The Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services Dec. 5 issued a letter to health care providers and others clarifying language access requirements under a final rule of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that became effective in July. The requirements apply to individuals with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities.  

The letter states that under the rule, important documents should be translated and interpreters should be provided free of charge. Providers must also administer free aids and services such as braille, large print, captioning, plain language explanations, qualified sign language interpreters, qualified readers, qualified speech-to-speech transliterators and accessible websites, the Department of Health and Human Services said. The department advised providers to read the rule and letter to ensure they are in compliance.