Language Barriers in Healthcare
An inability to speak English is recognized as an obstacle to health care in the United States, but how health care providers alter their approach when confronted with this barrier varies widely throughout the country. Individual state legislation on language access services (LAS) varies throughout the country, although more and more emphasis has been placed upon enacting policies, strategies, and models to address the increasing issue of language access needs in health care. Your text discusses that California played a pivotal role in addressing this health disparity by enacting language access service requirements. For example, one requirement implemented in California holds providers that match state and federal funds accountable to include business and medical documents to be translated into the appropriate languages of constituents it serves. Identify, research, and analyze your own state’s language access barriers. Explain if your state has legislated language access service requirements for providers? If so, assess what this includes? If not, propose at least two ideas for language access service requirements to aid in culturally responsive health care providers.
