Testing Bilingual Clinicians: An Important Part of Providing Comprehensive Language Services for Patients with Limited English Proficiency

摘要

The limited English proficient (LEP) population in the United States is large and growing. More than 60 million people in the United States speak a language other than English at home, and more than 25 million speak English “less than very well” and are considered LEP. 1 Language access services are of critical importance in the English-language-dominant US health care system, for patient safety, accuracy of diagnosis, and treatment effectiveness. Rules and regulations governing the provision of these services have strengthened in recent years, with the Affordable Care Act and evolving state and federal requirements. 2 The Joint Commission is paying increasing attention to hospitals’ policies and practices in this area and expects organizations to have language access plans.