Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month

Office of Minority Health

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month

The CMS Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) recognizes National Hispanic Heritage Month as an opportunity to increase awareness about health disparities affecting Hispanic communities. Celebrated annually from September 15 to October 15, Hispanic Heritage Month honors the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. While Hispanics living in the United States have a rich culture and history, this population is disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions and has a higher risk of being uninsured compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanic Heritage Month creates an ideal time to educate the public about resources and initiatives that can be used to improve access to health care services and health equity within the Hispanic community.

Listed below are some of the ways individuals, organizations, and communities can join CMS OMH in its efforts to provide resources to Hispanic communities.

• Read CMS OMH’s, Understanding the Health Needs of Diverse Groups of Hispanic Medicare Beneficiaries, which examines the future medical needs and challenges of a fast growing and increasingly heterogeneous Hispanic population.
• Read CMS OMH’s, Comparing Puerto Rican’s Health Status, Access to Care, and Satisfaction with Care to Their Mainland Counterparts Prior to Hurricane Maria, which examines Health Care conditions on the U.S Island territory before the storm. 
• Read CMS OMH’s Race, Ethnicity, and Language Preference in the Health Insurance Marketplaces 2017 Open Enrollment Period data highlight, which examines Marketplace enrollment by racial and ethnic subgroup as well as language preference.
• Read the Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Health Care in Medicare Advantage stratified report, which looks at racial and ethnic differences in health care experiences and clinical care for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.
• Read CMS OMH’s Building an Organizational Response to Disparities to find evidence-based interventions that can contribute to reducing health disparities. Key resources include A Practical Guide to Implementing the National CLAS Standards, the Guide to Developing a Language Access Plan, and the Compendium of Resources for Standardized Demographic and Language Data Collection.
• Download and share the Health Insurance Marketplace’s Value of Health Insurance fact sheet in English or Spanish, to promote the importance of health insurance.
• Download and share From Coverage to Care resources, including A Roadmap to Better Care and a Healthier You in Spanish and English, and A Roadmap to Behavioral Health in Spanish and English to help individuals make the most of their health coverage.
• Share Connected Care resources, such as the “Connecting the Dots” patient animated videos in Spanish and English to help individuals living with multiple chronic conditions learn more about the benefits of chronic care management services. 

To learn more about CMS OMH and to download resources at no cost to your organization, please visit https://go.cms.gov/omh.