HRSA is one of four organizations that collaborated on a new guide book to help health care professionals understand and respond more effectively to the unique needs of more than 32 million Hispanics in the United States.

Titled Quality Health Services for Hispanics: The Cultural Competency Component, the guide emphasizes the central role of cultural competence in providing quality primary and preventive health care to Hispanics.

The authors define cultural competence as the set of behaviors, attitudes, skills and policies that help organizations and staff work effectively with people of different cultures.  Knowledge of the health-related beliefs, attitudes, practices and communication patterns of Hispanic culture can improve services, strengthen programs, increase community participation and close gaps in health status.

“This guide specifically addresses language and other cultural barriers and suggests different approaches to overcome them,” said HRSA Administrator Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H.  “Its examination of the unique traits and experiences of Hispanic subgroups in the United States will help health care providers deliver better, more responsive treatment.”

The guide is the product of a partnership among HRSA's Bureau of Primary Health Care, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Office of Minority Health, and the nonprofit National Alliance for Hispanic Health.

"This collaboration reflects our determination to give health care professionals the finest resources available in cultural competency education,” said Marilyn H. Gaston, M.D., HRSA's associate administrator for primary health care.  “Providing quality health care to people from diverse cultures is a cornerstone of our effort to eliminate health disparities among Americans.”

Copies of Quality Health Services for Hispanics: The Cultural Competency Component are available by calling the HRSA Information Center at 1-888-Ask-HRSA or visiting its Web site at www.ask.hrsa.gov. 

HRSA is the lead HHS agency responsible for improving access to health care for all Americans.