October 16, 2016 deadline for aca tagline approaching

Many provisions of the final rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, went into effect July 18, while others take effect October 16. One of the rule’s requirements is that covered entities must post taglines in the top 15 non-English languages spoken in their state. A tagline is a short statement that indicates that language assistance services, free of charge, are available.
 
The ADA has been working throughout the summer to alert members about Section 1557 and the resources the Association has developed, including a list of frequently asked questions and a checklist for dental practices. Although the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has provided a sample tagline, the ADA developed a more targeted sample tagline related to language assistance services.
 
The ADA tagline is being translated into the languages needed to comply with the tagline requirement and will be available in mid-September. Translations of the OCR sample tagline are available on the OCR website. Taglines are not required until October 16, thus allowing members sufficient time to post the ADA’s taglines, which will be available in a convenient state-by-state format. Sample taglines are available below.
 
Covered entities may develop their own taglines, as long as the tagline is compliant with the final rule. The covered entity would need to have the tagline translated into the top 15 languages in its state.
 
Several members have inquired about documenting patient encounters where an interpreter or translator were necessary, and/or coding for interpretation or translation services. In addition to including any narrative in the patient record, and beginning in 2017, a new CDT code can be used.  D9994 dental case management – patient education to improve oral health literacy will be available. An ADA News story was just posted online regarding the new code; the story will be in the print edition of ADA News on September 19. 
 
The Department of Health and Human Services has released an updated list of the ‘Top 15’ non-English languages spoken by state.  The ADA is in the process of comparing this new list with the one previously provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and plans to provide more information on the differences in its next Leadership Update. 
 
Finally, members can view all of the ADA’s Section 1557 resources at ADA.org/1557. And don’t forget to watch the recent webinar Understanding Section 1557.
 
Sample Taglines
 
OCR Sample Tagline
ATTENTION:  If you speak [insert language], language assistance services, free of charge, are available to you.  Call 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx (TTY: 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx).
 
ADA Sample Tagline
We will take reasonable steps to provide free-of-charge language assistance services to people who speak languages we are likely to hear in our practice and who don’t speak English well enough to talk to us about the dental care we are providing.