logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • Design Thinking – February 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • Design Thinking – February 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Advertise on Slator! Download the 2021 Online Media Kit Now

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
US Endorses Post-edited Machine Translation in Obamacare Rules

5 years ago

May 30, 2016

US Endorses Post-edited Machine Translation in Obamacare Rules

Demand Drivers ·

by Gerard Castañeda

On May 30, 2016

5 years ago
Demand Drivers ·

by Gerard Castañeda

On May 30, 2016

US Endorses Post-edited Machine Translation in Obamacare Rules

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 18, 2016, published the final rules implementing the anti-discrimination provision of “Obamacare” or the Affordable Care Act. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in health programs.

The rules are highly relevant to language service providers as paragraph 92.201 regulates “Meaningful Access for Individuals With Limited English Proficiency.”

The general requirement of paragraph 92.201 is that “a covered entity shall take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to each individual with limited English proficiency eligible to be served or likely to be encountered in its health programs and activities.”

Advertisement

“Covered entities” are defined as any health program or activity that receives funding from or is administered by the HHS and include hospitals that accept Medicare or doctors who accept Medicaid. Slator previously covered Medicare and Medicaid’s implementation of Language Access.

The numbers are huge. There are 4,799 hospitals and 986,676 medicare physicians and suppliers registered with Medicare in 2014 according to latest available data.

In formulating the final set of rules, the HHS reviewed a staggering 25,000 comments submitted by interested parties after an invitation to comment on a previously proposed rule published on September 8, 2015.

HHS Rejects Ban on Machine Translation

The ruling is expansive. The discussion of paragraph 92.201 runs for dozens of pages and covers everything from interpreter training and funding arrangements to the role of government in facilitating “telephonic oral interpretation services.” Slator will cover other aspects of the ruling in the coming weeks and months.

For the language industry at large, one of the most interesting aspects of the ruling must be HHS’ explicit endorsement of post-edited machine translations.

“We decline to codify a prohibition on the use of automated translation”―US Department of Health and Human Services

The HHS had received comments that suggested prohibiting the use of computer-automated translation. The commenters argued that computer-automated translation “is not accurate for the highly specialized vocabulary and terminology” used in healthcare and health insurance, especially as it applies to less common, non-English languages.

The forward-looking HHS would have none of it. “We decline to codify a prohibition on the use of automated translation as part of the final rule because such a requirement may unintentionally stifle innovation in this rapidly developing area”, the HHS said.

While the comments likely referred to machine translation only, the HHS went on to say that “translation memory software…can improve a qualified translator’s efficiency, especially when updating documents.”

But Requires Post-editing By Qualified Translator

The HHS conceded that some automatic translation technologies “can lead to very serious misunderstandings and adverse consequences for medical documents,” and that “machine translation programs may produce highly unreliable translations for certain languages and written content.”

The HHS then goes on to stipulate what is likely among the first pieces of legislation involving post-editing ever enacted: “Using automated translation as the only tool for translating written documents would fulfil a covered entity’s obligation under Section 92.201(a) only if a qualified translator reviewed the translation for accuracy and edited it as needed.”

Healthcare providers hoping to cut costs by deploying machine translation better start training their engines now if they want to extract any meaningful discounts from qualified translators tasked with rectifying machine output.

TAGS

language accesslife sciencesmedical translation
SHARE
Gerard Castañeda

By Gerard Castañeda

Research Associate for Slator.com. Runs, bikes, and climbs mountains for fun.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
Across Systems will be part of the Volaris Group

Across Systems will be part of the Volaris Group

by Across Systems GmbH

How Localex Made It Through the Pandemic

How Localex Made It Through the Pandemic

by Localex

Join Us for the First Virtual Together 2021 Next Month!

Join Us for the First Virtual Together 2021 Next Month!

by Elia

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Handling Sensitive Information Webinar

    Handling Sensitive Calls with Limited English Proficient Consumers

    by Lionbridge

    · February 10

    Learn more about how Lionbridge Over-the-Phone Interpretation Services can help bridge communication gaps with limited...

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

Seprotec

Seprotec

Versacom

Versacom

SDL

SDL

Smartling

Smartling

Lingotek

Lingotek

XTM International

XTM International

Smartcat

Smartcat

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

by Esther Bond

Top Language Industry Quotes of 2020

Top Language Industry Quotes of 2020

by Monica Jamieson

The Slator 2020 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2020 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,000 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.