Do Hospitals Have an Obligation to Provide Language Interpretation?

It is very difficult to deliver health care across a language barrier. If a language or any form of communication barrier exists, the hospital must have means to provide services to overcome those obstacles.

Patient Care Partnership

• To effectively treat a patient, a physician needs to hear from the patient what his symptoms are. In addition, a patient must fully understand his prescribed treatment regimen. The American Hospital Association's Patient Care Partnership, which replaced the Patient's Bill of Rights, states that patients can expect to be involved in the decisions surrounding their treatment. This expectation stands regardless of communication barriers.

Joint Commission

• Joint Commission is one of the most widely used accrediting agencies for hospitals. It sets the standard on quality in regards to the delivery of hospital services. Joint Commission has many standards set for delivering health care to culturally diverse populations. Translation services are one of the requirements that hospitals must meet in order to be accredited by Joint Commission.

Contractors

• In addition to language barriers, there are other required services for those that are speech or hearing impaired, as well as those with vision and cognitive impairments. Many of these services are contracted out in most hospital settings.