Healthcare

A qualified interpreter at the bedside, with the documentation ready afterward.

Lingfaro dispatches healthcare interpreters to Minnesota hospitals, clinics, and behavioral-health teams across Somali (Maxaa-Tiri and Maay-Maay), Hmong (White and Green/Blue), Karen (S'gaw and Pwo), Karenni, Spanish, Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Vietnamese, Arabic, Pashto, Dari, Russian, Ukrainian, ASL, and other languages your patients speak. On-site, by video, or by phone. Every session produces a documented record you can hand to an auditor.

What a clinic can count on

Documented encounters
Every session produces a signed, timestamped record.
Clinic language coverage
The languages routinely dispatched to MN clinics.
Roster-verified
MDH roster status checked for MA-billable care.
Compliant billing
Institutional statements; BAA available on request.

Capabilities

What Lingfaro gives a hospital language-access team.

The languages your patients actually speak

Minnesota's highest-volume LEP languages (Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Karen, Karenni, Oromo, Amharic, Vietnamese, Arabic) and the languages arriving now: Pashto and Dari for Afghan families, Ukrainian for recent Ukrainian arrivals. Dialect matters: we route White Hmong, Green/Blue Hmong, S'gaw Karen, Pwo Karen, Maxaa-Tiri Somali, and Maay-Maay Somali to interpreters who speak them.

Three modalities, one workflow

On-site for in-person consults and ED visits, VRI for behavioral health and after-hours, OPI for scheduling and high-volume eligibility calls. Same dispatch workflow, same session documentation, same billing.

Specialty matching

Select the specialty when you post: medical general, mental health, OB and labor, oncology, pediatrics, surgical, and more. CMI and CCHI credentials gate the offer. Only qualified interpreters see it.

Patient information stays out of dispatch

The dispatch brief is scanned for names, MRNs, dates of birth, phone numbers, and addresses before it's sent. Interpreters get clinical context on arrival from your EMR, not from Lingfaro.

Session records, one click to export

Every session produces a documented record with interpreter credentials, timestamps, modality, and dual attestations. Suitable for Joint Commission tracers, Title VI inquiries, CMS surveys, and MDH LEP plan documentation. No manual reconciliation.

A real person, when the system can't fill it

When a request can't auto-fill (a rare language at 2 a.m., a missed check-in, a credential expiry), a Lingfaro operator picks it up immediately. You see every step in real time and an honest answer if a session isn't fillable.

Compliance

The standards we map to.

Lingfaro doesn't replace your compliance program. It produces the documentation your compliance program needs.

Joint Commission

Standards PC.02.01.21 and RI.01.01.03: language access for patients with limited English proficiency.

Section 1557 / ACA (2024 rule)

Prohibition on national-origin discrimination in health programs receiving federal financial assistance; qualified-interpreter definition.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act

Meaningful access for limited-English-proficient patients in federally funded programs.

HRSA Operational Site Visit (FQHCs)

Documentation of language services for Federally Qualified Health Centers.

CMS Conditions of Participation

Documentation of language services for Medicare and Medicaid participating providers.

MDH Spoken Language Health Care Interpreter Roster

Minn. Stat. § 256B.0625, subd. 18a: required for MA/MinnesotaCare face-to-face billing. Lingfaro verifies roster status on every applicable session.

Minnesota Interpreter Work Group (2025)

Established by the 2025 Minnesota Legislature to review certification and training standards. Lingfaro tracks deliverables and adapts as the framework evolves.

HIPAA

Business Associate Agreements available. Patient information is never required to dispatch a session.

Questions we get

Frequently asked.

Which languages are you strongest in for Minnesota healthcare?
Somali, Hmong, Karen, Karenni, and Spanish are our priority pools for the Twin Cities, Rochester, Saint Cloud, and Worthington. We have growing coverage in Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Vietnamese, Arabic, Russian, and Ukrainian. For Pashto, Dari, and other less-common languages, we tell you within seconds whether we can fill the session and what the realistic time-to-fill looks like.
Do you dispatch interpreters who are on the MDH roster?
Yes. For face-to-face MA/MinnesotaCare-billable interpretation, we verify MDH Spoken Language Health Care Interpreter Roster status as part of dispatch and document it on the session record. We follow the 2025 Minnesota Spoken Language Health Care Interpreter Work Group's deliverables as the framework evolves.
How does Lingfaro support Joint Commission, OCR, and HRSA surveys?
Every session produces a signed record covering interpreter identity and credentials at the time of the session, modality, timestamps, and dual confirmation. You can export the record as a single file and provide it for a Joint Commission tracer, an OCR Section 1557 inquiry, an HRSA OSV, or a CMS survey. No manual reconciliation.
What kind of interpreting does Lingfaro dispatch for medical encounters?
On-site, in-person interpreters. Rate cards differentiate by specialty: mental health, OB and labor, oncology, pediatrics, surgical, and general medical.
How do you prevent patient information from entering a session brief?
The platform is designed so PHI doesn't enter the request. Pre-submission scanning flags names, MRNs, dates of birth, phone numbers, and addresses and prompts the requester to redirect them to clinical systems. Interpreters get patient context on arrival from your EMR, where it belongs.
How are interpreter credentials verified?
Interpreters submit credentials (CMI, CCHI, Bridging the Gap, RID, BEI, MDH Spoken Language Health Care Interpreter Roster) during onboarding. A Lingfaro operator verifies each credential before the interpreter receives any offers. Credentials are tracked with expiration dates; expired credentials block matching offers until renewal.
How does institutional billing work?
Sessions roll up into monthly statements per organization. Payment by card, ACH, or Stripe Link. Net-30 by default; custom terms available for procurement. Every line item shows session date, duration, rate, language, and a link to the session record.
Will Lingfaro sign a Business Associate Agreement?
Yes. We sign BAAs with covered entities. Contact us for the current template.
What happens when no interpreter is available for a rare language?
The system tells you honestly. If on-site isn't fillable in your window, a Lingfaro operator follows up directly with you to discuss alternatives: a different time, or a referral if we don't have supply. We don't leave a request silently unfilled.

See the session record on your own data.

We'll dispatch a live test session in your top language and walk through the session record and export flow end-to-end.

Schedule a walkthrough