Healthcare Interpreter Network:
A National Network of Shared Hospital Interpreter Services
The Health Care Interpreter Network (HCIN) is a mission‑driven, non-profit membership organization comprising dozens of hospitals and health systems nationwide. Our members share a commitment to eliminating barriers to care for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) and those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, and to elevating the profession of healthcare interpreting.
HCIN connects hospital-based interpreter programs in a 'co-op' sharing model. This model will allow your organization to access highly qualified hospital-based medical interpreters from participating entities, at a relatively low cost. It will also provide your language access program with the means to maximize staff efficiencies and control cost and quality of interpreter services.
Our founders pioneered the use of video remote interpreting (VRI) for healthcare more than 20 years ago, and HCIN has been serving providers and patients since 2006. Initially created by three California county health systems, the network now serves health systems nationwide, and remains governed by a Board of Directors drawn from the leadership of California public hospital systems.
We have a long track record of working with diverse healthcare organizations, and we have developed an extremely flexible set of language access solutions to meet the needs of your organization, whether large or small, urban or rural, public or private, with a robust in-house interpreting staff or just getting started. See How it Works to learn more about our solutions.
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Our Team:
Frank Puglisi
Executive Director
Frank Puglisi retired in 2003 after 17 years as the CEO of Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. His health care career began in 1971 at Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Center in Los Angeles County. In 1973 he joined Harlem Hospital Center, a public hospital in the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation. Frank was recruited by San Francisco General Hospital in 1977, becoming the interim executive administrator in 1978. In 1979, Frank was appointed director of hospitals and clinics for San Mateo County. In 1986, he joined Contra Costa Regional.
Vonessa Costa, CoreCHI™
Senior Director, Quality and Member Engagement
Vonessa Costa is a CoreCHI™ practitioner credentialed by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, and a CCHI Commissioner since 2020. She is Sr. Director of Quality and Member Engagement for the Health Care Interpreter Network, a collaborative of health systems that share interpreter resources. Vonessa was director of Multicultural Affairs and Patient Services at Cambridge Health Alliance, home to one of New England’s largest healthcare language access programs. She is a graduate of the America’s Essential Hospitals Fellows Program, and a 2019 MassAHEC Tony Windsor Award recipient. She has served as secretary of the Forum on the Coordination of Interpreter Services, and on the Education Committee of America’s Essential Hospitals.
Paras and Associates is the premier provider of technology systems that enable immediate access to language interpreting via video and telephone.
