Understanding Language Access Requirements for Audiologists and SLPs

December 20, 2024

On December 5, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter to ensure that covered entities—including many audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs)—understand and comply with the latest language access obligations in the Affordable Care Act that went into effect July 2024.

How Language Access Requirements Impact Audiologists and SLPs

Only covered entities are subject to these new requirements for language access for healthcare services. Many (if not most) audiologists and SLPs would be considered covered entities and thus must change the way they serve individuals with limited English proficiency. Essentially, covered entities are any healthcare providers or entities that receive federal funding and must comply with nondiscrimination rules based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability.

Some of the key requirements for working with individuals with limited English proficiency and/or communication disabilities include...

Free, accurate, and timely language assistance services
Reasonable modifications and appropriate auxiliary aids and services for individuals with disabilities
Use of a qualified interpreter and/or translator
Clarification on use of machine translation
Notice requirements for nondiscrimination and availability of language assistance services and auxiliary aids and services.

To comply with these regulations, covered entities should consider...

Identifying and assessing the language needs of the populations they serve or are likely to serve
Establishing and implementing clear policies and procedures for providing language assistance services
Ensuring all staff members are trained on the requirements of the final rule and understand how to access and provide language assistance services
Providing qualified translators and interpreters to ensure accurate and meaningful communication
Regularly monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of language assistance services and making necessary adjustments to improve access.

How to Support Multilingual Patients

Here are some additional clinical considerations and resources for working with multilingual clients, patients, and students:

Ethical considerations: ASHA members shall not discriminate in the delivery of professional services based on language or dialect and must take appropriate steps to consider other options, such as additional training, making a referral, and working with an interpreter to ensure clients/patients receive appropriate services. For more information, see Issues in Ethics: Cultural and Linguistic Competence.
Language assistance: If a language-matched multilingual service provider is not available, providers could collaborate with an interpreter. Clinicians with the requisite knowledge and skills for multilingual service delivery can provide services to patients while working with interpreters.
Supporting multilingualism: Audiologists and SLPs can share activities with the family/care partners to promote communication development and support practice in family languages. Be sure to gather family/care partner impressions of the use of their heritage languages and any progress made because of intervention. Also, ensure that you are providing key information in the language/s clients use.