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; 
‘‘(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-
100 
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. 
‘‘SEC. 2903. ROBERT T. MATSUI CENTER FOR CULTURAL 
AND 
LINGUISTIC 
COMPETENCE 
IN 
HEALTHCARE. 
‘‘(a) 
ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
Secretary, 
acting 
through the Director of the Office of Minority Health, 
shall establish and support a center to be known as the 
‘Robert T. Matsui Center for Cultural and Linguistic 
Competence in Healthcare’ (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 healthcare providers
101 
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 healthcare providers or 
organizations to provide medical interpreting serv-
ices directly and obtain reimbursement for such 
services as provided for under the medicare, med-
icaid or SCHIP programs under titles XVIII, XIX, 
or XXI of the Social Security Act. 
‘‘(2) MODEL
LANGUAGE
ASSISTANCE
PRO-
GRAMS.—The Center shall provide for the collection 
and dissemination of information on current model 
language assistance programs and strategies to im-
prove language access to healthcare for individuals 
with limited English proficiency, including case stud-
ies using de-identified patient information, program 
summaries, and program evaluations. 
‘‘(3) MEDICAL INTERPRETING GUIDELINES.—
102 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall con-
vene a national working group to develop med-
ical interpreting and translation guidelines and 
standards for— 
‘‘(i) the provision of services; 
‘‘(ii) the actual practice of inter-
preting; 
‘‘(iii) the training of medical inter-
preters and translators, developed by inter-
preters and translators. 
‘‘(B) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 18 
months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Center shall publish guidelines and stand-
ards developed under this paragraph in the 
Federal Register. 
‘‘(4) INTERNET
HEALTH
CLEARINGHOUSE.— 
The Center shall develop and maintain an Internet 
clearinghouse to reduce medical errors and improve 
medical outcomes and reduce healthcare costs 
caused by communication with individuals with lim-
ited English proficiency or low functional health lit-
eracy and reduce or eliminate the duplication of ef-
fort to translate materials by— 
‘‘(A) developing and making available tem-
plates for standard documents that are nec-
103 
essary for patients and consumers to access and 
make educated decisions about their healthcare, 
including— 
‘‘(i) administrative and legal docu-
ments such as informed consent, advanced 
directives, and waivers of rights; 
‘‘(ii) clinical information such as how 
to take medications, how to prevent trans-
mission of a contagious disease, and other 
prevention and treatment instructions; 
‘‘(iii) patient education and outreach 
materials such as immunization notices, 
health warnings, or screening notices; and 
‘‘(iv) additional health or healthcare- 
related materials as determined appro-
priate by the Director of the Center; 
‘‘(B) ensuring that the documents the 
posted in English and non-English languages 
and are culturally appropriate; 
‘‘(C) allowing public review of the docu-
ments before dissemination in order to ensure 
that the documents are understandable and cul-
turally appropriate for the target populations; 
‘‘(D) allowing healthcare providers to cus-
tomize the documents for their use;