Ensuring Quality and Consistency

Regular review and updates of translated materials are essential to maintain accuracy and address evolving healthcare regulations. Regularly measure KPIs to ensure language assets and technologies are optimized.

Identifying Target Languages

Healthcare payers should identify the primary languages spoken by their patient population to prioritize translation efforts. For example, many healthcare payers are required to provide language assistance services when 5% or more of the population in a service area speaks a particular language and has limited English proficiency (LEP). When a language meets the 5% threshold, vital documents must be translated into that language to ensure meaningful access for LEP individuals. Vital documents include those necessary for individuals to understand their rights and access healthcare services.

Leveraging Secure Technology

Translation memory tools and machine translation can streamline the translation process and reduce costs. However, human review is crucial to ensure quality and accuracy. Ensuring systems are operating within a highly secure environment (such as a SOC2, HITRUST data center).

Partnering with Reputable Language Service Providers

Collaborating with experienced language service providers ensures accurate and culturally sensitive translations. Partner with a provider who can ensure full coverage of your language requirements. Ensure the technology produces translated documents rapidly (within hours), automatically formatted to match the original, and adhering to CMS guidelines.

Prioritizing Essential Documents

Member handbooks, benefit summaries, claims forms, and other critical documents should be prioritized for translation. Building a language program that guarantees materials are delivered within CMS deadlines, which should be measured in hours not days.

White Papers & Reports

Healthcare Payer Dive: Enhancing Accessibility and Language Translation

In today’s increasingly diverse and digitally driven healthcare landscape, ensuring accessibility and language translation of critical documents is essential. This white paper delves into the significance of these practices, outlines key strategies for implementation, and explores the potential impact on patient experience, regulatory compliance, and organizational success.

The Imperative of Accessibility

Accessibility in healthcare is not merely a compliance issue; it is a fundamental human right. By providing accessible information and services, healthcare payers can empower individuals with disabilities to actively participate in their healthcare decisions. This enhances patient satisfaction, improves health outcomes, and fosters a more inclusive healthcare system.

To achieve accessibility, healthcare payers should adopt a multi-faceted approach that encompasses various formats:

Digital Formats

Digital documents should adhere to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Health and Human Services (HHS) standards. This ensures compatibility with screen readers and other assistive technologies, enabling individuals with visual impairments to access information independently.

Large Print

For individuals with visual impairments who prefer printed materials, providing large print documents is crucial. Clear, legible fonts in larger sizes, ample spacing, and high-contrast colors can significantly improve readability.

Braille

Braille is an essential format for individuals who are blind or have low vision. Partnering with certified braille services and using high-quality materials can ensure accurate and accessible braille documents.

Audio

Audio formats, such as recorded narrations or text-to-speech conversions, can benefit individuals with visual impairments or reading difficulties. Clear audio quality and appropriate pacing are essential for effective communication.

The Power of Language Translation

Language barriers can hinder effective communication between healthcare providers and patients, leading to misunderstandings, delays, and adverse health outcomes. By providing translated materials, healthcare payers can break down language barriers and improve patient engagement.  

Key strategies for effective language translation include:

The Impact on Patient Experience and Regulatory Compliance

By prioritizing accessibility and language translation, healthcare payers can significantly improve the patient experience. Accessible and translated materials empower patients to make informed decisions about their healthcare, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty.

Furthermore, compliance with accessibility regulations, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, is essential. Non-compliance can result in legal penalties and reputational damage. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and state Medicaid requirements for language translation are becoming increasingly demanding. Each year, the number of languages supported for member materials grows, and the deadlines for delivery become tighter.

Consider the following, three use cases for health payers wishing to improve member experience and better comply with CMS, Affordable Care Act and other state-oriented mandates.

CMS rates payers on the Medicare STARS system, and one specific area of measurement relates to health equity. Consider the large payer which has lost 1 or more STARS in that rating system due to non-health equity issues, either coverage, quality of care, etc. This plan’s ability to make up lost ground by consistently delivering member materials in member-specified languages, within the CMS timeframes, and on a standing basis, can make up for lost ground elsewhere, and can be positioned as a differentiator in fast-growing areas of the country most impacted by the influx of Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Gaining or losing one STAR in the rating system results in $millions of won or lost revenue, per STAR!

Consider exchange plans which must comply with Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, known as the Anti-Discrimination provision. Here again, health plans must comply with the ability to communicate in non-English language for member materials, but it also stipulates support for accessible formats for people with disabilities.

Lastly, consider the large, commercial health payer that reports the desire to appeal to significant growth in their Spanish speaking target markets, and investing in their ability to quickly translate materials into Spanish. For these LEP individuals, it’s about improving Net Promoter Score (NPS), and also driving down call center traffic from individuals who may have received an English communication. These costs can be anywhere from $10 – $100 per call. If you receive communication in a foreign language, and the only information you recognize is your health plan’s phone number, you are very likely to call that number. The ability to quickly translate materials in a culturally competent manner is becoming table stakes linked to growth AND compliance simultaneously.

To address the growing need for accessibility and language translation in healthcare, Crawford Technologies offers a comprehensive solution. Our advanced technology platform enables healthcare payers to efficiently and accurately produce accessible and translated documents in various formats, including digital, large print, braille, and audio.

Conclusion

Accessibility and language translation are not optional extras; they are fundamental components of a patient-centered healthcare system. By embracing these practices, healthcare payers can create a more inclusive, equitable, and compliant healthcare environment. The benefits extend beyond regulatory compliance, positively impacting patient satisfaction, health outcomes, and organizational success.