The CanopyCredential test is designed for healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, as well as medical students and nursing students, medical academic institutions, hospitals and other healthcare organizations to appropriately assess the bilingual skills that are required for interactions between clinical health professionals, patients, and their families.
CanopyCredential allows people with high bilingual medical proficiency to demonstrate their status as Qualified Bilingual Staff (QBS) in compliance with the Affordable Care Act Section 1557. CanopyCredential is also an excellent way for healthcare professionals at any proficiency level to obtain a validated and standardized measure of your bilingual medical proficiency. All test-takers receive a detailed scorecard describing your medical language skills.
The Canopy Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), currently provided at the beginning of the Credential test, also gives test-takers an idea of where you may fall on the Canopy Scale for Bilingual Medical Proficiency, which can help you decide if the time is right to complete the test. You can also complete the SAQ at any time at this link.
The content of the CanopyCredential test is designed to be accessible to a wide range of clinical professionals (e.g., doctors, nurses, midwives). Although the clinical nature of the assessment content may be challenging for non-clinical healthcare professionals, the assessment can also be used to evaluate the bilingual skills of non-clinical staff.
Within the assessment, speaking prompts are provided for each speaking task as a way to help level set the medical information required in order to allow the focus to be on the communication skills. They are not provided with the intent to dictate how to practice medicine.
Unlike medical interpreter certification, there are no pre-requisites for taking the CanopyCredential test to demonstrate your capacity as Qualified Bilingual Staff or to get feedback about where you are in your medical language proficiency journey.
Once you have taken the test, you must wait least 90 days before retaking. Click here for more information on how often to retake the CanopyCredential exam.