Press Release on Providing Interpreter Svcs

[Guest guest]

This should be of interest to anyone providing services to clients who speak

very little or no English. The guidance applies to all providers of health

and social services which receive funding from the U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services. This includes CDC research grants as well.

If anyone has any questions, please call me at (206) 615-2288 or send me an

e-mail.

Please forward this message to any other listserves or anyone else who may be

interested. Thanks!

Carmen Palomera Rockwell

Regional Manager

Region X (Seattle)

(206) 615-2288

crockwel@...

OCR Home | The Organization | Mission | Topics | Sites of Interest | News

| What's New

HHS NEWS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2000

Contact: Kathleen O=Brien (OCR)

(202) 619-0403

HHS Provides Written Guidance for Health and Human Services Providers To

Ensure Language Assistance for Persons with Limited English Skills

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today issued

written policy

guidance to assist health and social services providers in ensuring

that persons with

limited English skills can effectively access critical health and

social services.

The guidance, published in the Federal Register by the HHS Office

for Civil Rights

(OCR), lays out and explains more fully OCR's existing policies. It

outlines the legal

responsibilities of providers who receive Federal financial

assistance from HHS -

such as hospitals, HMOs and human service agencies - to assist

people with limited

English skills. It also provides a flexible road map to the range of

options available to

providers in meeting the language needs of the nation's increasingly

diverse

populations.

Publication of the guidance makes HHS the first federal agency to

publish guidance

since the issuance of Executive Order 13166 on serving persons with

limited English

skills, signed by President Clinton on August 11, 2000. The

executive order requires

each federal agency to have written policies on providing effective

service to those

with limited English proficiency who are served by federally-funded

programs.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on

the basis of race,

color, or national origin by any entity that receives federal

financial assistance. Under

Title VI of the law, hospitals, HMOs, social service agencies and

other entities that

receive Federal financial assistance from HHS are required to take

the steps

necessary to ensure that individuals with limited English

proficiency (LEP) can

meaningfully access the programs and services. The requirements

apply to

state-administered as well as private and non-profit facilities and

programs that

benefit from HHS assistance. OCR is responsible for compliance with

the law as it

applies to HHS assisted programs.

In a letter to governors announcing publication of the written

guidance, HHS

Secretary Donna E. Shalala said, " This guidance enhances our ability

to reach our

national goal of eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in

health, and will assist in

increasing opportunities for persons with limited English

proficiency to improve their

socioeconomic status. "

Some of the state-administered programs where access for persons

with limited

English proficiency may be especially important include the State

Children's Health

Insurance Program (SCHIP), Medicaid and Temporary Assistance to

Needy

Families (TANF).

AEffective communication is the key to meaningful access, whether it

is a hospital, a

clinic or a benefits program, " said OCR Director .

" Failure to

communicate effectively can have serious consequences for millions

of Americans. "

The guidance emphasizes that providers have flexibility in designing

effective

programs. The types of language assistance a provider must have in

place to ensure

meaningful access depend on a variety of factors, including the size

of the facility or

covered entity, the size of the eligible LEP population it serves,

the nature of the

program or service, the objective of the program, the resources

available to the

facility or covered entity, and the frequency with which LEP persons

come into

contact with the program. Small practitioners and providers have

considerable

flexibility in determining how to fulfill their obligations to

ensure meaningful access for

persons with limited English proficiency.

" OCR has a history of working cooperatively with health and social

services

providers to help them comply with the law and serve their limited

English

populations effectively without causing undue burden, " said .

" We have found

widespread willingness to improve language assistance services,

especially when

providers learn that solutions can be tailored to fit individual

situations, and services

can be provided cost-effectively. "

" With our requirements and flexible policies now in writing, we

expect to make even

greater progress in cooperation with health and social service

providers in making

services truly accessible to those with limited English skills. OCR

will continue to be

available to provide technical assistance to any covered entity

seeking to ensure the

operation of an effective language assistance program, " said.

Depending on the need and the circumstances of the individual

facility, options for

providing oral language assistance range from hiring bilingual staff

or hiring on-staff

interpreters to contracting for interpreter services as needed,

engaging community

volunteers, or contracting with a telephone interpreter service.

Examples of problem practices that have been found by OCR include:

providing

services to LEP persons which are more limited in scope or lower in

quality than

those provided to other persons; subjecting LEP persons to

unreasonable delays;

limiting participation in a program or activity on the basis of

English proficiency;

providing services to LEP persons that are not as effective as those

provided to

persons proficient in English; and failing to inform LEP persons of

the right to receive

free interpreter services or requiring them to provide their own

interpreter.

As outlined in the guidance, satisfactory service to LEP clients

should include:

· having polices and procedures in place for identifying and

assessing

the language needs of the individual provider and its client

population;

· a range of oral language assistance options, appropriate to

each

facility's circumstances;

· notice to LEP persons of the right to free language

assistance;

· staff training and program monitoring; and

· a plan for providing written materials in languages other

than English

where a significant number or percentage of the affected

population

needs services or information in a language other than English

to

communicate effectively.

" The purpose of putting these policies into writing is to help make

the requirements

of the law both clear and widely-known, among providers and

potential LEP clients

as well, " said. " We believe that by making these policies

known, and making

clear the flexibility we provide on a facility-by-facility basis,

providers will be more

likely to review and improve their language assistance services, and

individuals with

limited English skills will be better able to access the services

they need. "

The written guidance, " Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin

Discrimination as

it Affects Persons with Limited English Proficiency, " is available

in the Federal

Register, through OCR's 10 Regional Offices, or on the Internet at

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr

###