National Medical Certification – A History

National Medical Certification for interpreters is an effort that has been under development for more than 10 years.

At the present time, 2 states have developed a Medical Certification Test that has withstood the test of time and provided the healthcare industry with a means to assess the competency of interpreters working in that field.

The first Medical Interpreter Certification Test to be developed was that of the Department of Social and Health Services for the state of Washington. The development of this test was completed in 1996, in compliance with a legislative mandate that was issued in response to a class action lawsuit by persons of limited English proficiency who were accessing the services of the DSHS. The purpose of developing bilingual testing and certification in the state of Washington was also to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This test is only available to those who are available to serve DSHS clients in Washington State.

California followed by modifying its existing Court Certification Test to apply to the healthcare field, incorporating medical terminology and Workers’ Compensation settings into the existing legal test. This was done in response to Government Code Section 11435.05 - 65 that requires interpreters used in state administrative hearings and adjudicative medical proceedings (determining compensation or monetary award) to be certified.

Effective July 1, 2008 the State Personnel Board (SPB) is now maintaining the list of certified medical interpreters and overseeing the Interpreter Program, however, interpreter examinations for medical interpreters were recently given and no new examination dates have been established.

Other efforts towards the development of a Medical Certification Test have been made in other states, with limited success and implementation. In Massachusetts, a Pilot Medical Certification Test was conducted by the then Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association, MMIA, (now the International Medical Interpreters Association, IMIA) in collaboration with the California Healthcare Interpreters Association. However, finalization of the test, based on feedback from the pilot, has not yet been completed.

The states of Oklahoma, Oregon, Iowa and Indiana have also pursued the development of a Medical Interpreter Certification Test, as have other entities, such as the National Center for Interpretation Testing, Researching and Policy of the University of Arizona. At the present time, however, national medical certification for interpreters is still a work-in-progress.

Language Line® University Medical Certification Test

Language Line Services began work on developing a Medical Certification Test (MCT) in 1998, with a highly qualified team of interpreting specialists and medical experts to respond to healthcare clients’ requests for documentation of the skills of Language Line Services’ interpreters to provide quality interpreting skills.

The Medical Certification Test has been delivered to Language Line Services interpreters as part of the internal quality assurance program for almost 10 years.

It is part of the company’s internal Certification Program that is based on the contention that interpreting skill cannot be adequately measured by an assessment alone. Therefore the multifaceted Certification Program includes elements that encompass training and performance monitoring, as well as entry-level testing and training.

In 2002, Language Line Services began to offer the Medical Certification Test (MCT) to outside parties, through its external testing and training arm, Language Line University.

The MCT is a consecutive interpreting test that has been utilized since that time by many clients and individuals for the purpose of documenting their high level of skill and knowledge of medical terminology for interpreting in the medical field.

The Medical Certification Test has been validated by a psychometrician from the University of Maryland and has been periodically updated to meet the changing requirements and advances in the medical field. In the ongoing absence of a National Medical Interpreter Certification Tests, the MCT fills the void with a quality assessment that enables medical interpreters and their employers to comply with the national standards of practice for medical interpreting.