Recognizing the deficit of formally trained health care interpreters, related training programs, and community standards, Kaiser Permanente initiated the design of a model health care interpreting curriculum in 1996. In collaboration with the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) Health Science Department, KP successfully expanded the curriculum into a formal health care interpreter training program in the context of an academic setting.

The curriculum is based on what are considered crucial elements in meeting Kaiser Permanente's standards of care and what the college considers essential academic standards for its constituents. Due to the College Board's immediate recognition of the program's academic relevance, the effort evolved into a formal 15-unit Health Care Interpreter Certificate Program, making CCSF the first educational institution in the Western United States to offer health care interpreter training at the college-level and the longest sustained health care interpreter training program in the United States. The program, which is aimed at enhancing students' marketability and preparing them for successful employment in the health care industry, is currently in its eighth year.

In the summer of 2001, faculty members from six California community colleges convened for an intensive Health Care Interpreter Instructor Training Summer Institute at Kaiser Permanente, at which point the program curriculum was disseminated. Following the Summer Institute, one of the attending colleges, Southern California's Mt. San Antonio, immediately implemented the program into its curriculum, graduating its first class in June 2002. Majority of the graduates found immediate employment in the health care industry. Reedley College has also implemented this Program and graduated its first class in December of 2002.

In the last three years, the HCI program has been successfully replicated in other parts of California through funding provided by The California Endowment. NLCP is extending the reach of the program across the nation, both inside and outside KP, with a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant.