MDwise focuses on diverse membership by enhancing culturally and linguistically appropriate services

10/15/2015

INDIANAPOLIS – In an effort to advance health equity, improve quality and help eliminate health care disparities, MDwise follows the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Minority Health.

MDwise developed a CLAS-specific work plan. Currently, the plan contains 53 active/ongoing and 31 completed goals. These include MDwise’s Health Disparity project, which helped bring awareness to the low breast cancer screening rates among Asian women. MDwise also provided practitioners with language assistance resources and implemented training for bilingual staff in its Customer Service department.

“We are dedicated to providing quality care to a diverse member base,” said Cesar D. Martinez, president and CEO of MDwise. “By following the CLAS standards, we’re able to offer improved services that are responsive to the diverse cultural health beliefs and practices of our members in their preferred languages.”

For more information about national CLAS standards, visit https://www.thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov.

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About MDwise

MDwise is a provider-sponsored nonprofit health maintenance organization offering health care benefits to more than 407,000 Medicaid and Medicare members. Since 1994 MDwise has provided access to compassionate, high-quality, coordinated health care and education to Medicaid members in communities throughout Indiana. Ninety-seven percent of MDwise members surveyed would recommend MDwise to family and friends. MDwise.org.

APO0020 (10/15)