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Interpreter Services Billing Varies by Payer

Published on Thu Feb 19, 2009

Question: My question is regarding a patient of ours who is deaf. She came to us for an evaluation for outpatient surgery; we are a specialist office. We are told that it is a law that we must provide an interpreter for her when she comes in our office for the visit. As we are checking into this, we are finding that an interpreter is not cheap, and actually, the interpreter's services are more than what we will get from the insurance company for the visit. Do we have to provide the interpreter? Maryland Subscriber Answer: You do need to provide an interpreter for this patient. Physicians are required to comply with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as amended; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975; the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; and all other applicable [...]
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