Connecticut General Statutes 19a-490i – Interpreter services and linguistic access in acute care hospitals
Each acute care hospital in this state shall:
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 19a-490i
- Hospital: means an establishment for the lodging, care and treatment of persons suffering from disease or other abnormal physical or mental conditions and includes inpatient psychiatric services in general hospitals. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-490
(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.