Medical Care Suffers When Language Barriers Exist
A recent article appearing in the Washington Post highlights the struggles faced when medical providers are unable to communicate with their patients. According to the report, the Washington area has experienced a sharp rise in immigrant population but the addition of language and cultural services has lagged far behind.
"Many area hospitals have taken steps such as installing phones to connect patients and staff members to interpreters, hiring interpreters or training employees to do the job, and recruiting bilingual staff. But some large physician practices and small primary and specialty care services have not added language or cultural services.
"All providers in this area should . . . have a mechanism to deal with language barriers," said Isabel van Isschot, director of interpretation services at La Clinica del Pueblo in Washington, which supplies interpreters to health facilities. When patients don't have access to an interpreter, she said, "I think that's a form of discrimination."
Hospitals and doctors, however, are wary of the cost of interpretation services, which can run up to $190 an hour; they say the government, not them, should pay these costs.
"Appropriate funding for these services is needed so that patients don't lose access to care," said Joseph M. Heyman, chair of the board of trustees of the American Medical Association, which has asserted in policy statements that "physicians cannot be expected to provide and fund . . . translation services for their patients."
A 45-year-old federal civil rights law requires hospitals and doctors who accept federal funds to offer language services. Some federal funding for interpretation services is available through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, state-run programs that serve the poor and children, respectively. But to obtain the money, states have to pitch in some of their own. The District and Virginia have done so; Maryland has not. "