SPEAK Act of 2024 2024-07-30 Reported to House Supporting Patient Education And Knowledge Act of 2024 or the SPEAK Act of 2024

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance with best practices for improving telehealth services for non-English speakers, including with respect to using interpreters, providing accessible instructions, and enabling multi-person video calls. 

]]> 2023-10-24 Introduced in House Supporting Patient Education And Knowledge Act of 2023 or the SPEAK Act of 2023

This bill establishes the Improved Access to Health Care Information Technology for non-English Speakers Task Force.

The task force must assess any current barriers that limit the ability of non-English speakers to access telehealth services and recommend improvements (e.g., technological enhancements). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must collect information from relevant stakeholders to inform the task force's assessments and recommendations. 

HHS must establish a website with best practices for connecting non-English speakers with telehealth services, based on the task force's final report.

]]> text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.