Patient, member, and customer experience

Culturally Competent Care

As part of UPMC’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Agenda, we provide culturally competent care to improve the health status of our increasingly diverse patient and member population. Culturally competent care is care that respects diversity in the patient population and cultural factors that can affect health and health care, such as language, communication styles, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. In an effort to build further trust and ensure transparency with patients, we are expanding and enhancing our relationship with the community. We do so by:

Collaborating with community to develop and expand initiatives.
Deepening relationships to understand community needs.
Ensuring authenticity.
Expanding community-based partnerships.
Making investments necessary to ensure success.

Some examples of our deepening partnership with community include:

Community Vaccine Clinics – UPMC currently offers free, safe, and effective vaccination clinics in Pittsburgh neighborhoods that have a demonstrated need for additional health care resources and services in their community. By partnering with local community and faith-based organizations, UPMC hosted over 50 free vaccination clinics and administered more than 11,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses. UPMC is proud to protect our most vulnerable populations. Vaccine distributions in underserved communities included the greater Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Clairton, Duquesne, Homewood, Larimer, McKeesport, Mt. Oliver, Pittsburgh’s West End, and Wilkinsburg.
Community Health Partnership Council – The mission of this council is to improve health for diverse populations by partnering with key stakeholders to address community needs and health disparities. These stakeholders include community leaders serving diverse populations, education representatives, foundation leaders, government officials, and UPMC leaders from the Center for Engagement and Inclusion, Community Outreach, Patient Experience, and UPMC Health Plan.
Refugee and Immigrant Committee – This committee addresses the specific needs of the refugee and immigrant populations including language access, financial assistance, and employment.

Center for Women with Disabilities

The Center for Women with Disabilities at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital provides state-of-the-art preventive health care. The Center consults with women with disabilities to make sure they are meeting their needs for accessible, regular, exams and screenings.

Culturally Competent Patient Care Resources

At UPMC, we recognize the differences that make our patients and health plan members unique.

Our ongoing commitment to culturally competent care means we work with internal and external partners to offer resources to:

Meet the needs of our patients and customers.
Enhance the patient experience.
Support our valuable differences.

» View resources for English and Spanish speaking patients, customers, and health plan members (PDF).

CultureVision

CultureVision™ is an online tool that provides general and health-related information about different religious, ethnic, and social communities. From dietary restrictions and gender roles, to community history, CultureVision is focused on providing awareness of what you might experience with diverse groups so that you can approach interactions sensitively. In the end, however, it’s about getting to know the individual.

Interfaith Pocket Guide

The Interfaith Pocket Guide (PDF) gives an overview on religious backgrounds, beliefs, and practices of a number of faiths. The guide offers basic information to help our care providers better meet a patient’s needs.

LGBTQ Resources

At UPMC, we recognize the unique health care needs of those in the LGBTQ community. And we work to create a setting that is welcoming, caring, and adaptive to those needs.

This means we make sure to:

Equip our staff with the knowledge, skills, and best practices in LGBTQ patient care.
Provide learning and internal and external resources for staff and patients to ensure a strong network of ongoing LGBTQ support.

Find LGBTQ patient and clinical care resources at the Human Rights Campaign.

The PERSAD Center

The PERSAD Center is a human service organization whose mission is to improve the well-being of the LGBTQ and HIV/AIDs communities.

The PERSAD Center serves these groups and their loved ones throughout all stages of life across western Pennsylvania with service centers in Pittsburgh and Washington, PA.

UPMC hospitals and facilities also offer local support and resources for LGBTQ and HIV/AIDs patients.

Patient Experience Community Partnership

This partnership proactively engages community members, health and human services providers, and UPMC staff to find services and programs to:

Increase UPMC's understanding of national best practices in cultural competency to best meet the diverse needs of our communities.
Engage other agencies, organizations, and communities in our region in supporting our efforts to provide equal health care access for all.
Focus on LGBTQ and interfaith communities, and newcomers to the U.S. health care system.

UPMC Disabilities Resource Center

The UPMC Disabilities Resource Center (DRC) engage with the disability community and helps to guide efforts and priorities. The goal of the DRC is to improve access to health care for patients with disabilities through:

Providing education and training.
Conducting reviews and assessments of UPMC hospitals and facilities.
Reviewing policies and practices on accessible health care for people with disabilities.

Patient Safety and Experience

We work closely with the UPMC Quality, Safety, and Innovation team and Disabilites Resource Center to:

Improve the experience of patients in our diverse neighborhoods.
Ensure culturally relevant care.
Better serve those with varying ability levels.

Contact the Center for Engagement and Inclusion

U.S. Steel Tower, Floor 56
600 Grant St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Email engagement@upmc.edu or fill out our online contact form.