NCIHC Mission, Goals, and Values

Mission

The National Council on Interpreting in Health Care is a multidisciplinary organization whose mission is to promote and enhance language access in health care in the United States.

Goals

The NCIHC started as an informal working group in 1994 and met yearly until it was formally established in 1998. The group is composed of leaders from around the country who work as medical interpreters, interpreter service coordinators and trainers, clinicians, policymakers, advocates and researchers.

Our goals include:

1. Establish a framework that promotes culturally responsive language access services in health care including increasing standardization in the language access field.

2. Monitor, provide guidance and disseminate proposed federal and state language access legislation, relevant policy developments, programs and research on effective language access practices.

3. Advocate for effective, research-based, language access policies and practices.

4. Host a national dialogue on language access issues among and between diverse language access stakeholders.

5. Equip stakeholders with skills development and tools to support language access.

Values

• We pursue our mission with a commitment to equitable language access in health care and recognize that a failure to provide such services constitutes discrimination that may contribute to systemic patient harm.

• We pursue our mission with a commitment to respecting and supporting language access solutions for all peoples, including those who use spoken languages, those who use signed language, those who speak languages of lesser diffusion and indigenous peoples.

• We pursue our mission with a commitment to the advancement of training for health care system stakeholders in the delivery of culturally and linguistically appropriate services.