A4. Language Services: The Percent of Patient Visits and Admissions Where Preferred Written Language for Health Care is Screened and Recorded

Developer: 

The George Washington University

Purpose: 

This measure is used to assess the percent of patient visits and admissions where preferred written language for health care is screened and recorded.

Date: 
August 2009
Relevant submeasures: 

None

Format/data source: 

Administrative clinical data, medical records, and registry data are used.

Development and testing: 

The measure is currently being tested in nine grantee hospitals in the Aligning Forces for Quality Language Quality Improvement Collaborative (LQIC) in both inpatient and outpatient care settings from July 2009 to October 2010. The nine LQIC hospitals range in size from 7,000 to 50,000 annual admissions and include one children's hospital as well as rural and academic and non-academic community hospitals.

The measure was adapted from the L1A: Screening for Preferred Spoken Language for Health Care, which was used by the 10 grantee hospitals in the Speaking Together National Language Services Collaborative from November 2006 to May 2008. The 10 hospitals reported data monthly on 40,000 –   60,000 patients seen in inpatient and ambulatory care settings. Hospitals ranged in size from 11,500 to 44,000 admissions and included two children's hospitals as well as both academic teaching and non-teaching community hospitals.

Refer to original measure documentation for additional information.

Past or validated applications: 
  • Setting: Ambulatory/office-based care, hospitals
  • Population: The target population(s) for which the measure is intended or validated.
  • Level of evaluation: Hospital
Sources: 

National Quality Measures Clearinghouse (NQMC), available at:

      a.    Language services: the percent of patient visits and admissions where preferred written language for health care is screened and recorded.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Aligning forces for quality. Language services performance measures implementation guide, version 1.1. Washington, DC: George Washington University; 2009, Aug. p. 84.

Notes: 

For more information, please contact:

Catherine West

Center for Health Care Quality

Department of Health Policy

George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services

2121 K Street, Suite 200

Washington, DC 20037

202-994-8663

Fax: 202-994-3500

e-mail: Cathy.West@gwumc.edu