Cultural competence: its promise for reducing healthcare disparities

Healthcare disparities have reached such disproportionate levels of disease burden for certain groups that the issue has become a national priority. This article examines the most recent iteration of the healthcare disparities movement, the aggressive legislative steps by the federal government to disrupt its destructive path and the promise that cultural competence holds for healthcare providers and the healthcare industry as a whole in placing the patient back at the center of healthcare treatment. Such efforts, it is argued, will be instrumental in helping to reduce healthcare disparities and make the healthcare delivery experience a more positive outcome for all patients.