October 2, 2024
New Mexico law requires health plans to provide language assistance program (LAP) services to eligible customers who have limited English proficiency (LEP) and/or differing hearing abilities that qualify under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for sign language.
To support this requirement, we provide free telephonic and face-to-face interpreter services ‒ including American Sign Language (ASL) ‒ in health care settings for all customers in New Mexico with Cigna Healthcare-administered plans (regardless of product type) who have:
Reference the chart below to learn more about how we meet the needs of LEP and hearing-impaired customers at Cigna Healthcare points of contact.
| Language service needed | Action | Details |
| LEP telephone communication at Cigna Healthcare point of contact | Customers call the telephone number on the back of their Cigna Healthcare ID card for access to our bilingual staff and free interpreter services. | We use qualified professional interpreters and bilingual staff tested for proficiency in language and health care terminology in non-English languages. |
| Deaf or hard-of-hearing telephone communication at Cigna Healthcare point of contact | Customers enter 711 for Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS). | Our staff follow department workflows to communicate with deaf or hard-of-hearing customers. |
| LEP telephone and in-person interpreter services at provider point of contact | Customers have access to these services at the provider’s office at no cost to the provider.* | Each contract requires the health care insurer or managed health care plan to provide interpreters for LEP individuals and interpretative services for patients who qualify under the ADA. Refer to Tips for Working with a Language Interpreter for more information. |
Provider responsibilities
Participating providers in New Mexico are responsible for offering language assistance services to their patients and providing reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities, when necessary, to ensure they have an equal opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, programs or activities.
How you can access language assistance services for your patients
| Language service needed | Action | Details |
| LEP patient office visit or phone call | Call the Cigna Healthcare language interpretation line at 800.806.2059 for free professional over-the-phone interpreterservices. Periodically validate with the interpreter that the interpretation is accurate. | Be ready to provide the patient’s Cigna Healthcare ID number and date of birth. If telephone interpretation services do not meet the needs of your patient, you can schedule free face-to-face and video remote interpreter services, including ASL, by calling Cigna Healthcare Provider Services. For face-to-face Spanish interpreters, please allow at least three business days to schedule services. For all other languages, including ASL, please allow at least five business days to schedule services. |
| Deaf patient office visit | Call Cigna Healthcare Provider Services to schedule an appointment for free sign language interpreter services. | Provide information about the patient’s next scheduled appointment and type of sign language service needed (e.g., ASL). For ASL interpreters, please allow at least five business days to schedule services. |
| Deaf patient telephone service relay | Call 711 TRS | 711 TRS is a no-cost relay service that uses an operator, phone system, and a special teletypewriter (telecommunications device for the deaf [TDD] or teletypewriter [TTY]) to help people with hearing or speech impairments have conversations over the phone. The 711 TRS can be used to place a call to – or receive a call from – a TTY line. Both voice and TRS users can initiate a call from any telephone, anywhere in the United States, without having to remember and enter a seven- or 10-digit access number. They simply enter 711 to be automatically connected to a TRS operator. Once connected, the operator will relay the user’s spoken message in writing and read responses back to them. In some areas, 711 TRS offers speech impairment assistance. Specially trained speech recognition operators are available to help facilitate communication with individuals who may have speech impairments.** |
| Refusal of service: An LEP or deaf patient wants to use a family member or friend to interpret. OR An LEP patient wants to speak with bilingual office staff. | Offer a telephone interpreter to the LEP patient. Discourage the use of family and friends as interpreters (especially minors). Offer a trained, qualified telephone interpreter, even if a provider or office staff member speaks in the patient’s language. | If a patient insists on using a family member or friend or refuses to use a trained interpreter, document this in their medical record. |
Racial and ethnic diversity at a glance
We collect language preference, race, and ethnicity data for New Mexico customers.
Language
We use New Mexico demographics data as a proxy for our customer base until we have a statistically valid number of customer language preference records. Available data for spoken languages other than English shows that Spanish, at 30.6 percent, is the most spoken non-English language in New Mexico.***
Racial and ethnic composition
The data below is an indirect estimation of the racial composition of our New Mexico customers. The data was derived from a methodology that uses a combination of census geocoding and surname recognition.
57.2% Caucasian
41.0% Hispanic
1.3% Asian/Pacific Islander
0.5% Black/African American
<.01% Other
* New Mexico Administrative Code, Title 13, Chapter 10, Part 22, Section 12 (13.10.22.12).
** “Better Communication, Better Care: Provider Tools to Care for Diverse Population.” Health Industry Collaboration Effort. 2024. Retrieved from https://www.iceforhealth.org/library/documents/HICE_C&L_Services_Provider_Toolkit_2024.pdf.
*** “2022 5-Year American Community Survey.” U.S. Census Bureau. December 2022. Retrieved from S1602: Limited English … – Census Bureau Table.
Please let us know what you think of the Provider Newsroom information and news.
Contact Us
