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Cultural and Linguistic Competency.ĚýCultural competence is defined as a set of congruent practice skills, knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among consumer providers and professionals that enables that system, agency, or those professionals and consumer providers to work effectively in cross- cultural situations. a. To ensure equal access to quality care for diverse populations, Contractor shall adopt the federal Office of Minority Health Cultural and Linguistically Appropriate Service (CLAS) national standards. b. Contractor shall be required to assess the demographic make-up and population trends of its service area to identify the cultural and linguistic needs of the eligible beneficiary population. Such studies are critical to designing and planning for providing appropriate and effective mental health and substance use disorder treatment services. c. Upon request provide DBH with cultural specific service options available to be provided by Contractor. d. DBH recognizes that cultural competence is a goal toward which professionals, agencies, and systems should strive. Becoming culturally competent is a developmental process and incorporates at all levels the importance of culture, the assessment of cross-cultural relations, vigilance towards the dynamics that result from cultural differences, the expansion of cultural knowledge, and the adaptation of services to meet culturally-unique needs. Providing medically necessary specialty mental health and substance use disorder treatment services in a culturally appropriate and responsive manner is fundamental in any effort to ensure success of high quality and cost-effective behavioral health services. Offering those services in a manner that fails to achieve its intended result due to cultural and linguistic barriers does not reflect high quality of care and is not cost-effective. e. To assist the Contractor’s efforts towards cultural and linguistic competency, DBH shall provide the following: i. Technical assistance to the Contractor regarding cultural competency implementation. ii. Demographic information to the Contractor on service area for service(s) planning. iii. Cultural competency training for DBH and Contractor personnel.