The Culture-Quality-Collaborative (CQC)

Project Overview

We seek the participation of hospitals that are interested in contributing to the development of solutions to address disparities in health care associated the increasing diversity of the population. By the middle of the twenty-first century, non-Hispanic whites will comprise a numerical minority of the population. The U.S. will be a minority-majority. Challenges presented by cross-cultural interactions within health care settings include possibly reduced quality of care, and worsening patient outcomes resulting from language barriers and different patterns of illness behavior among people who are unaccustomed to navigating the complex U.S. health care system. Additionally, poor management of an increasingly culturally diverse patient population may have negative implications fiscally and may even expose healthcare organizations to litigation risks. Health care researchers have devoted considerable attention to the health care management challenges caused by dramatic increases in the size of populations that are currently underserved. But, perhaps surprisingly, there are few empirically proven approaches.

The CQC

The Culture-Quality-Collaborative (CQC) is a network of leading health care organizations that have come together to share ideas, experiences, and solutions to problems that arise as a result of cross-cultural interactions within health care settings. How do you determine what “cultural competency” means within your unique organizational context? How do you introduce cultural competency to your organization? How do you encourage others to think "outside the box" and accept new ideas? How do we create an evidence base for determining best-practices in cultural competency? The CQC will work collaboratively to find answers to these and other challenges posed by cross-cultural interactions in health care settings.

CQC member organizations will meet monthly via web conference and an annual in-person meeting. The meetings will include recognized experts with real-world and academic research experience working on cultural competency. The experts will be available to CQC member organizations for consultation between meetings. Additionally, CQC member organizations will receive a complete cultural competency organizational assessment using the COA360 (http://www.culturalcompetency.org), the only scientifically validated cultural competency organizational assessment tool. Perhaps most important, CQC member organizations will be contributing to the evolution of the evidence base of solutions to “maintaining quality with increasing diversity.”

Contact

The CQC will be coordinated by Dr. Thomas LaVeist, the William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and founding director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions (HCHDS).

For more information on the CQC or how to become a member contact Cheri Wilson at chwilson@jhsph.edu or 443-287-0305 or visit www.theCQC.org.