Language access for every patient

A misunderstood symptom, dosage, or discharge instruction can change a clinical outcome. When patients with limited English proficiency rely on family members or untrained bilingual staff, critical detail is lost, and the provider carries the risk.

Healthcare teams also work under real constraints: unpredictable demand, short appointment windows, and strict privacy rules. You need interpreters who are available at 2 a.m., understand medical terminology, and treat protected health information with care.

Focus Interpreting is interpreter-owned, and we specialize in medical and legal state-certified interpreters. Our medical interpreters are HIPAA-trained, U.S.-based, experienced in both consecutive and simultaneous modes, and required to arrive 15 minutes before an on-site assignment.

Choose the modality that fits the encounter. On-site interpreters for complex consultations and procedures, phone interpreting for triage and follow-up calls, and Focus VRI, our patented video remote interpreting app, for on-demand visual access on any smartphone or tablet. Phone and video interpreting are available 24/7, with emergency and rush dispatch when you need it.

For written material, our medical translators handle consent forms, patient education, care plans, and pharmaceutical documentation, and our medical transcriptionists turn dictation and recordings into accurate records.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act requires organizations that receive federal funding, including most hospitals and health plans, to provide meaningful language access to people with limited English proficiency. Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act builds on this by requiring qualified interpreters and restricting reliance on minors and accompanying adults except in emergencies.

The Americans with Disabilities Act separately requires effective communication with Deaf and hard-of-hearing patients, which in clinical settings often means a qualified ASL interpreter in person or by VRI.

Our interpreters are trained on HIPAA privacy and security rules, and we are a member of the International Medical Interpreters Association. We also adhere to the ATA Code of Ethics, so every conversation and document stays confidential.