CMH recognized with Oregon Rural Health Excellence Award
Contact: Sarah Bello
Award given for project to improve Spanish-speaking patient experience
In early October, CMH was recognized with an Oregon Rural Health Excellence Award in the Critical Access Hospital category at the 42nd annual Oregon Rural Health Conference in Bend.
The award was given for a project submitted by CMH’s Patient Experience team: Meaningful Language Access Initiatives Improve the Hispanic and Latino Patient Experience.
“Congratulations to the CMH caregivers who took part in the initial project mapping session, the Patient Experience team members who have dedicated their time to this project, members of the PFAC Hispano for their insight, and the Columbia Pacific CCO for helping provide support for meaningful language access initiatives at CMH,” says Nicole Williams, COO/Assistant CEO.
The project was spearheaded by the Patient Experience department and aimed to improve meaningful language access for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients. Patient Experience partnered with a dedicated workgroup of local Hispanic and Latino community members to co-develop goals and strategies tailored to their needs. The project group analyzed and stratified data from the past two years, surveyed patients and conducted secret shopper calls to get a complete picture of a Spanish-speaking patient’s experience at CMH.
The collaborative effort, in partnership with Columbia Pacific CCO, led to several impactful initiatives designed to reduce language barriers and promote equity in care. Some of those have included the creation of the Patient and Family Advisory Council Hispano (PFAC Hispano), an advisory group composed of Spanish-speaking community members who now provide ongoing input on organizational priorities and projects, hiring a full-time Spanish-language health care interpreter, a plan to add adding Spanish options to our phone tree, and developing staff interpretation resources to support consistent, respectful communication.
“These efforts reflect our long-term commitment to delivering equitable, culturally responsive care for our rural Hispanic community,” says Liz Rathfon, Patient Experience manager.
As a result of the changes made at CMH, the team has seen a marked increase in Hispanic patient experience scores, exceeding those of non-Hispanic patient scores.
The scoring committee found the application well written and specifically noted that they appreciated the use of data to identify the need, as well as community engagement and the scalability and potential for other organizations to develop similar programs in other communities.
Learn more about the Oregon Rural Health Conference at https://www.ohsu.edu/oregon-office-of-rural-health/oregon-rural-health-conference.