California Health Plans Prepare for Senate Bill 853 Language Requirements
NEWPORT BEACH, CA - September 22, 2008 - Approximately two-fifths of California's population speak a language other than English in the home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. To meet the language needs of the growing non-English speaking population, California health plans submitted proposals to the state Department of Managed Health Care on July 1 outlining how they will implement language assistance requirements. The plans are a result of Senate Bill 853, which goes into effect in January 2009 and requires health plans to provide interpretation services for any language a member of a commercial plan requests, and to translate vital documents into the top spoken language among a plan's membership. California will be the first state in the country requiring health plans to provide comprehensive language assistance.
Senate Bill 853 requires the State Department of Managed Health Care to adopt regulations to ensure enrollees have access to language assistance and culturally competent health care services as specified. Further, it requires the State Insurance Commissioner to disseminate regulations applicable to health insurers which contract with providers for alternative rates to ensure that the insured have access to translated materials, language assistance, and culturally competent healthcare services.
"As a California-based company specializing in medical translations, Global Language Solutions has first-hand knowledge and experience meeting the language requirements and translation needs of our health care and health plan clients. We have been providing culturally and linguistically accurate translation of documents such as educational materials, applications, consent forms, and benefits packages and have seen an increase in these requests as the compliance date approaches," comments president of Global Language Solutions, Inna Kassatkina.
The language requirements are based on the size of the health plan's membership. Plans with more than one million members must provide materials in the top two non-English languages spoken by its members. Plans with 300,000 members to one million members are required to provide one non-English translation. Plans with fewer than 300,000 members must provide translations if 5% of their members (or 3,000, whichever is smaller) express a preference for a language other than English. Plans must provide interpreters for any language requested.
Adds Kassatkina, “At this time, our most frequently requested languages for our medical translation services are Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Vietnamese.”
For more information, visit
www.globallanguages.com.
About Global Language Solutions®:
Global Language Solutions
® (GLS) is a full-service ISO 9001:2000 certified translation company delivering solutions in over 100 languages to increase its clients' multicultural and international market share. GLS provides culturally and linguistically accurate document translations, website localization, multilingual typesetting/graphic design, conference interpreting, voice-overs, and more. The company's clients include leaders in the medical devices, pharmaceutical, healthcare, financial, legal, manufacturing, marketing, and technology industries. GLS is a WBENC-certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) based in Newport Beach, California. For more information, visit
http://www.globallanguages.com or call +1-888-900-9920.
Company Contact:
Inna Kassatkina, President
+1-888-900-9920 or +1-949-798-1400
www.globallanguages.com
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