About CLAS

Culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) - Health care services that are respectful of and responsive to cultural and linguistic needs (National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care Final Report, OMH, 2001).

The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) landmark 2003 study, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care,11. Institute of Medicine. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Washington, DC. National Academy Press; 2003. showed that racial and ethnic disparities in care exist across a wide range of health conditions and health care services. The report also showed that most disparities remain, even when controlling for socioeconomic status and other access-related factors. In an earlier work, Crossing the Quality Chasm,22. Institute of Medicine, Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, DC. National Academy Press, 2001. the IOM established equity as one of the six integral components of quality health care—so it follows that reducing disparities is essential to any quality improvement (QI) effort.

According to the Office of Minority Health (OMH), culture has a particularly strong influence in how care is administered, in part because different cultures often define health and disease differently and have different beliefs about the human body, illness and health care.