We get asked about certification all the time.
“What percentage of your healthcare interpreters are certified?”
Our answer is less than 2%. And, almost without exception, that number lands like a thud.
It’s the reality of the profession, and the instinct to push back is worth taking seriously. The concern isn’t with our 2%. The concern is with the misunderstanding about what medical interpreter certification actually looks like in the industry.
Let’s take a closer look.
There Are Two Nationally Recognized Certifications in Healthcare Interpreting
In the U.S., two independent bodies certify healthcare interpreters: the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) and National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI).
Both credentials require documented language proficiency, a minimum of 40 hours of formal interpreter training, passing scores on independently developed written and oral exams, and ongoing continuing education for renewal.
Full certification requires an oral exam, but the oral exam for both CCHI and NBCMI certifications only exists for a limited number of languages.
CCHI’s full interpreter bilingual performance exam exists for Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin.
NBCMI’s written and oral exam covers Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Cantonese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
That’s it. That’s the full list.
An interpreter working in Somali, Haitian Creole, Pashto, Burmese, Nepali, Amharic, Tigrinya, or Rohingya, for example, can’t become fully nationally certified in their language pair. It’s not because of any deficiency in skill or preparation; it’s because the testing infrastructure for their language doesn’t exist yet.
WATCH: CCHI raises the certification bar with their ETOE exam
Why 2% Is the Honest Answer
The total certified interpreter pool in the U.S. is far smaller than demand requires. CCHI has been issuing credentials since 2009. Despite more than a decade of work, the combined CCHI and NBCMI registries represent a fraction of the interpreter workforce this country needs.
Divide a small pool of nationally certified medical interpreters into a small number of certifiable languages by a total network built to reflect the actual linguistic diversity of clients, and you get approximately 2%.
Even if every credential-holder worked exclusively in healthcare, for example, the certified interpreter pool could not come close to meeting daily demand in a country with over 65 million people speaking a language other than English.
What Makes a Qualified Medical Interpreter
Just because national certification isn’t possible for all languages doesn’t mean that 98% of the interpreters we work with are unqualified. The absence of certification does not mean the absence of rigor.
It’s the opposite, actually.
Interpreters who aren’t certified still must be qualified, and in healthcare settings, that means medically qualified.
In practice, that qualification happens through a structured vetting process, not self‑attestation. Medically qualified interpreters must meet competency standards such as:
- Documented proficiency in their language pair
- Knowledge of interpreter ethics and standards of practice
- Relevant interpreting experience and/or training in healthcare settings
- Successful completion of a language proficiency and skills assessment
This documented process is designed to meet the standards of federal language access laws. Federal language access laws and guidance consistently emphasize the use of qualified interpreters, meaning interpreters whose competence has been verified, without limiting qualification to national certification alone.
Certification Alone Doesn’t Define Medical Interpreter Quality
So when you see a small percentage of nationally certified interpreters in a pool, now you know why.
Responsible language access programs don’t rely on a single credential to prove quality. They use national certification as one aspect and documented qualification processes as another.
That means verifying competency upfront, but continuing to assess performance, monitor quality, and address concerns as they arise.
In a linguistically diverse healthcare system, this layered approach isn’t a compromise. It’s how quality and access coexist.
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