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In the 2001 report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) proposed a strategy to improve the US healthcare system. Identifying six aims, the report outlined the need for healthcare to be safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. The need for healthcare practitioners to understand and address the specific communication and language assistance needs of people with limited English proficiency has led to the development of several laws requiring practitioners to be mindful of the language needs of the people they serve. This is particularly true for practitioners who serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries or those who work in federally funded settings. While those laws were identified and explained in PART-I of this article series about offering healthcare translation services to people with limited English proficiency (LEP), the current article presents a behavioral health case study to guide the clinician into understanding how to approach service delivery through telehealth when LEP laws might be involved.
Telehealth Implications of LEP
When working through telehealth, providers and their employers can easily bump into ethical dilemmas when they must be made aware of LEP laws, their requirements, and the unfortunate circumstances that can evolve. To clarify the telehealth issues, a case study is presented next.
Dr. Fortier, a psychotherapist who conducts sessions via telehealth using a video conferencing tool. Dr. Fortier is a first-generation Anglophone whose first language is English.
A new client going by the name of Jorge, is…