California legislation addresses doctors' cultural competency

The bill would give local medical societies the guidelines necessary to develop CME-eligible coursework.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. July 28, 2003.

California is poised to make into law a bill that would encourage local medical societies to create cultural competency training programs for physicians.

"We are very confident it will pass," said Anmol S. Mahal, MD, vice chair of the California Medical Assn. board of trustees, which is co-sponsoring the bill with the California Hispanic Health Care Assn. The bill has made it to the appropriations committee and is expected to be signed by the governor.

The Cultural and Linguistic Competency of Physicians Act essentially creates a work group to develop continuing medical education courses on cultural and linguistic competency. Proponents of the bill say it may be the first to establish a structure for cultural training for physicians. If successful, it could become a national model, they said.

"The legislation is so exciting," Dr. Mahal said. "We feel there is a need to do this. There's so much CME going on. You have to do a quality program and do it in a way that is truly helpful to doctors."

It's unusual for the CMA to get involved in creating continuing medical education, he said, but the California Hispanic Health Care Assn. was pursuing the legislation so the CMA decided to get involved as well, partially to make sure the cultural competency training did not become a requirement for licensure or relicensure in the state.

Local medical societies that choose to participate in developing training programs eligible for CME credit would be able to focus on cultural and language issues specific to their communities. The courses would be taught by physicians with firsthand understanding of the cultures being discussed.