Summary

Cultural brokering clearly has an essential role within health care settings. Such programs benefit health care providers and the overall health care delivery system. Patients/consumers may reap the greatest benefit because cultural brokering creates an environment of mutual understanding and respect for cultural values and health beliefs and practices. Cultural broker programs can facilitate clinical encounters with more favorable outcomes, can enhance the potential for more rewarding interpersonal experiences, and can increase the satisfaction with services received.

Implementing and sustaining cultural broker programs benefit the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and the national safety net that provides primary health care to the most vulnerable and underserved populations in the United States. Cultural broker programs have the potential to increase retention of NHSC providers by bridging the cultural divide in health care settings. Cultural brokering is a viable approach to both increasing access to health care in support of the effort to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health and improving the health and well-being of this nationÕs communities.