the article by cheri wilson, “patient safety and healthcare quality: the case for language access”, highlights 
the challenges of providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services (clas) to patients with 
limited english proficiency (lep). as the us pursues high-value, high-performance healthcare, our ability 
to meet the needs of our most vulnerable will determine whether we succeed...

this paper aims to provide a description of the need for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (clas) for limited english proficient (lep) patients, an identification of how the lack of clas for lep patients can compromise patient safety and healthcare quality, and discuss barriers to the provision of clas.

The article by Cheri Wilson, “Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality: The Case for Language Access”, highlights 
the challenges of providing Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) to patients with 
Limited English Proficiency (LEP). As the US pursues high-value, high-performance healthcare, our ability 
to meet the needs of our most vulnerable will determine whether we succeed...

BACKGROUND Significant health disparities exist between limited English proficient and English-proficient patients. Little is known about the impact of language services on chronic disease outcomes such as for diabetes. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To determine whether the amount and type of language services received during primary care visits had an impact on diabetes-related outcomes (hospit...

OBJECTIVE To examine differences in the characteristics of adverse events between English speaking patients and patients with limited English proficiency in US hospitals. SETTING Six Joint Commission accredited hospitals in the USA. METHOD Adverse event data on English speaking patients and patients with limited English proficiency were collected from six hospitals over 7 months in 2005 and...