Language Assistance Program and Cultural Competency
Provider Type
- Hospitals
Riverside and San Bernardino
Riverside and San Bernardino County Medi-Cal providers must receive interpreter services through Molina Healthcare.
All Other Counties
Health Net maintains an ongoing Language Assistance Program (LAP) to ensure members with limited English proficiency (LEP), limited reading skills, who are deaf or have hearing impairment, or who have diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds have appropriate access to language assistance while accessing health care services. Health Net encourages providers to consider cultural competency courses through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) as part of their continuing education. For more information, refer to OMH Think Cultural Health.
Hospital Requirements
Health Net's participating hospitals are subject to requirements to provide language interpreter services for their patients pursuant to federal and state law. Health Net expects its participating hospitals to fully meet these obligations, notwithstanding Health Net's separate obligations to meet all requirements under the Health Care Language Assistance Regulations to provide language interpreter services for its members at all points of contact.
Interpreter Services Requirements
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (published as 45 CFR 92) provides new guidance on the use of bilingual staff that act as interpreters. The guidance is summarized below.
- Provide services to individuals with LEP and individuals with a hearing incapacity that are as effective as those provided to members without LEP.
- Providers may not request or require an individual with LEP to provide their own interpreter.
- Providers may not rely on staff other than qualified bilingual/multilingual staff to communicate directly with individuals with LEP.
- Providers may not rely on an adult or minor accompanying an individual with LEP to interpret or facilitate communication except in the following scenarios:
- A minor or an adult accompanying the patient may be used as an interpreter in an emergency involving an imminent threat to the safety or welfare of the individual or the public where there is no qualified interpreter for the individual with LEP immediately available.
- An accompanying adult may be used to interpret or facilitate communication when the individual with LEP specifically requests that the accompanying adult interpret, the accompanying adult agrees to provide such assistance and reliance on that adult for such assistance is appropriate under the circumstances. Providers are encouraged to document in the member's medical record the circumstances that resulted in the use of a minor or accompanying adult as an interpreter.
- Health Net members have the right to file a grievance with Health Net if their language needs are not met. Members also have the ability to file a discrimination complaint with the Office of Civil Rights if their language needs are not met.
Health Net has processes in place to ensure that members with LEP can obtain Health Net's assistance in arranging for the provision of timely interpreter services to the extent its participating hospitals are not required under state and federal law to provide a particular Health Care Language Assistance Regulations-required interpreter service.
Health Net monitors its participating hospitals for deficiencies in interpreter services and takes appropriate corrective action to address these deficiencies in the delivery of interpreter services to Health Net members.
Providers who would like to schedule trainings on topics such as cross-cultural communication, health literacy or accessing interpreter services should contact Health Net's Health Equity Department.
For additional information, refer to Health Net's Interpreter Services or the Health Industry Collaboration Effort (HICE): Provider Tools to Care for Diverse Populations (PDF).