HIPAA
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects protected health information (PHI). For language services, HIPAA requires that interpreters and translators handling PHI be subject to either a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) or qualify as 'workforce' under the covered entity's direct supervision.
HIPAA-aligned workflows for language services include: per-engagement Business Associate Agreements signed before any patient encounter, encrypted-at-rest data storage, access control logging, breach notification procedures, and training requirements for interpreters handling PHI.
Healthcare providers contracting for interpretation and medical-record translation should confirm that vendors sign BAAs, maintain HIPAA-aligned workflows, and document interpreter training. HIPAA violations can result in significant civil monetary penalties (up to $1.5M per violation category per year) and reputational harm.