‘‘SEC. 3002. NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR CULTURALLY AND 
LINGUISTICALLY APPROPRIATE SERVICES IN 
HEALTH CARE. 
‘‘Recipients of Federal financial assistance from the 
Secretary shall, to the extent reasonable and practicable 
after applying the 4-factor analysis described in title V 
of the Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipi-
ents Regarding Title VI Prohibition Against National Ori-
gin Discrimination Affecting Limited-English Proficient 
Persons (June 12, 2002)— 
‘‘(1) implement strategies to recruit, retain, and 
promote individuals at all levels of the organization 
to maintain a diverse staff and leadership that can 
provide culturally and linguistically appropriate 
health care to patient populations of the service area 
of the organization; 
‘‘(2) ensure that staff at all levels and across all 
disciplines of the organization receive ongoing edu-
cation and training in culturally and linguistically 
appropriate service delivery; 
‘‘(3) offer and provide language assistance serv-
ices, including trained bilingual staff and interpreter 
services, at no cost to each patient with limited 
English proficiency at all points of contact, in a 
timely manner during all hours of operation; 
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‘‘(4) notify patients of their right to receive lan-
guage assistance services in their primary language; 
‘‘(5) ensure the competence of language assist-
ance provided to limited English proficient patients 
by interpreters and bilingual staff, and ensure that 
family, particularly minor children, and friends are 
not used to provide interpretation services— 
‘‘(A) except in case of emergency; or 
‘‘(B) except on request of the patient, who 
has been informed in his or her preferred lan-
guage of the availability of free interpretation 
services; 
‘‘(6) make available easily understood patient- 
related materials, if such materials exist for non-lim-
ited English proficient patients, including informa-
tion or notices about termination of benefits and 
post signage in the languages of the commonly en-
countered groups or groups represented in the serv-
ice area of the organization; 
‘‘(7) develop and implement clear goals, poli-
cies, operational plans, and management account-
ability and oversight mechanisms to provide cul-
turally and linguistically appropriate services; 
‘‘(8) conduct initial and ongoing organizational 
assessments of culturally and linguistically appro-
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priate services-related activities and integrate valid 
linguistic competence-related measures into the in-
ternal audits, performance improvement programs, 
patient satisfaction assessments, and outcomes-based 
evaluations of the organization; 
‘‘(9) ensure that, consistent with the privacy 
protections provided for under the regulations pro-
mulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insur-
ance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 
U.S.C. 1320d–2 note)— 
‘‘(A) data on the individual patient’s race, 
ethnicity, and primary language are collected in 
health records, integrated into the organiza-
tion’s management information systems, and 
periodically updated; and 
‘‘(B) if the patient is a minor or is inca-
pacitated, the primary language of the parent 
or legal guardian is collected; 
‘‘(10) maintain a current demographic, cultural, 
and epidemiological profile of the community as well 
as a needs assessment to accurately plan for and im-
plement services that respond to the cultural and 
linguistic characteristics of the service area of the 
organization; 
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‘‘(11) develop participatory, collaborative part-
nerships with communities and utilize a variety of 
formal and informal mechanisms to facilitate com-
munity and patient involvement in designing and im-
plementing culturally and linguistically appropriate 
services-related activities; 
‘‘(12) ensure that conflict and grievance resolu-
tion processes are culturally and linguistically sen-
sitive and capable of identifying, preventing, and re-
solving cross-cultural conflicts or complaints by pa-
tients; 
‘‘(13) regularly make available to the public in-
formation about their progress and successful inno-
vations in implementing the standards under this 
section and provide public notice in their commu-
nities about the availability of this information; and 
‘‘(14) if requested, regularly make available to 
the head of each Federal entity from which Federal 
funds are received, information about their progress 
and successful innovations in implementing the 
standards under this section as required by the head 
of such entity. 
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‘‘SEC. 3003. ROBERT T. MATSUI CENTER FOR CULTURAL 
AND LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE IN HEALTH 
CARE. 
‘‘(a) 
ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
Secretary, 
acting 
through the Director of the Office of Minority Health Dis-
parity Elimination, shall establish and support a center 
to be known as the ‘Robert T. Matsui Center for Cultural 
and Linguistic Competence in Health Care’ (referred to 
in this section as the ‘Center’) to carry out the following 
activities: 
‘‘(1) REMOTE
MEDICAL
INTERPRETING.—The 
Center shall provide remote medical interpreting, di-
rectly or through contracts, to health care providers 
who otherwise would be unable to provide language 
interpreting services, at reasonable or no cost as de-
termined appropriate by the Director of the Center. 
Methods of interpretation may include remote, si-
multaneous or consecutive interpreting through tele-
phonic systems, video conferencing, and other meth-
ods determined appropriate by the Secretary for pa-
tients with limited English proficiency. The quality 
of such interpreting shall be monitored and reported 
publicly. Nothing in this paragraph shall be con-
strued to limit the ability of health care providers or 
organizations to provide medical interpreting serv-
ices directly and obtain reimbursement for such 
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