Certified Medical Translation
Certified Medical
Document Translation
Certified translation of patient records, informed consent, clinical research, and claim documentation by translators with medical backgrounds, handled under HIPAA-compliant processes and delivered with a signed certificate of accuracy.
What is certified medical translation, and who needs it?
Certified medical translation is a complete translation of a clinical document paired with a signed certificate of accuracy. Hospitals, insurers, immigration authorities, and courts require it before accepting a foreign-language medical record. Kaplan assigns translators with medical backgrounds, handles protected health information under HIPAA-compliant processes, translates patient-facing material for comprehension rather than literal equivalence, and covers 200+ languages.
Medical Translation
Patient Records & Clinical Documentation
Translation of charts, discharge summaries, operative reports, imaging findings, and referral letters for continuity of care across languages and borders. Clinical abbreviations and drug names are rendered to the conventions of the destination system rather than left ambiguous.
Medical Translation
Informed Consent & Patient-Facing Materials
Translation of consent forms, pre-procedure instructions, medication guidance, and discharge instructions at a reading level a patient can actually act on. Comprehension matters more than literal fidelity here, and the two are not the same thing.
Medical Translation
Clinical Research & Regulatory
Translation of study protocols, participant-facing consent documents, case report forms, and adverse event reporting for multi-site and international research. Prepared with the version control and traceability that sponsors and review boards expect.
Medical Translation
Insurance, Claims & Independent Evaluations
Translation of claim documentation, treatment records, and evaluation reports for insurers, third-party administrators, and evaluating physicians. Where the destination is a court rather than a claims file, the work moves to our certified legal translation track.
Why Kaplan
Built for Clinical Accuracy
Medical Linguists
Clinical documents are assigned to translators with medical backgrounds, so anatomy, pharmacology, dosage, and abbreviation conventions are rendered correctly rather than approximated.
HIPAA-Compliant Handling
Protected health information is handled under HIPAA-compliant processes end to end, with access limited to the assigned linguists and the project team.
Signed Certificate of Accuracy
Certified medical translations are delivered with a signed certificate naming the translator, which is what insurers, agencies, and courts require to accept the document.
Comprehension for Patient Materials
Consent forms and discharge instructions are translated to be understood and acted on, not merely rendered literally, because a technically accurate document a patient cannot follow has failed.
Consistency Across a Record
Drug names, dosages, and recurring clinical terms are fixed in a glossary so a long record does not shift vocabulary between admission and discharge.
200+ Languages
Certified medical translation in over 200 languages and dialects, including the rare pairs that arise in refugee, asylum, and international patient care.
Client Feedback
What Our Clients Say
"The discharge instructions came back at a reading level our patients could actually follow. That is not what we had been getting."
Angela M.
Patient Experience Lead
"Drug names and dosages were checked against our conventions, not just translated. Our pharmacy noticed the difference immediately."
Dr. Raymond O.
Clinical Director
FAQs
Common Questions
What makes a medical translation certified?
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A certified medical translation is a complete rendering of the source document accompanied by a signed certificate of accuracy from the translator. Insurers, government agencies, immigration authorities, and courts rely on that certificate before they will accept a foreign-language medical record. The certificate must name the translator and attest to completeness, which is why an uncertified machine rendering cannot substitute for it.
Is protected health information handled under HIPAA?
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Yes. Medical documents are processed under HIPAA-compliant handling end to end, with access restricted to the assigned linguists and project team and retention limited to the period you specify. Our full policy is set out on our HIPAA compliance page. We do not use protected health information to train machine systems.
Who translates clinical documents?
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Clinical material is assigned to translators with medical backgrounds, not general linguists. Anatomy, pharmacology, dosage conventions, and clinical abbreviations behave differently across languages and health systems, and a generalist tends to produce something that reads fluently while being clinically ambiguous. Drug names in particular are checked against the conventions of the destination system.
How do you handle informed consent and patient instructions differently?
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Patient-facing material is translated for comprehension and reading level, not for literal equivalence. A consent form that is technically faithful but written above the patient's reading level has not achieved informed consent. We render these documents so a patient can act on them, and we flag any place where the source itself is unclear rather than silently reproducing the ambiguity.
Can you translate medical records for an immigration or insurance matter?
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Yes. Medical records supporting an immigration filing, a claim, or an evaluation are translated and certified for the receiving body. If the documents are going to USCIS or a consulate, see also our immigration document translation service, which formats certification to those requirements.
What if the medical records are going into litigation?
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Then they belong on the legal track. Records destined for the evidentiary record in a personal injury, malpractice, or workers' compensation matter are handled by our certified legal translation service, which builds a case glossary and prepares certification for the court. Tell us the destination and we will route it correctly rather than certifying for the wrong body.
Do you use machine translation for medical documents?
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No. Certified medical translation is done by human medical linguists and reviewed. Machine output cannot carry a certificate of accuracy, and in clinical material the failure modes are dangerous rather than merely awkward: dosage units, negation, and drug-name confusion. We will not deliver machine output as a finished medical translation.
Do you also provide medical interpreters for appointments?
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Yes. Translation covers documents, interpreting covers the appointment itself. See healthcare interpreting and medical interpreters by city. Pairing them is common: the interpreter who has read the translated record arrives already familiar with the case.
How do I request a certified medical translation quote?
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Send the documents, the target languages, and the receiving body through our online form or by phone at (833) 547-7770. We confirm scope, certification format, and turnaround, and provide a fixed quote before work begins.
Related Healthcare Language Services
Records and appointments belong together. An interpreter who has read the translated record arrives already familiar with the case, which shortens the appointment and reduces repetition for the patient.
Request a Certified Medical Translation Quote
Send your documents and tell us the receiving body. We confirm HIPAA handling, certification format, and a fixed quote.