August 20, 2010
Think Cultural Health Website Receives Approval to Convert to .gov
RESTON, VA, August 20, 2010 – Astute Technology has been working for the past several years in conjunction with SRA International (SRA) to assist the Office of Minority Health’s Center for Linguistic and Cultural Competence in Health Care (CLCCHC) in its mission to develop the capacity of providers to improve the access and quality of health care for minorities. This collaboration resulted in the 2004 launch of the Think Cultural Health website which provides accredited, free, online continuing education programs for physicians, PAs, nurses, social workers and first responders. Over 350,000 continuing education certificates have been awarded since the site’s inception.
The site also offers Health Care Language Access Services which provide guidance when there is a need for providers to work with translators and/or interpreters. Providers can also track cultural competence requirements for licensure by state using the site’s U.S. Map of Legislation.
As of August 19, 2010, the site was transitioned to www.thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov after receiving government approval. Darci L. Graves MA, MA, Senior Health Education and Policy Specialist, Health & Civil Services Sector of SRA states, "The conversion to .gov will allow for strong, additional resources and a new level of recognition for the site." Graves also remarked, "Astute made the transition process as seamless as possible and was able to translate CLCCHC’s vision based on 508 and HHS guidelines by liaising on all of the testing procedures to ensure everyone was up to date on 508 training requirements and worked within the specified parameters."
Astute will be working with SRA and CLCCHC in the coming months to launch an educational initiative for oral health professionals, as well as collecting feedback and making updates to the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS), originally promulgated in 2001.