There’s still time to register for NJHA’s Sept. 7 education program, “At the Crossroads of Health Equity and Patient Safety: Providing Comprehensive Language Services.”

This program will feature best-practice examples and other solutions to the challenges that language barriers can pose in healthcare access, quality and outcomes. Patients with limited English proficiency are at higher risk for adverse health outcomes due to unnecessary testing, misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. This not only exacerbates health disparities, but it also impacts healthcare costs and patient satisfaction.

The Affordable Care Act, The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services all address these important health equity issues through regulations and standards. It is imperative that healthcare institutions comply with comprehensive, effective language services. For communication to be effective it has to be complete, accurate, timely, unambiguous and understood by the patient.

Featured speakers for this program include:

• Debbie Salas Lopez, MD, chief transformation officer, Lehigh Valley Health Network
• Barbara Holfelner, RN, vice president of corporate ethics, privacy and internal audit, Lourdes Health System
• Simone Peart, JD, equal opportunity specialist, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights
• The Joint Commission.

Click here for additional details and online registration.