Our Diverse Community

Health Plan of San Joaquin / Mountain Valley Health Plan (“Health Plan”) strives to lift up our diverse community through education, collaboration, respect, and honesty.

Diversity goes beyond race and ethnicity – it is represented by culture, abilities, equity, social class, religious views and more. Environment and geography also influence culture. Understanding and acknowledging what makes each of us unique can help build relationships that become the foundation for healthy, sustainable communities.

Culture in Health Care

Culture in health care refers to the behaviors, beliefs, policies, and actions that affect how health care is delivered and received in different settings and communities. It involves the ability of health care providers and organizations to respect and respond to the diverse needs, values, and preferences of patients from different backgrounds. Culture in healthcare can influence health outcomes, quality of care, and health disparities.

When we provide a positive environment of competence that meets the cultural, religious and spiritual needs of those who are cared for, health outcomes improve, and the healthcare system as a whole becomes more efficient and effective.

An individual’s beliefs can influence how they approach medicines, medical procedures, diet, pregnancy, and engage with the medical community.

Embracing Diversity

In communities where cultural awareness is not valued, false beliefs can be formed around people and cultures. These stigmas are impactful on our ability to accept one another which can cause breakdowns in communication.

Health Plan strives to address the needs of our community by collaborating with our diverse communities and educating the community on how to reduce health disparities.

: In 2025, Health Plan launched a training called Excellent Health Outcomes for All training, and Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Intersex training, to educate our member-facing workforce on the importance of cultural awareness and competency in achieving improved health outcomes.

Health Plan’s continued efforts to reduce health disparities focuses on:

• Training and education of our providers to increase cultural competence;
• Development of community support services including medically appropriate housing and meals to help members meet social needs;
• Access to interpreter and translation services, including video, phone, and onsite interpreting, as well as alternative formats for written materials such as large print, audio format, and braille.
• Hiring staff who represent our diverse community;
• Evaluation of processes to identify barriers;
• Collaboration with community partners who serve communities of color, members of our LGBTQ+ community, those with visual impairments, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, seniors, and other populations to find opportunities to ensure health access.
• Re-emphasizing equity initiatives in our strategic planning.

Celebrating Our Community

The uniqueness of our community shines through each image below.

Learn and Engage