HOUSE BILL 716

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Eleanor Chavez

AN ACT

RELATING TO HEALTH CARE; REQUIRING HEALTH FACILITIES TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION SERVICES, TO RECORD PATIENTS' PREFERRED LANGUAGES AND TO PROVIDE WRITTEN MATERIALS FOR CERTAIN LANGUAGES; PROVIDING PENALTIES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. A new section of the Public Health Act is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] REQUIREMENT FOR LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION IN HEALTH FACILITIES--RECORDING PATIENTS' PREFERRED LANGUAGES--REQUIREMENT FOR TRANSLATION OF WRITTEN MATERIALS--PENALTIES.--

          A. A health facility shall provide language interpretation for a patient who either does not speak or does not understand English and who is requesting or receiving services at the health facility. The interpretation shall be provided for the patient at no additional cost to the patient. The health facility shall arrange for interpretation to assist the patient in communicating with staff at the health facility. The health facility shall not require a patient to use a friend or family member as an interpreter.

          B. Interpretation may be provided on-site or, via telephonic or other medium, off-site.

          C. A health facility shall note a patient's preferred language in the patient's health record.

          D. A health facility shall provide a written translation of any materials it provides in written form in English for any language preferred by at least three percent of the population served by that facility, according to the facility's records indicating patients' preferred languages made pursuant to Subsection C of this section. For any other language, the facility shall provide for interpretation of written documents in a patient's preferred language.

          E. Violations of any provision of this section shall be reported to the department. The department shall then conduct an investigation to ascertain whether a violation has occurred and, if so, issue a notice of violation to the person operating the health facility. The department shall make reasonable efforts to secure voluntary compliance with this section. If these efforts are not successful, the department may refer the matter to the attorney general as a possible violation of this section. Upon receipt of that report, the attorney general shall promptly conduct an investigation to determine whether grounds exist for formally finding a violation. If the attorney general makes that finding, the attorney general shall file an appropriate action against the alleged violator in a court of competent jurisdiction. Upon finding violations of any provisions of this section, a court may impose a civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500) or less, in the discretion of the court, for each day that the violation remains uncorrected after the compliance date stipulated in a notice of violation issued pursuant to this section.

          F. For the purposes of this section:

                (1) "interpretation" means oral interpretation of spoken English and sight translation of written documents by a qualified medical interpreter or by a multilingual medical staff member of the health facility who is fluent in a patient's preferred language, providing a complete and accurate interpretation, without altering, omitting or adding anything to what is stated or written; and

                (2) "preferred language" means a language that a patient indicates as that in which the patient prefers to communicate."

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