WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The NCCA accredited the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreter (CCHI) CHI™-Spanish Certification for a five-year period, expiring June 30, 2017 during its recent meeting. “CCHI is the first and only organization certifying healthcare interpreters to receive NCCA accreditation,” said Natalya Mytareva, CCHI Chair.
Founded in July 2009, CCHI is a professional certification organization acting in the public interest by establishing and enforcing education, examination, experience and ethics requirements for certification. Currently, 314 healthcare interpreters are certified to use the CHI™-Spanish designation.
CCHI received NCCA accreditation of its Certified Healthcare Interpreter (CHI™) program by submitting an application demonstrating the program’s compliance with the NCCA’s Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs. NCCA is the accrediting body of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (formerly the National Organization for Competency Assurance). Since 1977, the NCCA has been accrediting certifying programs based on the highest quality standards in professional certification to ensure the programs adhere to modern standards of practice in the certification industry. To view the standards visit http://www.credentialingexcellence.org/ncca.
There are more than 260 NCCA accredited programs that certify individuals in a wide range of professions and occupations including nurses, financial professionals, respiratory therapists, counselors, emergency technicians, crane operators and more. Of ICE’s more than 330 organizational members, over 120 of them have accredited programs.
ICE’s mission is to advance credentialing through education, standards, research, and advocacy to ensure competence across professions and occupations. NCCA was founded as a commission whose mission is to help ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs that assess professional competence. NCCA uses a peer review process to: establish accreditation standards; evaluate compliance with these standards; recognize programs which demonstrate compliance; and serve as a resource on quality certification.
ICE and NCCA are located at 2025 M Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036-3309; telephone 202/367-1165; facsimile 202/367-2165; website www.credentialingexcellence.org.
“Our NCCA Accreditation journey began on the day CCHI was launched, July 1, 2009, because we were 100 percent committed to creating the best, most valid, most credible professional certification for healthcare interpreters, which directly benefits patient safety, health care providers, and interpreters who work in more than 139 languages,” said Mara Youdelman, J.D., CCHI’s Founding Chair.
Fred Hobby, CEO, Institute for Diversity in Health Management, and CCHI Commissioner from 2009 to 2011, said, “NCCA Accreditation awarded to CCHI is an outstanding achievement, plus strong and clear recognition of CCHI’s leadership and a strong sense of equity in health care for all we are privileged to serve. CCHI appreciates, tremendously, all who volunteered their time and personal resources to make quality communications the hallmark of quality care. CCHI is now the gold standard by which all other interpreter services programs will be measured.”
Kathleen Diamond, CCHI Commissioner, said, “I would like interpreters to understand that the NCCA application process was as rigorous as the MA thesis was for me. Working on the application for several months gave me deeper insight into the professionalism of my fellow Commissioners.”
CCHI, a 501(c)(6) organization whose mission is to develop and direct a comprehensive credentialing program for healthcare interpreters, brings together representatives from national and regional non-profit interpreting associations, language companies, community-based organizations, educational institutions, healthcare providers, and advocates for LEP individuals. CCHI’s Associate Healthcare Interpreter™ (AHI™) credential is the entry point into professional certification for healthcare interpreters regardless of the language(s) in which they interpret. Once a healthcare interpreter passes the AHI™ exam they are eligible to sit for the Certified Healthcare Interpreter™ (CHI™) examination, an oral performance exam that tests consecutive and simultaneous interpreting plus sight translation in one or more languages in which they interpret.