I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5762 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to research and 

design a graphic symbol to indicate when linguistic access materials 

and services are available for a health program, product, or service, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 

Mrs. KIM of California (for herself and Ms. MENG) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 

research and design a graphic symbol to indicate when 

linguistic access materials and services are available for 

a health program, product, or service, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Health Communication 

5 Access and Resources for Everyone Act of 2023’’ and the 

6 ‘‘Health CARE Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREATION OF A HEALTH LANGUAGE ACCESS SYM2 BOL. 

3 (a) INITIATING PROCESS.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

5 Health and Human Services (in this Act referred to as 

6 the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall start a process to establish a graph7 ic symbol to indicate when linguistic access materials and 

8 services are available to users or recipients of a health pro9 gram, product, or service. 

10 (b) DESIGN.—The graphic symbol under this section 

11 shall be designed to— 

12 (1) inform people about the availability of exist13 ing interpretation services and translated materials; 

14 (2) provide a simple and widely understood 

15 method for health care providers, issuers, public 

16 health departments, and other entities engaged in 

17 health care, including public health and health care 

18 communications, to inform people about available re19 sources to assist them in effectively communicating 

20 and receiving information about a health program, 

21 product, or service; 

22 (3) increase people’s access to communication 

23 regarding health programs, products, and services, 

24 thereby facilitating better uptake of preventative 

25 care, diagnosis, and treatment adherence; 


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1 (4) ensure the effectiveness of the symbol 

2 across different modalities, including printed and 

3 electronic notices, websites, insurance program appli4 cations, and consumer-facing outreach and edu5 cational materials; and 

6 (5) provide parameters for the integration of 

7 context-specific information that accompanies the 

8 symbol, such as a telephone number for available tel9 ephonic interpreter services, a quick response code, 

10 or embedded links to websites with translated mate11 rials. 

12 (c) RESEARCH PROCESS.—In conducting or sup13 porting research for the design of the graphic symbol 

14 under this section, the Secretary shall— 

15 (1) review the effectiveness of existing linguistic 

16 access symbols used in different settings or nations; 

17 (2) oversee a consumer research and brand de18 sign process to inform the creation, modification, or 

19 adoption of the graphic symbol, including an evalua20 tion of the symbol’s comparative potential to im21 prove consumer access to interpretation and trans22 lated materials and services, improve efficiency, and 

23 reduce waste; 

24 (3) consult throughout the process with stake25 holders, including health insurance plans, health 


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1 care providers, interpreters and translators, lan2 guage services managers, language service compa3 nies, organizations representing different commu4 nities with limited English proficiency, organizations 

5 representing persons with disabilities and older 

6 adults, State and local governments, and Tribal or7 ganizations; and 

8 (4) conduct (directly or by entering into a con9 tract) testing among a diverse set of communities 

10 using potential symbols to see whether and how 

11 those communities improve access to interpretation 

12 services and translation materials. 

13 (d) FINALIZATION.—Not more than 18 months after 

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 

15 (1) finalize the design of the graphic symbol 

16 under this section; and 

17 (2) issue a report to the appropriate congres18 sional committees detailing— 

19 (A) the design of the symbol; and 

20 (B) a plan for dissemination of the symbol 

21 under section 3. 

22 (e) COORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGEN23 CIES.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent determined 

25 appropriate by the Secretary, and subject to paraVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Sep 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5762.IH H5762

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1 graph (2), the Secretary shall provide for coordina2 tion, in designing the graphic symbol under this sec3 tion, between— 

4 (A) the Department of Health and Human 

5 Services; and 

6 (B) other Federal agencies that could po7 tentially adopt the graphic symbol under this 

8 section in communicating information to people 

9 with limited English proficiency. 

10 (2) NO DELAY.—The Secretary shall not allow 

11 coordination under paragraph (1) to delay the de12 sign of the graphic symbol under this section, the 

13 issuance of the final report under subsection (d), or 

14 the dissemination of the symbol under section 3. 

15 SEC. 3. DISSEMINATION OF THE HEALTH CARE LANGUAGE 

16 ACCESS SYMBOL. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Upon finalization of the design of 

18 the graphic symbol under section 2, the Secretary shall— 

19 (1) design an education program with the goal 

20 of increasing awareness of interpretation and trans21 lated materials and services among those who need 

22 linguistic access solutions with respect to health pro23 grams, products, and services; 

24 (2) work with entities likely to interact with 

25 populations that have limited English proficiency or 


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1 linguistic barriers to health care access, such as pub2 lic health departments, interpreter and translator as3 sociations, health care providers, health care assist4 ers, Federally qualified health centers, health insur5 ance issuers, community-based organizations, ref6 ugee resettlement organizations, and other entities 

7 identified by the Secretary; 

8 (3) work with health care providers, issuers, 

9 public health departments, and other entities identi10 fied by the Secretary as engaging in communication 

11 to consumers regarding health and health care to in12 form such entities of the symbol and encourage the 

13 use of the symbol in consumer communications; and 

14 (4) conduct trainings and provide technical as15 sistance to State agencies responsible for the Med16 icaid program under title XIX of the Social Security 

17 Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) or the State Children’s 

18 Health Insurance Program under title XXI of such 

19 Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.), managed care orga20 nizations, health insurance marketplaces, insurers, 

21 hospitals, Federally qualified health centers, and 

22 other recipients of Federal funds to encourage wide23 spread knowledge and adoption of the symbol. 

24 (b) USE OF THE SYMBOL IN HHS PROGRAMS.—The 

25 Secretary shall develop and implement a plan to use the 


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1 graphic symbol under section 2 across all consumer com2 munications developed by the Department of Health and 

3 Human Services, including applications for coverage, no4 tices, websites, and public health information. 

5 (c) OPTION TO USE GRAPHIC SYMBOL TO COMPLY

6 WITH EXISTING HHS REQUIREMENTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the testing under section 

8 2(c) indicates that requiring use of the graphic sym9 bol under section 2 would improve access to inter10 pretation services and translation materials relative 

11 to such access under existing HHS requirements, 

12 the Secretary shall allow entities described in sub13 section (a)(2) to use such symbol to give notice of 

14 the availability of interpretation services and trans15 lation materials in lieu of complying with existing 

16 HHS requirements. 

17 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

18 ‘‘existing HHS requirements’’ means the require19 ments of the Department of Health and Human 

20 Services relating to giving notice of the availability 

21 of interpretation services and translation materials 

22 that are in effect as of the date of enactment of this 

23 Act. 

24 (3) UPDATES TO REGULATIONS.—The Sec25 retary may update such regulations and take such 


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1 other actions as may be appropriate to carry out this 

2 subsection. 

Æ 


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