Office for Civil Rights
Appendix A
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS REGARDING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GUIDANCE TO FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS REGARDING THE TITLE VI PROHIBITION AGAINST NATIONAL ORIGIN DISCRIMINATION AFFECTING LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT PERSONS
1. Q. What is the purpose of the guidance on language access released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)?
A. The purpose of the Policy Guidance is to clarify to members of the public, and to providers of health and social services who receive Federal financial assistance from HHS, the responsibility of such providers to Limited English Proficient (LEP) persons, pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among other things, this guidance clarifies existing legal requirements by providing a description of the factors providers of health and social services who receive Federal financial assistance from HHS should consider in determining and fulfilling their responsibilities to LEP persons under Title VI. |
2. Q. What does the policy guidance do?
A. The policy guidance does the following:
- Reiterates the principles of Title VI with respect to LEP persons.
- Discusses the reasonable policies, procedures and other steps that recipients can take to ensure meaningful access to their program by LEP persons.
- Clarifies that failure to take one or more of these steps does not necessarily mean noncompliance with Title VI.
- Explains to recipients of Federal financial assistance that OCR will determine compliance on a case by case basis, in light of the following four factors: (1) the number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served or likely to be encountered by the program, activity or service provided by the recipient; (2) the frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the recipient's program, activity or service; (3) the nature and importance of the recipient's program, activity, or service; and (4) the resources available to the recipient and costs.
- Provides that, based on these four factors, recipients with limited resources will not have the same compliance responsibilities applicable to recipients with greater resources.
All recipients will have a great deal of flexibility in achieving compliance.
- Provides that OCR will offer extensive technical assistance for recipients.
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3. Q. Does the guidance impose new requirements on recipients?
A. No. Since its enactment, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance. Title VI requires that recipients take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs and activities by LEP persons. Over the past three decades, OCR has conducted thousands of investigations and reviews involving language differences that affect the access of LEP persons to medical care and social services. This guidance synthesizes the legal requirements that OCR has been enforcing for over three decades. |
4. Q. Who is covered by the guidance?
A. Covered entities include any state or local agency, private institution or organization, or any public or private individual that (1) operates, provides or engages in health, or social service programs and activities, and (2) receives Federal financial assistance from HHS directly or through another recipient/covered entity. Examples of covered entities include but are not limited to the following entities, which may receive federal financial assistance: hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, managed care organizations, universities and other entities with health or social service research programs; state, county and local health agencies; state Medicaid agencies; state, county and local welfare agencies; federally-funded programs for families, youth and children; Head Start programs; public and private contractors, subcontractors and vendors; physicians; and other providers who receive Federal financial assistance from HHS. |
5. Q. How does the guidance affect small practitioners and providers who are recipients of federal financial assistance?
A. Small practitioners and providers will have considerable flexibility in determining precisely how to fulfill their obligations to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access for persons with limited English proficiency. OCR will assess compliance on a case by case basis and will take into account the following factors: (1) the number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served or likely to be encountered by the recipient's program, activity or service; (2) the frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the program, activity or service; (3) the nature and importance of the program, activity, or service provided by the recipient; and (4) the resources available to the recipient and costs. There is no "one size fits all" solution for Title VI compliance with respect to LEP persons, and what constitutes "reasonable steps" for large providers may not be reasonable where small providers are concerned. Thus, smaller recipients with smaller budgets will not be expected to provide the same level of language services as larger recipients with larger budgets. OCR will continue to be available to provide technical assistance to HHS recipients, including sole practitioners and other small recipients, seeking to operate an effective language assistance program and to comply with Title VI. |
6. Q. The guidance identifies some specific circumstances which OCR will consider to be strong evidence that a program is in compliance with its obligation under Title VI to provide written materials in languages other than English. Does this mean that a recipient/covered entity will be considered out of compliance with Title VI if its program does not fall within these circumstances?
A. No. The circumstances outlined in the guidance are intended to identify circumstances which amount to a "safe harbor" for recipients who desire greater certainty with respect to their obligations to provide written translations. This means that if a recipient provides written translations under these circumstances, such action will be considered strong evidence of compliance with the recipient's written-translation obligations. However, the failure to provide written translations under the circumstances outlined in the "safe harbor"does not mean there is non-compliance. Rather, the safe harbor provides a tool which recipients may use to consider whether the number or proportion of LEP persons served call for written translations of vital documents into frequently encountered languages other than English. However, even if the safe harbors are not used, if written translation of certain documents would be so financially burdensome as to defeat the legitimate objectives of its program, the translation of the written materials is not necessary. Other ways of providing meaningful access, such as effective oral interpretation of certain vital documents, might be acceptable under such circumstances when, upon application of the four factors, translation services are required. |
7. Q. The guidance makes reference to "vital documents" and notes that, in certain circumstances, a recipient/covered entity may have to translate such documents into other languages. What is a vital document?
A. As clarified by the guidance, the extent of Title VI obligations will be evaluated based on a four-factor test including the nature or importance of the service. In this regard, the guidance points out that documents deemed "vital" to the access of LEP persons to programs and services may often have to be translated. Whether or not a document (or the information it contains or solicits) is "vital" may depend upon the importance of the program, information, encounter, or service involved, and the consequence to the LEP person if the information in question is not provided accurately or in a timely manner. Where appropriate, recipients are encouraged to create a plan for consistently determining, over time and across their various activities, what documents are "vital" to the meaningful access of the LEP populations they serve. Thus, vital documents could include, for instance, consent and complaint forms, intake forms with potential for important health consequences, written notices of eligibility criteria, rights, denial, loss, or decreases in benefits or services, actions affecting parental custody or child support, and other hearings, notices advising LEP persons of free language assistance, written tests that do not assess English language competency, but test competency for a particular license, job or skill for which knowing English is not required, or applications to participate in a recipient's program or activity or to receive recipient benefits or services. |
8. Q. Will recipient/covered entities have to translate large documents such as managed care enrollment handbooks?
A. Not necessarily. Some large documents may contain no vital information, and others will contain vital information that will have to be translated. Again, the obligation to translate will depend on application of the four factors. In this context, vital information may include, for instance, the provision of information in appropriate languages other than English, or identifying where a LEP person might obtain an interpretation or translation of the document. However, depending on the circumstances, large documents such as enrollment handbooks may not need to be translated or may not need to be translated in their entirety. |
9. Q. May an LEP person use a family member or friend as his or her interpreter?
A. Some LEP persons may feel more comfortable when a trusted family member or friend acts as an interpreter. When an LEP person attempts to access the services of a recipient of federal financial assistance, who upon application of the four factors is required to provide an interpreter, the recipient should make the LEP person aware that he or she has the option of having the recipient provide an interpreter for him/her without charge, or of using his/her own interpreter. Recipients should also consider the special circumstances discussed in the guidance that may affect whether a family member or friend should serve as an interpreter, such as whether the situation is an emergency, and concerns over competency, confidentiality, privacy, or conflict of interest. |
10. Q. May a recipient/covered entity require a LEP person to use a family member or a friend as his or her interpreter?
A. No. |
11. Q. How does low health literacy, non-literacy, non-written languages, blindness and deafness among LEP populations affect the responsibilities of federal fund recipients?
A. Effective communication in any language requires an understanding of the literacy levels of the eligible populations. However, where a LEP individual has a limited understanding of health matters or cannot read, access to the program is complicated by factors not generally directly related to national origin or language and thus is not a Title VI issue. Under these circumstances, a recipient should provide remedial health information to the same extent that it would provide such information to English-speakers. Similarly, a recipient should assist LEP individuals who cannot read in understanding written materials as it would non-literate English-speakers. A non-written language precludes the translation of documents, but does not affect the responsibility of the recipient to communicate the vital information contained in the document or to provide notice of the availability of oral translation. Of course, other law may be implicated in this context. For instance, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that federal fund recipients provide sign language and oral interpreters for people who have hearing impairments and provide materials in alternative formats such as in large print, braille or on tape for individuals with visual impairments; and the Americans with Disabilities Act imposes similar requirements on health and human service providers. |
12. Q. What assistance is available to help to recipients who wish to come into compliance with Title VI?
A. For over three decades, OCR has provided substantial technical assistance to recipient/covered entities who are seeking to ensure that LEP persons can meaningfully access their programs or services. Our regional staff is prepared to work with recipients to help them meet their obligations under Title VI. As part of its technical assistance services, OCR can help identify best practices and successful strategies used by other federal fund recipients, identify sources of federal reimbursement for translation services, and point providers to other resources.
In addition, the entire Department is also committed to assisting recipients of HHS financial assistance in complying with their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Through its Administration on Children and Families, Administration on Health Care Quality and Research, Administration on Aging, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Office for Civil Rights, Office of Minority Health and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS provides a variety of practical technical assistance to recipients to assist them in serving LEP persons. This technical assistance includes translated forms and vital documents; training and information about best practices; and grants and model demonstration funds for LEP services. HHS believes that, on the whole, its recipients genuinely desire to comply with their obligations, and that increased understanding of compliance responsibilities and knowledge about cost-effective resources that are increasingly available to them, will assist recipients/covered entities in meeting Title VI obligations. Accordingly, HHS is committed to providing outreach to its recipients and to being responsive to queries from its recipients. It is also committed to working with representatives of state and local health and social service agencies, organizations of such agencies, hospital associations, medical and dental associations and managed care organizations to identify and share model plans, examples of best practices, cost-saving approaches, and information on other available resources, and to mobilize these organizations to educate their members on these matters. HHS will continue to promote best practices in language access and fund model demonstration programs in this area. The HHS Office for Civil Rights, in conjunction with other HHS components, will continue to provide technical assistance and outreach to HHS recipients to assist them in understanding and complying with their obligations under Title VI and to provide information to recipients and the public through its website at www.hhs/gov/ocr . LEP information and resources can also be found at www.lep.gov. |
13. Q. How will OCR enforce compliance by recipient/covered entities with the LEP requirements of Title VI?
A. The goal for Title VI and Title VI regulatory enforcement is to achieve voluntary compliance. The requirement to take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to LEP persons is enforced and implemented by OCR through the procedures identified in the Title VI regulations. These procedures include complaint investigations, compliance reviews, efforts to secure voluntary compliance, and technical assistance.
The Title VI regulations provide that OCR will investigate whenever it receives a complaint, report, or other information that alleges or indicates possible noncompliance with Title VI or its regulations. If the investigation results in a finding of compliance, OCR will inform the recipient in writing of this determination, including the basis for the determination. However, if a case is fully investigated and results in a finding of noncompliance, OCR must inform the recipient of the noncompliance through a Letter of Findings that sets out the areas of noncompliance and the steps that must be taken to correct the noncompliance. It must attempt to secure voluntary compliance through informal means. If the matter cannot be resolved informally, OCR may secure compliance through the termination of federal assistance after the recipient has been given an opportunity for an administrative hearing. OCR may also refer the matter to the Department of Justice to secure compliance through any other means authorized by law.
At all stages of an investigation, OCR engages in voluntary compliance efforts and provides technical assistance to recipients. During these efforts, OCR proposes reasonable timetables for achieving compliance and consults with and assists recipients in exploring cost-effective ways of coming into compliance. In determining a recipient's compliance with the Title VI regulations, OCR's primary concern is to ensure that the recipient's policies and procedures contain reasonable steps to provide meaningful access for LEP persons to the recipient's programs, activities or services. As a result, the vast majority of all complaints have been resolved through such voluntary efforts. |
14. Q. Does issuing this guidance mean that OCR will be changing how it enforces compliance with Title VI?
A. No. How OCR enforces Title VI is governed by the Title VI implementing regulations. The methods and procedures used to investigate and resolve complaints, and conduct compliance reviews, have not changed. |
15. Q. What is HHS doing to promote access for LEP persons to its own programs and services?
A. HHS provides a variety of services for LEP persons who come in contact with the Department. These services include oral language assistance services such as language lines and interpreters; translation of written materials; and foreign language web sites. HHS will continue to explore how it can share with its recipients language assistance measures, resources, cost-containment approaches, and other information and knowledge, developed with respect to its own federally conducted programs and activities, and welcomes any suggestions in this regard. |
Last revised: August 11, 2003
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