Acculturation Measures in HHS Questionnaires/Data Collection Instruments

Graciela Jaschek, University of Maryland
Olivia D. Carter-Pokras, University of Maryland

The increasing diversity of the U.S. population calls for renewed efforts to capture detailed information on race, ethnicity and acculturation measures to examine the impact that the increasing language and cultural diversity has on the health of individuals and on their access to healthcare. The lack of acculturation standards in peer-reviewed literature complicates this task but as prime producers of health and healthcare data, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in a leading position to develop standards. The collection of data on race, ethnicity and primary language became a mandate with the passage of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Sec. 4302: Understanding health disparities: data collection and analysis. The Act includes language on the collection and reporting of race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability data for participants of federally conducted or supported health care or public health programs, activities or surveys.