Increased Medical Access May Increase LEP Patient Legal Claims

The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that over 57 million people in the United States spoke a language other than English in their home during 2009, a rate that will exceed 66 million people --  or 20 percent of the United States population -- by 2020.   The related increases in the limited English proficiency (LEP) population will require health care providers reimbursed by the Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs to heed the applicable requirements published by the Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) here and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality here in order to provide meaningful access to services.  To learn more about these requirements, visit the OCR’s LEP website here or contact Susan Ziel at sziel@kdlegal.com.