Week 3 – Discussion Board 1

[Art Liebl]

In at least 250 words talk about if you think present day legislation is enough. Do you see executive order 13166 being applied in your state? Respond to two fellow students by Monday.

[Flaviane Wronski]

The current regulations in medical interpreting, in my opinion, are a good start, but when you consider the importance of this profession and the serious consequences that a misunderstanding can cause, I would think the regulations would be much clearer and specific and not rely on interpretations or personal opinions to define the medical interpreter competence.

Executive Order 13166 basically says,” If a person cannot communicate effectively in English, the government and federally funded programs need to take reasonable steps to help that person access the service.” For a medical interpreter, that’s great because it shows that a medical interpreter is not a courtesy, but a right, opening up a lot of work opportunities.

In Massachusetts, I saw this order in practice all the time, in different clinics and hospitals. Although Executive Order 13166 was revoked in 2025, which is very concerning to me, I believe it’s strongly connected with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act os 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance. So, honestly, I think that even though it was revoked on paper, it won’t affect much on a day-to-day basis.

Medical interpreting is a very complex profession. Ensuring clear communication between a provider and a patient who speak different languages, who can have different educational levels and cultures, demands a great deal of responsibility. I would expect that in a profession where a mistake can lead to a life-changing situation in someone’s life, or even death, the regulations should be more concrete, with guidelines to evaluate the interpreter in a less interpretational way.

Massachusetts has strong protections and requirements around medical interpreting, but it also says that hospitals have the responsibility to hire competente interpreter. Define competente? National certification already exists and gives the interpreter credibility. But the creation of licensure for medical interpreters would provide standardization, accountability and recognition, improving the safety and quality of medical interpreting.

[Marjetta Juul]

Hello Flaviane!!

Highly informative post, I can tell that you really took the time to process the depth of that question.

I completely agree with your point that ‘competence’ is far too vague when lives are on the line!

Your suggestion of state licensure is such a strong solution—it would move us past vague hospital guidelines and establish standardized, legal accountability for our profession.

I also really liked your analysis of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; it’s reassuring to know that the fundamental civil rights protection for language access remains intact as the underlying baseline. Thanks for sharing such a practical and well-reasoned perspective!

[Marjetta Juul]

Yes, Executive Order 13166 is actively being applied in Oregon because our hospitals, health departments, and community clinics receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid, making them legally obligated to ensure meaningful access for Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals.

In practice, this federal mandate is operationalized across Oregon in three concrete ways:

1) The OHA Central Registry: Under state legislation (ORS 413.550), Oregon created a centralized Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Health Care Interpreter Registry. Publicly funded health systems and Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs) are required to prioritize working with “Qualified” or “Certified” interpreters who have completed mandatory formal training and testing.

2) Clinical Access Tools: Major health systems across the Portland metro area and statewide (such as OHSU, Providence, and Legacy Health) fulfill EO 13166 by deploying on-site professional interpreters, mobile Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) carts on hospital floors, and 24/7 telephonic access.

3) Required Record Keeping: Under state administrative rules, healthcare providers are required to document the interpreter’s name, language, and OHA registry number directly in the patient’s medical record—or explicitly log a “good faith effort” if a credentialed interpreter was unavailable.

Comparing Oregon to California
When looking at our neighbor in the Pacific Northwest region, California has tried to address language access through sweeping legislation—such as the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act for public agencies and SB 853 for private health plans—to enforce Title VI and EO 13166. However, they have not been as successful in creating a unified, reliable standard for patients because California lacks a single, centralized state healthcare interpreter registry.
Without a central body like Oregon’s OHA, California’s system remains fragmented across individual health plan mandates, hospital network policies, and private vendor assessments. This decentralization leaves clinics relying on a patchwork of varying qualifications or ad-hoc bilingual staff, creating huge quality inconsistencies across facilities. Oregon’s centralized registry model creates a far better standard for patient care, ensuring that no matter which clinic or hospital a patient walks into, they are met with a verified, credentialed professional.

[Flaviane Wronski]

Hi Marjetta,

I really liked you brought up Oreo in your discussion! I was researching its medical interpreter regulations and found the distinction between qualified and certified medical interpreters interesting. I knew that Oregon has the stronger formal regulatory structure for medical interpreter, a central registry where they can check interpreter status, but I wasn’t aware that Oregon has these 2 different pathways for medical interpreter.

Thank you for sharing that with us!

[Marjetta Juul]

Hi Flaviane,

Thanks for your response! Glad you appreciated the overview. Here’s how it works in my state at least—not sure if this is how it works in yours!

In terms of career progression, there is a bit of a natural cap/limit on formal certification depending on your language. For ie in Oregon, you first complete an Oregon Health Authority, OHA-approved 60-hour program like the one through Interpreters Associates, Inc. After completing the course, you take a language proficiency exam (aiming for around a B2 or C1 / ACTFL Advanced-Mid level) to prove fluency.

Once you pass that proficiency test and submit your 60-hour certificate, you have completed all of the curriculum and state requirements to become listed as an

Oregon Qualified Health Care Interpreter

on the state registry!

However,

full national Certification

(the step above Qualification) is only available in 7 core languages:

1. Spanish
2. Arabic
3. Mandarin
4. Cantonese
5. Russian
6. Vietnamese
7. Korean

For languages NOT on that list—like French—there is no national oral certification exam to take. So for French, you skip a national certification exam and rely directly on your 60-hour training certificate and language proficiency test scores to achieve state Qualification.

Because that language proficiency exam is the main benchmark for French, it’s a great reminder for anyone studying French right now: while we memorize medical vocabulary and work through the course, if our underlying grammar isn’t strong enough to pass a B2/C1 proficiency test, now is the exact time to sharpen it so we are truly hireable across every measure upon completing the course!

Marjetta

• This reply was modified 4 days, 9 hours ago by Marjetta Juul.

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