CLAS is an acronym for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS). CLAS helps your organization take into account cultural health beliefs, preferred languages, health literacy levels, and communication needs. The National CLAS Standards were developed by the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) are intended to advance health equity, improve quality, and help eliminate health care disparities.
The Standards provide a blueprint for health and health care organizations to implement culturally and linguistically appropriate services. CLAS standards are increasingly recognized as effective in improving quality of care because they help organizations address the cultural and communication barriers that many individuals face when seeking services.
How Do You Measure Up? Complete Our Assessment
Wondering how well your organization is providing CLAS? Use the GPQIN CLAS Checklist and Action Plan which was developed following the OMH format. (Click on the CLAS icon to the left)
Health and Healthcare organizations in North Dakota and South Dakota can use this checklist to, measure where they are in this journey, identify needs and develop an improvement plan to address the basic elements of the National CLAS Standards. Please keep in mind, there is no single correct way to implement the National CLAS Standards.
This is a tool to help you and your team address communication and cultural barriers and establish a framework for improvement that works best for your organization. The Assessment may take about 10 minutes to complete. Based on responses, you will devise an action plan with three action items to consider. Upon request, our team is available to assist. Visit our Who We Are page contact information. Access the Assessment.
Quick Overview of the CLAS Standards
The Principal CLAS Standard (No. 1) calls on organizations to provide effective, equitable, understandable and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs.
The remaining Standards are divided into three themes:
- Governance, Leadership, and Workforce (Standards 2‐4);
- Communication and Language Assistance (Standards 5‐8); and
- Engagement, Continuous Improvement, and Accountability (Standards 9‐15).
For more information on the CLAS Standards and applicable resources, visit our Health Equity page.