Talk That Talk!

In Illinois, minorities make up 35 percent of the population. But, only 14 percent of medical school graduates are minorities and nearly 57 percent of the medical school graduates are Caucasian. What does a non-diverse pool of medical professionals and health disparities disproportionately affecting minority populations create? Quite an unhealthy combination. So, it’s time we “Talk That Talk!”

Talk That Talk is a legislative proposal that aims to increase cultural competence among healthcare professionals and bridging gaps in health disparities for minority populations in Illinois. Incorporating patients’ perspectives by understanding cultural differences is an essential step that healthcare professionals must take in order to improve the delivery of healthcare for minority patients. By incorporating cultural competency training in the curricula of medical colleges and continuing medical education (CME) programs, our healthcare professionals can effectively improve the quality of care provided for minority populations and reduce health disparities for these populations.

"Talk That Talk" proposes to reintroduce and amend Senate Bill 0558 in a two-step fashion:

First ...

As a condition of receiving a diploma, all medical students must receive instruction in cultural competency during all four years of medical school. Such instruction will be designed to address the problem of race- and gender-based disparities in medical treatment decisions.

Second ...

All practicing physicians must complete 40 hours of cultural competency training as a condition of re-licensure. Practicing physicians must provide documentation of cultural competency training to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which oversees licensure and re-licensure of medical professionals in the state of Illinois.