Douglas Green, Vice President of Business Development for Translation Source, testified on behalf of the Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators in front of the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services on May 21st, 2009 regarding qualifications for healthcare interpreters and translators. Mr. Green testified on the economics and business case regarding the impact of utilizing highly trained and qualified interpreters and the benefits that they would provide the State, healthcare providers, and limited English proficient recipients of healthcare related services.
Mr. Green cited the $73 billion lost annually due to poor communication within Healthcare, the burden that a lack of language access creates on the Healthcare system, and the potential liability that exists when non-qualified interpreters and translators are utilized. A copy of Mr. Green's testimony can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/dgreentahit.
Mr. Green's testimony was seen as vital to the unanimous passage of a bill that would establish an advisory committee to develop healthcare interpreter and translator qualifications. The bill was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry on June 19th, 2009. A history of the law and the press releases associated with it may be found online at the Texas Association for Healthcare Interpreters and Translators website at http://www.tahit.us.
Mr. Green will also be presenting on 'The Economics of Language Access in Healthcare" at the upcoming International Medical Interpreter Association Conference in Boston, Massachussetts on October 9th-11th, 2009.
