LEGAL LANGUAGE SERVICES

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Many of our clients ask about the requirements for the translation of form letters, especially in light of the new Health Insurance Portability Act.

We have researched this, and while there are no specific requirements for translation, we are told that it is desirable to provide translations of any Notices of Privacy Practices (NPPs) for client populations with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Such translations may be deemed responsive not only to the language of HIPAA, but also to various court rulings which reference the Civil Liberties Act of 1964 (Title VI) as stated, § 601, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d:

…no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

For example, in Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974) the Supreme Court interpreted the provisions of Title VI as requiring that a federal financial recipient take steps to ensure that language barriers did not exclude LEP persons from effective participation in its benefits and services. As stated in reference to the benefits of public education:

There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.

Legal Language Services would like to facilitate your compliance with meeting the worthwhile goals of the act by offering special discounted pricing for HIPAA related document translation.

Please call our toll free number 1-800-322-0284 and ask about this special offer. Or fill out the online form for a FREE consultation. When filing out this form specify that you are requesting the HIPAA document translation discount.

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