The Role and Relationship of Cultural Competence and Patient-centeredness in Health Care Quality

Patient-centeredness and cultural competence have been promoted extensively in recent years as approaches to improving health care quality. This paper explores the historical evolution of both concepts, demonstrating that early conceptual models focused on how health care providers and patients interact at the interpersonal level, while later models were expanded to consider how patients were treated by the health care system as a whole. The models are compared at both the interpersonal and health care system levels to demonstrate similarities and differences. Although the two concepts have grown out of separate traditions, each with its own focus, many of the core features of patient-centeredness and cultural competence are the same. Each approach holds promise for improving the quality of health care for individual patients, communities, and populations. Support for this research was provided by The Commonwealth Fund. The views presented here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Commonwealth Fund or its directors, officers, or staff. This report and other Fund publications are available online at www.cmwf.org. To learn more about new publications when they become available, visit the Fund’s Web site and register to receive e-mail alerts. Commonwealth Fund pub. no. 960.