quality of care delivered to specific populations The capacity to measure and monitor quality of care for various racial, ethnic, and linguistic populations rests on the ability both to measure quality of care in general and to conduct similar measurements across different racial, ethnic, and linguistic groups. This section provides information about why your health care organization should collect these data.

• Making the Case
• National/State Reporting Requirements
• Accreditation Requirements

Making the Case

Measurement and outcomes have become increasingly important for demonstrating the effectiveness of health care. Evidence from the last 20 years shows that racial, ethnic, and language-based disparities remain present in health care. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, issued in 2002, is one of several recent studies documenting such evidence. There is a clear need to document and improve the quality of care provided to vulnerable populations. The need for data to track these disparities and develop effective programs to reduce and eliminate them is clear.

Disparities in health care can be addressed through a quality of care framework if data on race, ethnicity, and primary language are available. According to the report "The Right to Equal Treatment" issued by Physicians for Human Rights, data collection has long been central to the quality assurance process. The data may also help evaluate population trends and help ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of race and national origin, such as providing meaningful access for persons with limited English proficiency.

Most hospitals (82 percent) currently collect data on their patients' race and ethnicity, and 67 percent collect information on patients' primary language. However, the data are not collected in a systematic or standard manner and are often not shared, even between different departments within the same hospital. Organizations that collect accurate data can use this information to ensure they have sufficient language assistance services, to develop appropriate patient education materials, and to track quality indicators and health outcomes for specific groups to inform improvements in quality of care.

Race and Ethnicity Data

Health care organizations should collect information on patients' race and ethnicity in order to measure disparities in care---and see if they exist in the organization. Identifying and measuring disparities helps organizations initiate programs to improve quality of care. Experts assert that a growing consensus accepts a strategy integrating reduction in disparities in quality of care as a coherent and efficient approach to redesigning the U.S. health care system.

Communities want health care providers to be accountable and responsive to them. According to the American College of Physicians position paper on racial and ethnic disparities in health care, "An ongoing dialogue with surrounding communities can help a health care organization integrate cultural beliefs and perspectives into health care practices and health promotion activities." Tracking racial and ethnic composition with concurrently changing health care needs of communities is vital if health care providers are to fulfill their functions.

Links

• The Commonwealth Fund Report: Who, When and How: The Current State of Race, Ethnicity, and Primary Language Data Collection in Hospitals (PDF)
• Obtaining Data On Patient Race, Ethnicity, and Primary Language In Health Care Organizations: Current Challenges and Proposed Solutions
• Survey on Collection of Race and Ethnicity Data by Hospitals (DOC)
  

Primary Language Data

Patients with limited English proficiencyor who are deaf or hard of hearing need to be able to communicate with their health care providers to ensure that the quality of care they receive is not compromised. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey, over 23 million people in the United States speak English less than "very well." Poor patient outcomes that have been attributed to language barriers include increased use of expensive diagnostic tests, increased use of emergency services and decreased use of primary care services, and poor or no patient follow-up when follow-up is indicated.

In a survey of hospital language services conducted by the Health Research and Educational Trust (2006), the most commonly cited barriers were the inability of staff to identify patients who need language services before they arrive at the hospital and the difficulty in obtaining community-level data about the languages spoken in the community versus collecting this information directly from patients. This Toolkit is designed to help hospitals and other health care organizations obtain this information directly from patients.

Links

• National Health Law Program (NHeLP) Web site
• National Survey Results on Hospital Language Services for Patients with Limited English Proficiency (PDF)
• Issue Brief: Collecting Race, Ethnicity, and Primary Language Data: Tools to Improve Quality of Care and Reduce Health Care Disparities (PDF)

Language Needs of the Deaf or Hard of Hearing

The communication needs of deaf and hard of hearing patients should be integrated into programs and services provided in health care settings as the ability to effectively communicate in health care settings is critical to providing quality health care to this population. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability, require health care organizations to provide auxiliary aids and services as necessary to insure effective means of communication for patients, family members, and hospital visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing. To be compliant with the law, the health care organization must ensure that the individual who is deaf or hard of hearing actually understands what is being communicated through an alternative communication option.

The following are auxiliary aids and services:

• Qualified interpreters
• Note-takers
• Computer-aided transcription services
• Written materials
• Telephone handset amplifiers
• Assistive listening devices
• Assistive listening systems
• Telephones compatible with hearing aids
• Closed caption decoders
• Open and closed captioning
• Telecommunications devices for deaf persons (TDDs)
• Videotext displays
• Other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments

In most circumstances, the patient who is deaf or hard of hearing is in the best position to determine what means of communication is necessary to insure that effective communication occurs. Therefore, the individual's judgment regarding what means of communication is necessary to insure effective communication should be documented in the medical record. This should be followed by an assessment of the types of aids and services that may be needed during the various types of interaction between the health care provider's staff and the deaf or hard of hearing patient throughout the patient's treatment.

In order to identify the needs of deaf or hard of hearing patients and their companions, health care providers should collect information from these patients, their companions, and communities about their language needs. Our research to date has not specifically focused on the best methods of collecting information about the language needs of deaf and hard of hearing populations, but we understand the importance of collecting this information to provide high quality care to these populations.  In our national survey of hospital language services conducted in 2006, 11 percent of hospitals reported frequently encountering patients with American Sign Language as their primary language. For more information, see the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Populations section.

National/State Reporting Requirements

An increasing number of federal policies emphasize the need for obtaining race, ethnicity, and language information. According to the Commonwealth Fund report, Racial, Ethnic, and Primary Language Data Collection in the Health Care System: An Assessment of Federal Policies and Practices (2001) by Perot and Youdelman, these major federal policies govern racial, ethnic, and primary language data collection and reporting:

• Office of Management and Budget (OMB) revised standards (1997)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
• Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health (1998)
• Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (1997)
• Benefits Improvement and Protection Act (2000)
• Report of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, The Health Care Challenge: Acknowledging Disparity, Confronting Discrimination, and Ensuring Equity (1999)
• Executive Orders 13166 "Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency" and 13125 "Improving the Quality of Life of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" (2000)
• Minority and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000
• Department of Health and Human Services Title VI Regulations (1964)
• Department of Health and Human Services Inclusion Policy (1997)
• Healthy People 2010 (2000)
• Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (2000)
• HHS Data Council Activities (ongoing)
• National Committee on Vital Health Statistics (ongoing)

Below is a list of 22 states that indicated they require the reporting of race/ethnicity:

Source: Medstat and National Association of Health Data Organizations. "Nationwide Data Inventory of Statewide Encounter-Level Data Collection Activities." Report to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). AHRQ Contract No. 290-00-0004. April, 2003.

Look to the blue Links column to the right for helpful resources.

Accreditation Requirements

In January of 2006, the Joint Commission issued a new standard requiring health care organizations to collect patient's primary language information.

Look to the blue Links column to the right for helpful resources.