Since publishing the Standards of Practice in 1995, the Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association’s (MMIA) Committee on Certification has been working towards creating a fair and authentic certification tool for medical interpreters. In 2003, with funding provided through NCIHC from the Office of Minority Health (OMH), Department of Health and Human Services, and in collaboration with CHIA (California Healthcare Interpreters Association), we piloted a prototype test in Spanish. During our pilot we examined the validity of the content contained in the different parts of the test and the reliability of the scoring system. We learned even more about the complexity of developing a certification test that meets rigorous standards of validity and reliability. A final report on the pilot has been submitted to OMH and is be available on this page for download at the link above entitled 'Final Report.
 
The IMIA is continuing to work towards a certification process for medical interpreters in Massachusetts that will be useful and fair. The retreat on July 13, 2008 established expansion into five other languages, and aggressive fundraising efforts to develop a blueprint of the test instrument and another larger pilot phase.

In January 2008 the certification effort reorganized and has since:
-revised the candidates manual, which hadn't been revised since the pilot in 2003
-determined the pre-requisites to IMIA Certification
-determined the process to register for certification
-Researched and proposed the top 10 languages for certification
-Procured a fundraising organization: Pioneer Fundraising Inc.

As of May 2008 the current activities include:
-activate registration for certification process
-procure a testing development organization
-Develop a blueprint (specs) from our tested IMA certification instrument
-adapt instrument into 9 other language/cultural groups

Next steps:
-development of Qualifying Program for non-certifiable languages
-develop grandfathering policy and position statement
-communications plan
-administration plan
-legal defensibility considerations

Resources

Certification background