Bill > A00387

This bill requires general hospitals in New York to develop comprehensive language assistance programs to ensure meaningful access to medical services for patients with limited English proficiency or communication challenges. The program must include several key provisions: designating a language assistance coordinator, creating policies for identifying patients needing language services, developing materials explaining how to access free language interpretation, providing ongoing staff training about culturally competent service delivery, displaying signage about available language services, documenting patients' language preferences in medical records, establishing protocols for interpreter use (with specific restrictions on using family members or minors), maintaining a resource of skilled interpreters including those who can communicate with vision and hearing-impaired individuals, conducting annual demographic needs assessments to identify language groups in the hospital's service area, and ensuring translations of significant hospital forms and instructions. The bill also mandates reasonable accommodation for family members to assist patients with mental and developmental disabilities during communication, with some flexibility for rural hospitals that demonstrate good-faith efforts to meet these requirements. The goal is to improve healthcare access and communication for linguistically diverse patient populations.

Health and Social Services

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A387