Language Line Services Launches Interpreter Records Portal to Help Healthcare Providers Meet New Standards of The Joint Commission

MONTEREY, Calif., Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Language Line Services, the global leader in interpreting and language solutions, announced today it is launching a secure, on-demand web-based interpreter training records portal for its healthcare customers to help them meet new and revised regulatory requirements of The Joint Commission standards for language interpreter proof of competency.

The new Joint Commission standards for language access move out of the pilot phase and begin impacting accreditation decisions on January 1, 2012.

"In order to have their facilities accredited, hospitals require these records to provide to The Joint Commission during surveys to verify the quality of a hospital's language access program. Gone are the days where organizations try to bypass this critical requirement with band-aid solutions," said Jonathan Hirsch, Director of Guest Services at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, N.J.  

"By providing complete interpreter training information, Language Line Services is stepping up to assure that the healthcare providers they serve have the documentation they need for full compliance and to retain their accreditation," Hirsch remarked.

The portal will be a secure central point for Language Line Services customers to access and address:

• Interpreter training records
• Continuing education
• Monitoring and continuous quality control
• Proof of competency
• Verifiable process governing the hiring, screening and qualifications of interpreters
• Cultural competency training

Interpreters listed in the database who have met all competency standards will receive the "I-PATH" (Interpreter Proficiency, Assessment, Training in Healthcare) Scorecard, a symbol to themselves and to healthcare providers using them that The Joint Commission language access standards are being complied with.

"As a former Regulator, some mechanism like the 'I-PATH' is invaluable as a convenient source for this much needed information. The availability of this information will shorten the review time needed by surveyors and improve the review process itself," said Martin Conroy, Senior Manager Public Sector Program, Language Line Services and former regulator for the New York Department of Health.

Most healthcare providers use a combination of on-site and third-party over-the-phone interpreters, some in as many as 170 languages as well as American Sign Language (ASL) for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients and families.

"Language Line Services has been at the forefront of language access in healthcare since its founding nearly 30 years ago. As the leading language services partner to healthcare providers, we provided critical compliance support for The Joint Commission's new and revised language access standards," said Louis F. Provenzano, Jr., President and CEO of Language Line Services.

"Our customers increasingly request detailed training records as proof of competency to ensure consistency with standards of practice in everything we do from interpreter recruitment to cultural training," continued Provenzano.  

"The fact that we are the only language service provider that has an employee-based model for its interpreters, rather than primarily using contractors, means we can legally test, train, and monitor them for quality to ensure consistency and also protect patient health information (PHI). This is critical to The Joint Commission, and to our healthcare customers and the patients they provide care for.  

"Hospitals must ask themselves what dangers they face by using language service providers who cannot help them provide the needed documentation to ensure such accreditation."    

The Language Line Services interpreter training records portal uses industry best practices for securing electronic records to protect patient health information and is compliant with HIPAA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the HITECH Act.

"We applaud the efforts of Language Line® University and Language Line Services. This is a magnificent new tool that hospitals need to ensure that those interpreting for them are truly competent via training and testing. It will also increase the adherence to skilled medical interpreters and to acknowledge the value they bring to patient safety and reducing health disparities," said Izabel Arocha, Executive Director of the International Medical Interpreters Association.

"Our profession needs to continuously improve by training and offering the best medical interpreters worldwide. No longer can you use unqualified medical interpreters for critical healthcare interactions. In order to guarantee patient safety, it is now time to provide enhanced additional training and proudly showcase all training records and areas of success to The Joint Commission," Arocha said.

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services, the global leader in telephone interpreting and language solutions, serves clients in healthcare, government, telecommunications, financial services, utilities, insurance and many other industries by quickly connecting them to their customers, patients and sales prospects in more than 170 spoken languages as well as American Sign Language (ASL) and Mexican Sign Language (LSM). Language Line Services is recognized as a trusted partner to thousands of public and private organizations throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, providing easy access to one of the industry's fastest language interpreting services at highly competitive rates. For more information about Language Line Services' suite of telephone, on-site and video interpreting, document translation, interpreter assessment and training programs, please call (800) 752-6096 or visit http://www.languageline.com  

Contact:

Carla Collado
Olmstead Williams Communications
310.824.9000
[email protected]
http://www.olmsteadwilliams.com

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SOURCE Language Line Services