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At the surface level, language services like translation and interpreting might seem like fairly straightforward processes: You take content (or speech) in one language, and reproduce the meaning and message in another. But in practice, it’s all a lot more complicated than that. Translators and interpreters have to take all sorts of other considerations into account, from the specific context of the source to the audience who will be receiving the message in the target language. After all, the content you might read in an advertisement is worlds away from the language a medical interpreter has to relay back and forth between a patient and their doctor. And certain settings, such as healthcare, emergency services, and legal services, may require providers of language services to take into account the trauma that a person might have experienced before needing those services. As a result, translation and interpretation become inextricably linked with providing trauma-informed care, and it’s important that language service providers working in these sectors be able to pair non-English-speaking individuals who’ve suffered trauma with interpreters who are well-equipped to provide trauma-informed language services. For language service providers working in these domains, translation and interpreting are far from just matching and pairing languages — it’s also about making sure individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) get the care they need and are able to advocate for themselves in light of traumatic experiences. Interpreters in particular are likely to work with clients and patients who need trauma-informed services. When working with individuals who have dealt with traumatic experiences — whether it’s violence or serious injury — interpreters need to be knowledgeable about how to effectively provide trauma-informed care. Here, we’ll discuss what trauma-informed care looks like and what interpreters and language service providers in general can do to ensure that they’re providing effective and sensitive trauma informed language services. Trauma-informed care is a way to provide effective care and services to individuals who may have experienced some form of trauma. It’s a matter of being sensitive to an individual’s traumas and making sure that they’re able to receive adequate care in response to these traumatic events. Revisiting and discussing traumatic events can actively harm somebody’s mental well-being — as a result, it’s important to be sensitive when providing care to people who have faced such trauma. In recent years, providers of both legal and medical services have championed ways to provide trauma-informed services, from reframing the way they talk about traumatic events to avoiding triggering topics altogether. Providing trauma-informed care can be even trickier when there’s a language and/or cultural barrier. As a result, using interpreters who are specialized in the art of providing trauma-informed language services can help build bridges for limited English proficient individuals to receive adequate care. Before delving into trauma-informed language services specifically, it’s worthwhile to go over some general considerations that apply to most interpreting settings. These include: The key consideration to keep in mind when providing trauma-informed services is the emotional and physical well-being of the client or patient.   Trauma-informed language services acknowledges the potential vulnerability, distress, or triggers that individuals may experience in sensitive or traumatic situations. By implementing trauma-informed practices and considerations, language service providers can create a safe and supportive environment for effective communication and healing. Here are some additional considerations language service providers should take into account when working with patients who have experienced some form of trauma.  It’s also important to note that these considerations go beyond trauma-informed services as well — even if a client hasn’t experienced severe trauma that you know of. While especially so in particular settings, being sensitive to a client or patient’s needs and triggers is critical to providing effective language services. A trauma-informed approach to language access services is absolutely crucial, especially when it comes to interpreting for patients and clients in need of mental health, medical, or legal services. By considering an individual’s needs, experiences, and preferences, language service providers can deliver more effective and supportive services. Here are just a few things you should keep in mind when providing interpreting services in a sensitive or trauma-informed setting: If you’re looking for a language service provider that’s up to date on providing trauma-informed care, look no further. At Avantpage, we’re proud to provide trauma-informed interpreting to all sorts of clients, from legal offices to healthcare providers and beyond. Contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040 to learn more.

You probably don’t need us to remind you that in 2020, the United States declared the COVID-19 pandemic to be a public health emergency (PHE) — but now it’s looking like we’re finally in the clear, after three years of masking, social distancing, and working from home.  That’s not to say the pandemic’s over or that we no longer need to worry about COVID-19 — just that the state of emergency is over. Last month, the United States officially ended the PHE that was put in place more than three years ago. Among other aspects of daily life, the PHE had a profound impact on healthcare and how we access it — as such, the PHE ending is also likely to have an equally profound impact on telehealth. “[The Department of Health and Human Services] and the leadership across the Department remain focused on protecting the health and well-being of all Americans, particularly those at highest at risk, including seniors and immunocompromised people, making sure we don’t leave the uninsured behind, and monitoring the latest subvariants so we’re prepared and ready to manage the risks of the virus moving forward,” secretary of health and human services Xavier Becerra said in a statement on May 11, when the PHE officially ended. In response to the PHE, doctors and other healthcare providers adopted several telehealth measures and practices to allow patients and healthcare workers to stay safe in the face of COVID-19. The US Department of Health and Human Services first declared a PHE in response to COVID-19 in late January 2020. But it wasn’t until about a month and a half later that things began to hit the fan. In mid-March of that year the number of people diagnosed with COVID started rising fast — in response, businesses began to close their doors, students attended class on their laptops, and the video communications platform known as Zoom became a household name. During the PHE, virtual doctor’s appointments and other forms of telehealth became more prominent — this was possible because the PHE relaxed certain HIPAA requirements and allowed patients to file insurance claims for more telehealth services. And in the language services domain, remote interpreting became an even more important method of delivering services than before. The shift to telehealth meant healthcare providers had to rely on remote interpreting technology more than ever before.  It certainly stands to reason that this change should have had a positive impact on patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). Instead, it seems that telehealth was often less accessible to patients with LEP than those without. From problems with digital literacy to inaccessible user journeys, many patients with LEP struggled to receive the care they needed during the PHE. As we transition into this post-PHE era, here’s what healthcare providers — telehealth or otherwise — should know about accessing language services and providing equitable care to patients with LEP.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, language barriers have posed challenges to effective healthcare delivery for individuals with LEP. Even before the pandemic, healthcare providers have had to take measures to break language barriers for patients with LEP.  But the pandemic and the shift to telehealth under the PHE made things even tougher. Insufficient digital literacy, lack of access to digital requirements like broadband internet among certain populations with LEP, and occasionally erroneous or misleading translations of important public health information made it harder for patients with LEP to access telehealth. And as a result, research suggests that populations with LEP were more likely to suffer adverse consequences from COVID-19 than other groups. These disparities shed some much-needed light on the importance of language access in healthcare. Ultimately, the PHE created a motive for healthcare providers to develop programs and innovative solutions to address language access barriers and ensure equitable healthcare for all. 
With the end of the PHE last month, many healthcare providers will be less likely to rely upon certain telehealth practices. And some things that were allowed under the PHE — for example, a relaxation of HIPAA that let providers who were covered by Medicare to use WhatsApp and FaceTime — will no longer be allowed. Likewise, the end of the PHE also means that doctors are no longer able to prescribe controlled substances to patients via telehealth alone. Patients will be required to come in for an in-person visit with the doctor before any such prescriptions can be written or filled. While video doctors’ appointments will certainly stick around, they’ll likely become less common than they were during the pandemic — especially since fewer telehealth visits will be covered by insurance, requiring many patients to default to onsite visits to the doctor. This means patients with LEP could potentially have to travel longer distances to meet with a doctor who speaks their language. Healthcare providers will still be able to use remote interpreting technology to get connected with an interpreter, in the event that a patient needs an interpreter. Demand for in-person interpreting may increase, however, as doctors begin to shift away from telehealth appointments and technologies.  Additionally, healthcare providers may need to reevaluate their language access practices to ensure that they meet the needs of patients who are coming into the office or hospital. In-person appointments introduce additional layers — for example, interacting with the receptionist at the front desk — that could cause friction if language access isn’t adequately considered.
About a month into this new chapter, it’s critical that healthcare providers consider ways in which the end of the PHE might impact the accessibility of telehealth services. Here are some things for healthcare providers to keep in mind during this critical junction: As we transition into this new phase of the pandemic, Avantpage is proud to provide consulting, translation, and interpreting services to healthcare providers all across the country. If you need to work on revising your language access plan for the post-PHE era, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040 for more information about our services.

Telehealth and its 4 subsets might not have been on your radar until the COVID-19 pandemic brought it into the spotlight back in the spring of 2020. But even as the pandemic’s eased up, telehealth doesn’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon.  It’s become a particularly important tool in providing healthcare to individuals who would otherwise face significant barriers to healthcare services, such as people who live in highly rural locations or those with limited English proficiency (LEP). Simply put, telehealth is a way for healthcare providers to digitally work with patients and interact with the public — though it’s often viewed as synonymous with live video appointments, this is just one aspect of telehealth. There are four subsets of telehealth, ranging from more intimate one-on-one video sessions with a patient and a doctor, to more wide-reaching public health campaigns. The four subsets of telehealth are as follows: For individuals with LEP, telehealth can break language barriers in several different ways. Live video appointments can connect patients with doctors who speak their language but are located far away, while mobile health campaigns can be translated into different languages to ensure LEP individuals are informed about public health issues and other important medical information. Despite all of this, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted significant disparities in the health outcomes of patients with LEP. Throughout the early days of the pandemic, populations with significant proportions of individuals with LEP often faced the toughest outcomes when compared to their English-speaking counterparts. From insufficiently accessible (and in turn, discouraging) user journeys on telehealth portals to problems with digital literacy, the rise of telehealth made healthcare less accessible for individuals with LEP.  As telehealth became more prominent, so too did awareness of the disparities between patients with LEP and those without. Here, we’ll examine the four subsets of telehealth and how they can impact the care that patients with LEP receive. From remote patient monitoring to store and forward, we’ll discuss ways in which providers can be thoughtful and purposeful in the way they interact with and treat their patients who do not speak English proficiently.
There are a handful of different types of technology that healthcare providers can use when offering telehealth — each one is unique, serving different outcomes and leading to different outcomes.
This is the form of telehealth that you’re probably most familiar with — live video telehealth utilizes video conferencing tools like Zoom to connect patients with their healthcare providers. This allows patients to receive care from the comfort of their homes, and healthcare providers can assess a patient’s health status in real-time. With live video, a doctor’s geographical proximity becomes less important — this allows patients with LEP to more easily connect with doctors and interpreters who speak their language without having to travel long distances. However, video visits may also require interpreting services to ensure effective communication between the patient and the provider. Telehealth providers should always be prepared to offer virtual remote interpreting services for video visits in case a patient is and provide instructions and training materials in the patient’s preferred language.
Mobile telehealth includes any sort of public health messaging or medical education delivered to patients via mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. This might include a series of mass text messages sent out to alert a community about a disease outbreak in their area or more general campaigns that simply aim to promote healthy behavior. Although these types of campaigns may not be as palpable as a one-on-one appointment with a doctor, they do play an important role in engaging individuals with LEP. By working with language service providers to translate these messages into a linguistically and culturally appropriate format, telehealth providers can ensure that these messages are as accessible and meaningful as possible. When mobile health campaigns aren’t linguistically appropriate, prospective patients might feel alienated or discouraged from pursuing healthcare services — or worse, left in the dark about important public health information like local disease outbreaks.
Remote patient monitoring involves the use of electronic devices to monitor a patient’s health status from the comfort of their own home. These devices monitor things like a patient’s blood pressure, heart rate, weight, and other vital signs — this data can then be sent to healthcare providers to monitor and assess a patient’s health status. Healthcare providers typically use these devices after discharging a patient, in an effort to lower the likelihood of hospital readmission. For patients with LEP, language access is critical in ensuring that they understand how to use remote patient monitoring devices properly and that healthcare providers can understand and interpret the data correctly. Providers should offer instructions and training materials in the patient’s preferred language, and offer interpreter services when necessary. Store and forward is a form of asynchronous telehealth that allows doctors to assess a patient’s status without ever having to schedule a real-time appointment (over video or otherwise). With store and forward, patients and healthcare providers can send photos, videos, and other health records to other specialists for analysis — for example, a patient might send photos of a skin lesion to their primary care physician, who then passes the photo off to a dermatologist for further analysis. To ensure that LEP individuals benefit from store and forward, healthcare providers can work with language service providers to translate and interpret information about store and forward practices, so that they understand the benefit of this type of telehealth.  Telehealth can be an undoubtedly powerful tool for improving health equity among patients with LEP. Within the realm of telehealth, there are four subsets that must be applied in different situations. For each type of telehealth service, providers must keep in mind unique considerations for patients with LEP. To recap, here are the four subsets of telehealth and how they work: At Avantpage, we’re proud to help telehealth providers improve their approach to language access and unlock telehealth’s potential to break language barriers for patients with LEP. If you’re looking to make your telehealth services more accessible to individuals with LEP, contact us at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040.

Legal translation services are critical in ensuring equal access to justice for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP), as well as for organizations operating across jurisdictions, languages, and cultures. From government agencies and law firms to healthcare systems and nonprofits, many industries rely on accurate, certified translations of legal documents to stay compliant and protect all parties involved. Translation services are valuable to many different industries, regardless of whether they are regulated and required or not. Some industries don’t have regulated requirements for translation, but benefit from it all the same. Legal translation improves accuracy throughout legal proceedings, protects civil rights, and supports fair representation. It can benefit all parties involved in a court case and help make the legal system more accessible to those who may need it. Table of Contents What Is Legal Translation? Who Needs Legal Translation Services? What documents are involved in legal translation? What services are needed for legal translation? Who Is Required to Provide Legal Translation Services? Benefits of Professional Legal Translation Frequently Asked Questions About Legal Translation Ensuring Appropriate Legal Translation Legal translation is the process of converting legal documents, or interpreting for spoken language, from one language to another with high accuracy, preserving meaning, formatting, legal terminology, and tone. This includes both document translation and interpretation services, depending on the setting. There are many different parts of the legal process that benefit from professional legal translation services. If you’re in the process of discovery, having documents translated by a qualified, certified legal translator can help to make the documents more accessible if you wish to submit them as evidence. In a hearing, having an interpreter can be necessary if the defendant, prosecutor, or any other involved party is Limited English Proficient (LEP). There are many other documents, like a will or power of attorney, that benefit from legal translation as well. Legal translation should not be confused with general translation—legal language is highly technical, jurisdiction-specific, and full of nuanced terminology that requires trained human translators. Legal translation isn’t just for law firms, it’s also essential for: Any organization working with contracts, compliance, or litigation should consider legal translation a necessity, not a luxury. While each legal proceeding has its own requirements, there are many types of documents commonly translated in support of court cases and legal processes. These include:  Each of these documents requires accurate translation that reflects not just language, but also jurisdiction-specific legal standards. Beyond document translation, the legal industry benefits from a range of legal language services, including: Machine translation tools may be useful in casual settings, but they’re unsuitable for legal use due to a lack of confidentiality, accuracy, and contextual understanding. While not every organization is legally obligated to provide translations, many are, especially when federal funding is involved. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, any agency receiving federal funding (including courts, schools, and hospitals) must ensure meaningful access to information for LEP populations. Other legal frameworks include: Failing to provide accurate translations can result in legal liability, civil rights violations, and loss of public trust. Learn more about why language access is a civil right. Certified legal translators bring linguistic fluency, cultural understanding, and legal expertise to every project—something machine translation alone simply can’t do. Legal translation refers to the translation of documents and oral communication involving legal language, contracts, court procedures, and laws across different target languages. It must be precise and is often performed by certified professionals familiar with both legal systems and professional translation services. Yes. Certified translations are often required for immigration forms such as immigrant housing assistance documents, court filings, or official contracts. A signed certificate of accuracy ensures the translation meets legal standards. No. Machine translation lacks the accuracy, confidentiality, and cultural nuance required for legal documents, risking the integrity and outcome of a legal proceeding. Always use a professional human translator for anything involving legal, compliance, or regulatory contexts. Courts and public agencies receiving federal funds are often required under Title VI and Executive Order 13166 to provide language access services for LEP individuals. This may include interpretation and translation of forms, notices, signage, and records. In the U.S., commonly requested languages include Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Portuguese, and Tagalog, though needs vary by region and case. Work with a Language Service Provider (LSP) like Avantpage that offers secure, encrypted systems and has experience with HIPAA, FERPA, and legal confidentiality standards. Translation involves converting written text, while interpretation refers to converting spoken language in real-time. Both require specialized skills in legal terminology and cultural fluency. To be sure that your legal documents are accurately and appropriately translated, you need to use subject matter experts as translators. Your legal translation projects should be handled by certified, qualified translators who have experience in the legal industry.  At Avantpage, we provide accurate, certified, and compliant legal translations in over 150 languages. Our translators are legal subject matter experts who meet strict confidentiality and formatting standards. Call us at (530) 750-2040 or request a quote to get started today.

Health insurance providers have to work with extremely tight timelines to ensure that patients receive communications and letters about their plans in a timely fashion. To stay compliant with local and federal regulations, healthcare organizations need access to fast, reliable multilingual translations. That’s where specialized same-day document translation services come in. In this article, we’ll explore the critical role regulatory compliance plays in document translation for organizations in the medical field, along with a step-by-step look at how Avantpage delivers same-day document translation services. Table of Contents - Why Do Health Insurance Providers Need to Enhance Their Accessibility Standards? - Benefits of Same-Day Document Translation for Health Insurance Providers - Our Document Translation Process - Step 1: Receive the Project - Step 2: Pre-process the document and assign linguists - Step 3: Translation Process - Step 4: Printing and mailing - Step 5: Delivery - Frequently Asked Questions About Same-Day Document Translation in Healthcare  - Summary Since California’s Department of Health Care Services issued APL 21-011 in 2022, California’s Medi-Cal managed health care plans have had to issue notice of action (NOA) letters and notice of appeal resolution (NAR) letters to patients in their preferred language (or preferred alternative format such as braille or large print) within a 72-hour timeframe. When mailing these communications to patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), this means the content must be translated, printed, mailed, and received within just three days. Now, due to changes by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, this requirement is expanding out of California and will be standard across the nation. The 72-hour requirement aims to reduce delays in patient care, which can be detrimental to a patient’s overall health outcome. Still, this is a pretty tight timeframe to work within, and it may seem like the translation process would slow things down. But it doesn’t have to be that way. At Avantpage, we’ve been working with California healthcare organizations since this regulation was first introduced in 2022 to develop a finely tuned process that ensures patients with LEP or disabilities receive translated/alternatively formatted letters well within the 72-hour timeframe. In the first year alone, we managed to translate 17,000 member letters. We can handle everything from translating letters to actually printing and mailing them — all while maintaining compliance with HIPAA and the requirements outlined in new regulations surrounding APLs. Same-day document translation services enable health insurance providers to meet urgent deadlines, maintain regulatory compliance, and communicate effectively with diverse member populations. By partnering with a professional translation service, health plans can streamline operations and improve member satisfaction. The main benefits of professional translation services include: Learn how one of the nation’s leading health plan providers committed to language accessibility with same-day translations. At Avantpage, we understand why same-day document translation is crucial for organizations and patients. Government regulations are constantly changing to help close health equity gaps, especially for individuals with limited English proficiency. Sometimes these changes happen abruptly, requiring your organization to quickly deliver new or updated materials, often in additional languages. If your organization is not compliant, you may face serious consequences. That’s why working with a professional language service provider is so important. Listed below are the steps we follow for our translation to print and mail services. The translation process outline shows how we translate member letters and other important healthcare communications in rushed timeframes without sacrificing the quality of your communication.  Our clock starts ticking as soon as you send us the content you need translated. Along with the letter you need translated, you’ll also need to give us various project specifications for the project so that we can complete it in a timely fashion — that includes things like turnaround time, target language, etc. Once we receive a document and project specifications, we get right to work. The vast majority of our translations are printed and mailed out within seven to eight hours. Once we’ve got the content and project specifications, we run the document through AvantShield, our proprietary patient health information (PHI) masking software. This preprocessing step is absolutely ensuring that our translations are HIPAA compliant; during this step, we remove all PHI from the document so that this data remains safe and secure. After processing the document through AvantShield, we assign the project to a team of linguists to begin the translation process. In assigning linguists to a project, we take into account several factors—availability, linguist qualifications, location and HIPAA requirements. Once the team has been assigned to your project, we’ll begin with the translation steps. The linguist team will first translate the content into the target language, edit it to ensure accuracy and readability, and review it to make sure that there are no typographical errors. After the review step is done, we’ll make sure to put the PHI back into the document. We save this step for last in order to keep patient data secure and ensure HIPAA compliance. Our in-house quality assurance (QA) team, who runs further QA checks and gives the final stamp of approval on each translation. Our extensive QA procedures allow you to rest easy knowing that we’re delivering the most accurate and high-quality translation possible. By the eighth hour, your letter is translated and ready to go. At this stage, we’ll work closely with one of our highly vetted printers to ensure that your documents are printed and mailed in a timely fashion. We’ll send the document directly to the printer, so you don’t have to worry about handling the logistics of printing and mailing these letters yourself. Once the document is printed, the printer will package and mail the letter to the patient. By Hour 8, your letter should be in the mail carrier and ready for delivery. We allow the most time for this final period, since the delivery process is entirely manual. Because we complete the translation and quality steps so early on in the process, we have a little bit of leeway in case there are any delays in the postal system. Altogether, this process allows your patients to receive their communications in their preferred language in a timely fashion. This reduces the chance of delays in patient care, in turn, improving their health outcomes. It depends. With same-day document translation to print and mail, work begins the day your health plan materials are received. Certified translation services include essential steps such as human translation, proofreading, and formatting to ensure accuracy. After quality assurance checks are completed, the document is printed and mailed. This fast turnaround allows health insurance providers to stay compliant with regulatory deadlines without compromising the quality of care communications. For projects delivered digitally without print and mail, turnaround times can be even faster. In healthcare settings, especially for health insurance plans, notarized translations are generally not required unless explicitly requested by a legal or regulatory body. However, Avantpage offers a certificate of translation upon request, verifying the document was translated by expert translators and meets professional translation standards, sufficient for most compliance requirements. If you need to work with a notary or require official use documentation, let us know, and we will work with you to get you what you need. Same-day translation services are essential for health plans, managed care organizations, government health agencies, and providers that must meet urgent communication requirements. For example, under CMS guidelines, Medi-Cal, or state-specific mandates, insurance plans are required to provide timely, multilingual communication to members with limited English proficiency (LEP). These stakeholders rely on healthcare translation services to meet tight timelines and reduce delays in care. Health plans often need notice of action (NOA) letters, appeal resolution notices (NARs), eligibility letters, medical records, and compliance notices translated quickly. Each document must undergo accurate translation with quick turnaround to ensure timely delivery and member understanding. Avantpage uses human translators who specialize in healthcare translations, terminology, and regulatory language. Every document goes through multiple layers of proofreading and a strict quality assurance process. This ensures the final product is an accurate translation that meets HIPAA and CMS compliance standards. Yes. Avantpage offers hard copies through our integrated print-and-mail service. After translation, your documents are professionally printed and shipped directly to members. This is particularly important for health plans serving individuals who need physical copies in alternative formats such as large print, braille, or translated languages. Unlike general translation agencies, Avantpage specializes in health insurance and government healthcare programs. Our focus on urgent translation, HIPAA compliance, and multilingual accessibility ensures your organization stays aligned with evolving regulatory standards. You’ll also benefit from dedicated customer support at every step of the process—from initial intake to final delivery. Contact us at info@avantpage.com or call (530) 750-2040. Share your translation needs, including the type of document, required turnaround, and target language, and we’ll respond promptly with pricing and timelines. We’re here to help you meet your deadlines with confidence. Yes. While primarily serving health insurance organizations, Avantpage also provides services for related legal documents, including birth certificates, marriage certificates, and other personal records that may be required for eligibility verification or dependent enrollment. These documents are handled with the same level of certified accuracy, subject to proofreading and compliance review, ensuring they meet both healthcare and legal standards. We do. Avantpage offers fast translation solutions for healthcare clients supporting members with USCIS applications or immigration-related health services. Whether it's medical records, identity verification, or coverage documents needed for immigration proceedings, our services ensure accurate, certified translations with a fast turnaround, so nothing delays access to care or legal processing. At Avantpage, we’ve been working with health insurance providers to make sure their clients receive information about their health plans in their preferred language as quick as possible, without sacrificing on translation quality. We’ve developed a fine-tuned process to ensure that translated letters reach patients’ mailboxes in 72 hours or less—here’s how it works: Looking to learn more about how we can help you deliver letters to patients in 72 hours or less? Contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040.