On September 18, the US House of Representatives unanimously passed the Supporting Patient Education and Knowledge (SPEAK) Act (H.R. 6033<\/a>), designed to improve access to telehealth services for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) by standardizing best practices for integrating language services into virtual healthcare platforms. The bill, introduced by Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) in October 2023, addresses a growing need as telehealth continues to expand following its widespread adoption during the Covid-19 pandemic. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telehealth has proven to be a valuable tool for reducing healthcare costs and improving access to care, particularly for those in rural or underserved areas. However, individuals with LEP often face significant challenges in utilizing these services due to language barriers. According to recent estimates, over 25 million Americans have LEP, with some communities being disproportionately affected by these communication hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Steel remarked on the necessity of the SPEAK Act to bridge these gaps in a press release:<\/a> \u201cAs we continue to improve access to care via new technologies, I\u2019m focused on ensuring no American\u2019s health care needs are left behind in the digital age.\u201d She added on X<\/a>, \u201cEnglish proficiency should not be a prerequisite for receiving quality health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SPEAK Act outlines specific requirements for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to convene a task force that addresses the telehealth barriers faced by LEP individuals. This task force will consist of representatives from healthcare providers, health information technology service providers, language service companies, and patient advocates. Together, they will develop strategies to improve telehealth accessibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Act mandates that the task force produce reports for Congress that explain the barriers LEP patients face in accessing telehealth and offer recommendations for best practices. Some of the key recommendations are expected to include the integration of interpreters in telemedicine appointments via multi-person video calls, providing patient materials and appointment reminders in multiple languages, and improving the usability of digital health platforms for non-English speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Act has garnered bipartisan support, with co-sponsor Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) stressing the importance of expanding healthcare access. \u201cIn my district alone, 71% of people speak a language other than English at home \u2014 it\u2019s past time we ensure no one\u2019s healthcare is limited to their ability to speak English,\u201d said Rep. Gomez in the press release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 18, the US House of Representatives unanim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-391"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaresources.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}