California Legislation Regarding Linguistic Diversity of CME Headed to Governor Newsom’s Desk

California recently passed Assembly Bill 470 unanimously in the State Senate. Under this legislation, continuing medical education (CME) in the state of California will need to take into account the linguistic diversity of California’s population.

Specifically, the bill that is headed to Governor Newsom’s desk, would require that educational activities statutorily required of the Medical Board of California for the continued education of physicians include activities that are “designed to improve the physician-patient relationship and quality of physician-patient communication.” The bill is trying to address some of the existing language barriers between physicians and patients by encouraging new CME courses to be developed that would allow physicians to learn to speak languages spoken by 10% or more of the state’s population.

Existing law requires that CME courses contain curriculum that includes cultural and linguistic competency in the practice of medicine and associations that accredit continuing medical education courses are required to develop standards to that end. Existing law further authorizes the associations to update the standards in conjunction with an advisory group that has expertise in cultural and linguistic competency issues.

This legislation would require the advisory group to be informed of federal and state threshold language requirements, as specified, and would require the authorized updates to be for the purpose of meeting the needs of California’s changing demographics and properly addressing language disparities, as they emerge.

The legislation also notes, however, that a CME course dedicated solely to research or other issues that does not include a direct patient care component or a course offered by a CME provider that is not located in this state is not required to contain curriculum that includes cultural and linguistic competency in the practice of medicine.

Educational activities that meet the specified content standards and are accredited by the California Medical Association or the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) are considered compliant with continuing medical education standards.

As noted above, the legislation has passed the California Assembly and Senate and is headed to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk for his signature.

“Expanding opportunities for physicians to take new language courses will allow them to communicate with their patients in the patient’s preferred language,” said Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, one of the bill’s sponsors. “The passage of this measure will remove language barriers and lead to better health outcomes.”

“Communication is an essential part of providing quality health care, and research has shown that patients who receive care from physicians who speak their language experience better health outcomes,” said Donaldo Hernandez, M.D., president of the California Medical Association. “The California Medical Association and its nearly 50,000 members thank Assemblymember Avelino Valencia for his leadership on AB 470, which affirms the importance of cultural and linguistic competency as a core tenant of continuing medical education.”