§ 19a-490i — Interpreter services and linguistic access in acute care hospitals.

Connecticut § 19a-490i

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 19a: Public Health and Well-Being
• Ch. 368v: Health Care Institutions

Text

Each acute care hospital in this state shall: (1) Develop and annually review a policy on the provision of interpreter services to non-English-speaking patients; (2) Ensure the availability of interpreter services to patients whose primary language is spoken by a group comprising not less than five per cent of the population residing in the geographic area served by the hospital; (3) Prepare and maintain a list of qualified interpreters; (4) Notify hospital staff of the requirement to provide interpreters to non-English-speaking patients; (5) Post multilingual notices of the availability of interpreters to non-English-speaking patients; (6) Review standardized forms to determine the need for translation for use by non-English-speaking patients; (7) Consider providing hospital staff with picture and phrase sheets for communication with non-English-speaking patients; and (8) Establish liaisons to non-English-speaking communities in the geographic area served by the hospital.

Legislative History

(P.A. 00-119; P.A. 15-34, S. 1.) History: P.A. 15-34 amended Subdiv. (2) to delete “, to the extent possible,”.