HIPAA-Compliant Translation Services: Protecting Privacy and Enhancing Care

By Tim ・ June 5, 2025

Effective communication is critical to delivering high-quality healthcare. As of 2021, more than 25 million people had limited English proficiency (LEP). Language barriers in healthcare can result in a number of adverse effects, including misdiagnoses, treatment errors, and ultimately suboptimal patient outcomes. HIPAA-compliant medical interpreters play an essential role in the treatment of patients with LEP, ensuring not only clear communication but also that sensitive health information is handled appropriately.

The Importance of Medical Interpreters

Medical interpreters play a key role in facilitating communication between healthcare providers and patients with limited English proficiency, making certain that all patients receive the same level of care, regardless of the language they speak. Healthcare interpreters are trained in medical terminology, pharmaceutical names, and diagnostic procedures. They also understand the complexity of clinical settings and have insight into cultural nuances and idiomatic expressions.

Some of the ways that medical interpreters support patients with LEP include:

Helping to communicate and understand diagnoses, treatment options, and therapeutic protocols
Navigating insurance paperwork, consent forms, intake and discharge documents, and follow-up instructions
Interpreting brochures and informational handouts
Translating the medical records of patients born in non-English-speaking countries
Asking questions and expressing concerns with clarity
Ensuring clear communication where sensitive subjects are discussed, like mental health consultations
Enhancing patient experience, making sure patients feel heard and respected
Promoting equality and helping overcome language and cultural barriers

The best medical interpreters, like those from Translations ABC, are most often actual physicians or hold advanced degrees in science to help reduce the risk of medical errors, improve patient satisfaction, and enable accurate, culturally competent care.

Why HIPAA Compliance Is Critical

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects sensitive patient health information (PHI). This includes information that can identify a patient, such as names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers, as well as medical information like test results, treatment plans, provider names, and appointment schedules. Medical interpreters, like all other medical personnel who have access to patient data, must follow HIPAA’s strict standards for protecting health information.

Using a HIPAA-compliant medical interpreter offers several advantages, such as:

Confidentiality Agreements: It’s common for medical interpreters to sign Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) with healthcare providers, which detail the responsibilities both parties have to protect PHI.
Secure Communication: HIPAA-compliant interpreters use encrypted communication tools and handle documentation and notes to maintain patients’ data privacy.
Education and Certification: Medical interpreters from the best translation agencies receive training in HIPAA regulations and secure handling of PHI and commonly hold certifications from professional organizations like the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI) or the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI).

Medical translators are invaluable when working with patients with LEP. Failing to comply with HIPAA compromises patient trust and puts healthcare institutions at risk of legal violations.

Unqualified Medical Interpreters Jeopardize Quality Care

Using a non-HIPAA-compliant interpreter, depending on a bilingual employee, or relying on a friend or family member to translate medical information presents a variety of potential problems. First and foremost, non-professionals (like friends and family) are not versed in patient confidentiality—putting patient PHI at risk and healthcare providers in danger of violating HIPAA regulations.

Furthermore, while having friends and family or a bilingual employee act as a medical interpreter may seem like a convenient option, it poses several challenges. For example, they may understand the language they’re translating, but be unfamiliar with the medical terms and jargon spoken. Friends and family are also biased and filter conversations about sensitive subjects like mental health, reproductive health, and end-of-life care.

Ultimately, using non-HIPAA-compliant interpreters can increase readmission rates, extend hospital stays, and reduce the quality of care.

In-Person vs. Remote Medical Interpretation

Professional medical interpreters provide services in two main formats: in-person and remote.

In-Person Interpreting: Ideal for complex or sensitive cases, allowing interpreters to read body language and engage more personally.
Remote Interpreting: Includes Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) and Over-the-Phone Interpreting (OPI). These options are cost-effective, fast, and ideal for urgent or routine consultations.

The best HIPAA-compliant translation services should offer both types of medical interpretation services.

Using AI and Machine Learning for Medical Interpreting

AI and machine-learning-powered tools like Google Translate are becoming increasingly prevalent. The speed at which they translate and their convenience seemingly make them a natural fit for time-starved healthcare professionals. However, while AI has some advantages over humans, not only is it not ready to replace professional medical interpreters, it also poses some potentially serious issues.

One major issue presented by tools like ChatGPT and Google Translate is that they store and use your information—including your conversation history—to improve their algorithms and user experience. This raises serious concerns about the security of patients’ PHI and potentially violates HIPAA regulations.

More generally, AI translation struggles to interpret specialized terminology. For example, a 2014 study that translated 10 medical statements into 26 languages via Google Translate, provided correct translations only 57.7% of the time. While language models have certainly improved over the intervening years, precision and reliability are critical in medical interpretation, especially considering the severe consequences of a mistake.

Beyond Interpretation: The Role of Medical Interpreters

More than merely overcoming language barriers in healthcare by making certain that documents and conversations are accurately translated, medical interpreters understand both the complex terminology found in healthcare fields along with the cultural nuances between languages. This allows them to bridge the cultural gap and avoid miscommunication.

Medical interpreters also help build trust between patients and providers. Challenging conversations are common in healthcare, and interpreters are often faced with communicating with vulnerable, scared, and confused patients. From reading a patient’s non-verbal cues to pausing their conversation to add clarity, the best medical interpreters improve the patient experience, enhance understanding, and allow patients to make informed decisions.

Using Medical Interpreters Is Good Business

Doctors today are incredibly busy! Depending on their specialty, many work 50 to 70 hours per week with a stream of back-to-back appointments and tightly packed schedules. Professional medical interpreters can help streamline patient visits. Because they’re trained in medical terminology, they rarely need to pause for clarification and can provide accurate translations on the spot. This reduces follow-up questions, shortens visit times, and helps providers use their limited time more efficiently.

The Translations ABC Difference

At Translations ABC, we specialize in providing HIPAA-compliant medical interpreters trained to protect patient privacy while delivering accurate and compassionate communication. More than merely generalists, our medical interpreters are specialists in fields ranging from internal medicine to orthopedics to oncology. After all, just like there are subtleties between languages, there are nuances between medical branches, and specialized translators are essential for comprehending and conveying clinical details and terminology.

When you require high-quality, HIPAA-compliant translators with specialized knowledge of a particular medical field, there is only one choice: Translations ABC. With 36 years of experience offering translation and language services, our network of translators is fluent in more than 200 languages.

Translations ABC not only offers great service, but we also take pride in customer care, and love to brag about our 97% client retention rate.

The Bottom Line

Language access isn’t just a legal requirement, it’s a matter of patient safety, dignity, equity, and good business. By using trained, certified, and HIPAA-compliant interpreters, healthcare providers can ensure that every patient receives the high-quality care they deserve, regardless of the language they speak.

When it comes to medical translation, accurate communication saves lives—choose professionals who understand the stakes.