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As a translation services provider, Avantpage is poised to offer expertise, services, information and guidance to health plans, healthcare providers, health organizations and others who are either directly or indirectly involved with healthcare reform. We have extensive experience reaching out to Hispanic markets through Spanish language initiatives, and we specialize in culturally appropriate, effective messaging that is accurate and high-quality. We recently attended a presentation from California Endowment at The State of the Healthcare Conference in Sacramento, CA on April 23, 2013, and we’d like to share some of the insights and information gleaned from our experience. In California, there are seven million uninsured individuals, with Latinos representing 61% of this population. Once healthcare reform goes into full effect, these people will be newly eligible for coverage through Covered California, California’s health benefit exchange.  Outreach efforts to reach this population require a multi-pronged approach. These efforts should include partnering with Latino media outlets (Univision, Telemundo, La Opinion, and Radio Bilingue) sponsoring and initiating community awareness and enrollment events, and working with hospitals and care providers to promote wellness and informational programs. It is important for health plans to reach out to uninsured Latinos now, and let them know that you offer what’s most important to them: Prevention was found to be the #1 most important message to use when reaching out to uninsured Latinos. This market is very responsive to the use of wellness checkups, preventative care and other measures to keep families and children healthy. Latinos are highly concerned about price, value and financial security. Tailor your message so that you focus on these issues and address affordability concerns. This market tends to view doctors as highly respected and trusted professionals. Make sure that you provide comprehensive information regarding the medical professionals available through your plan. Over half of uninsured Latinos speak Spanish (alone and with English) at home. It is critical that your message, outreach materials, website and documentation is presented in Spanish, using high-quality translation that addresses cultural norms, reading levels and accessible translation of medical and insurance language. When referring to healthcare reform, “Obamacare” is the preferred term among Latinos, according to Survey of CA Latinos, March 2013. Reaching Spanish-speaking populations regarding new healthcare initiatives is critical as healthcare reform moves into its final phase of implementation. Health plans must take action now in order to present information, benefits, and features in ways that are understandable and accessible to Hispanic markets. For more information on how you can tailor your services to meet the needs of your Hispanic audience, contact us today! Avantpage can offer suggestions, guidance and information for putting together a comprehensive, cost-effective translation program to help you communicate more effectively, increase your market share and secure new business.

Communication is key in healthcare—from reading admissions forms to following hospital signage and understanding discharge instructions. And with almost 47 million people in the United States speaking a language other than English, translation is an essential component of safe, effective, and quality healthcare. To ensure that Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients receive the level of care that they are entitled to, the Joint Commission created communication and language standards that went into effect in January 2011. Hospitals and healthcare organizations seeking Joint Commission accreditation must comply with these standards, which include: The Joint Commission is dedicated to improving quality of care through better communication between patients and healthcare providers, providing guidance throughout a patient’s healthcare continuum, including admission, assessment, treatment, end-of-life care, discharge and transfer, and organization readiness. By creating the communication and language standards, the Commission has taken an important step toward facilitating improved patient-provider interaction. When patients can communicate, understand, and follow instructions in their own language, there is less chance of medical misunderstandings and errors that can affect a patient’s health outcome. Is your healthcare organization at risk of non-compliance with the Joint Commission’s language and communication standards? If so, it could have an adverse effect on federal funding in accordance with Title VI regulations. LEP individuals must have meaningful language access to programs and services, or healthcare organizations risk federal funding for programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), research grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or National Institutes of Health. Don’t risk your accreditation status! Translate your vital documents into the languages most commonly encountered, using qualified translators. This will help ensure accuracy and readability, and support effective patient-provider communication. Compliance with Joint Commission Standards is a critical component of any healthcare organization’s care continuum. At Avantpage, we’re fully versed in and adhere to Joint Commission Standards, and work closely with healthcare organizations to translate all types of documentation, signage, website, and other written materials into threshold languages. Contact Avantpage today for more information on how to meet the needs of LEP patients, provide better healthcare patient-centered services and outcomes, and assure compliance with Joint Commission Standards.

Last week, we presented Part 1 of our Covered California FAQs, where we discussed ways you can improve your translation efforts toward LEP individuals, capture a greater share of new health plan prospects, and transform new plan members into lifelong customers. Here is Part 2 of this report: While health plans may be tempted to wait until they know for sure that they are certified as Covered California qualified health plans before starting the translation process, this approach could backfire, causing them to miss out on new enrollees. It makes good business sense to choose your language services provider now, so you can start working together to create a project timeline and complete translation projects. Avantpage makes the planning process an easy, stress-free one that ensures high-quality, accurate health care translations. As a translation services vendor that specializes in healthcare, Avantpage can make a significant difference in communication with your Limited English Proficient (LEP) audience. We work with the California Department of Public Health, California WIC program, Delta Dental, Altamed Health Services, Alameda Alliance for Health, MESVision and others, and we are experts at effectively and accurately communicating complex healthcare information to LEP audiences. We can help your organization get a language assistance program up and running, enabling you to take full advantage of new member enrollment opportunities due to Covered California. Enrollment in these government-funded groups is likely to increase substantially due to Healthcare Reform and Covered California. You may already be translating into Spanish and Chinese, but there are other critical threshold languages you should be targeting to reach new members. It will be impossible to grow market share in the very competitive healthcare arena without translating into threshold languages such as Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian (Khmer), Farsi, Hmong, Korean, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese, in addition to Chinese and Spanish. Covered California represents an exciting opportunity for health plans to reach out to a vast new audience of potential customers. Approximately two million Californians and 300,000 small businesses are expected to purchase insurance through Covered California within its first few years, and the numbers are expected to rise from there. Connecting with this pool of potential customers hinges on clear, accurate communication. You’ll need to ramp up translation efforts and implement new strategies in order to present your health benefits plan in a way that is understandable, approachable and appealing to consumers. If your organization is serious about attracting new business through Covered California, translation strategies will play a key role in your ability to thrive within the highly competitive health plan marketplace. Choose a translation services provider you trust, set the process in motion now and look forward to substantially increasing your market share once Covered California opens for business When you choose Avantpage, you are partnering with a specialized, highly qualified healthcare translation provider with extensive knowledge and experience in the industry. Our translations save you time and money, ensure you comply with regulations and help you connect in any language. For more information on how you can tailor your services to meet the needs of your LEP patients, contact us today! Avantpage can offer suggestions, guidance and information for putting together a comprehensive, cost-effective translation program to help you communicate more effectively, increase your market share and secure new business.

Since 2011, Avantpage has closely followed the progress of Covered California, California’s new health benefit exchange program. We’ve kept abreast of new developments and provided our translation clients with information and updates as we’ve received them. In this special report, we’ve compiled information and answers to some of the most pressing language access concerns expressed by health plans: When should translation efforts be initiated? What written and online materials should be translated, and into how many languages? Are there ACA requirements in place we should be aware of? We've gathered some healthcare translation FAQs that will help you:  As a result, you’ll improve your communication efforts toward LEP individuals, capture a greater share of new health plan prospects, and transform new plan members into lifelong customers. In October 2013, Covered California will begin actively enrolling hundreds of thousands of residents for healthcare coverage. Because of the large amount of new materials and information that must be translated prior to the implementation of Covered California, it is vital that health plan providers have a solid language assistance strategy in place. In fact, a recent article in The Sacramento Bee* stated that the biggest challenge in 2013 for Covered California will be “Overcoming language and social barriers to persuade hundreds of thousands of residents to sign up for subsidized health insurance.” *Covered California Boss Must Set Up –Stat!– A New Health Care System, Kevin Yamamura, The Sacramento Bee, December 28, 2012 Once you’ve chosen a Language Services Provider to work with, it’s wise to start by choosing vital documents in your most crucial languages, and translating these projects first. It’s easier to build a “library” of translated documents over time than it is to try to get everything accomplished at once. Don’t lose out on gaining new members through Covered California because your translated documents are not ready. It’s certain that other health plans will be there ahead of you, translations in place, ready to take full advantage of Covered California’s new pool of enrollees. Covered California will have its own translated materials for marketing and outreach programs in place to connect with LEP residents, but these materials will not cover information about specific health plans. Health plan providers will be responsible for translating all online materials, information and documentation into their threshold languages. It is imperative that health plans begin preliminary work now in order to partner with translation providers they trust and begin the translation process. Check back next week for Part II of our FAQs!

According to a recent article in the New York Times*, the new state-run healthcare exchanges still have a long way to go before the October 1, 2013 deadline. The health exchanges are the cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act, and it is estimated that they will make health insurance available to up to 30 million people who are not currently covered. However, studies have shown that as many as three quarters of those eligible for this new coverage are completely unaware of their options. With the deadline for open enrollment looming, health care advocates, community organizers and consumer health care organizations are scrambling to get the word out. Compounding the problem: Among the people expected to sign up for coverage, one in four speak a language other than English at home, and three out of four have a high school diploma or less. In California, the state-run health exchange, Covered California, must reach five million people who communicate in 13 different languages and reside across an area encompassing 163,000 square miles. This underscores the importance of communicating not only in appropriate languages, but at appropriate reading levels as well. Translation services will play an essential role in removing language barriers and reaching out to these newest health care consumers. With political parties still at odds over the implementation of the new health care law, consumer confidence has been further eroded regarding health care reform.  Despite these hurdles, healthcare organizations and insurers are moving ahead to identify and reach out to the uninsured in anticipation of enrollment. Community outreach and education is necessary at every level to make uninsured consumers aware of their new healthcare options and encourage them to enroll. Translation will play a pivotal role in ensuring effective communication in the wide variety of languages necessary to reach out to these new health care consumers. * "Racing to Spread Word About New Health Plans", Robert Pear, April 23, 2013

At the recent 2013 MedAssets Business Summit, Avantpage spoke with numerous healthcare organizations regarding their language assistance needs and how they’re currently handling their written translations. Many representatives mentioned they rely on in-house translators to handle vital documents translations. Although this is often done in the hopes of reducing costs, using internal translators who have other job priorities and who also have not been professionally trained in translation runs the high risk of miscommunication – actually increasing costs in the long-run. In addition, the sheer number of vital documents required for translation can exceed the capabilities of in-house translator. The documents must also meet certain language assistance standards, such as the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care Standards (CLAS). To find out more about our impressions of the conference and what we learned, contact us at [email protected]. We'd love to share our ideas about how using a professional translation provider can provide high-quality translations to increase patient safety and satisfaction and reduce your costs.

Translating materials into other languages spoken by your Limited English Proficient (LEP) customers increases communication while supporting diverse cultures within your community. Translation also enables you to remain in compliance with language requirements set forth by state government regarding water issues. Working with a reputable, trusted translation firm is critical for communicating effectively with your LEP customers. Accurate, high-quality translation of documents, forms, letters and notifications keeps your customers informed –– and keeps you in compliance with California regulatory measures. Recent changes in state regulations now require water agencies to promptly notify LEP customers in their first language. Specifically, Assembly Bill 938, which went into effect on July 1, 2012, adds new legislative requirements for Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) members, including: Avantpage’s language services help businesses communicate, collaborate and function more effectively within a multicultural environment. Avantpage helps organizations in the public and private sector reach across language barriers and cultural differences. Translation enables people to create lasting professional relationships based on mutual understanding and crystal-clear communication. Avantpage was asked to translate a project for ACWA into 31 languages – Arabic, Armenian (Eastern), Armenian (Western), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Farsi, French, French Creole, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian) Portuguese (Continental), Russian, Serbo Croatian, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese.   Avantpage translated a total of 1,179 words into 31 languages. This project was challenging in that we had to coordinate 31 different translators, get them up to speed on translation requirements, and operate within a tight deadline. Teamwork between all departments and Avantpage’s collaborative culture helped to create a positive, tightly-focused working environment. Translators, project managers and IT experts all coordinated their efforts to deliver accurate, consistent, high-quality files on a rolling basis to meet the deadline. The result? A satisfied client who is now able to communicate directly and effectively with their LEP customers. Avantpage also developed a number of practical letter templates for ACWA that can be repurposed for different situations. These can be used to reach out to a large community of non-English speaking persons and keep them informed about the quality of their water. Founded 16 years ago, Avantpage is a translation industry leader serving government, education, healthcare, financial, legal and other sectors. We are located in Northern California, and have successfully completed state, national and international contracts, partnering with government and private entities. Call Avantpage today at 530-750-2040, x3, to get a detailed translation needs assessment and get on the path to compliance.

At Avantpage, we are always striving to improve our value to our customers. From embracing the latest translation technologies to fine-tuning our “people skills,” we are committed to doing everything we can to deliver a superior product and meet our customers’ needs more fully. To that end, we rely on customer feedback to improve our services. We recently distributed our annual customer service survey, an important benchmark tool used to determine how our customers view our services, where we stand out, and where we can improve.  The survey was sent out via email, and contained both multiple-choice and written-response questions. We were gratified by the scope and honesty of the responses, and would like to share some of the findings based on our analysis of survey results. When asked about their level of satisfaction with Avantpage, 97% of respondents are satisfied with their level of service. When asked specifically which attributes generated the most satisfaction, respondents cited: When asked if there were any unaddressed needs that Avantpage was not meeting, 100% of respondents replied “no,” indicating their high satisfaction levels. When asked why our customers chose us, respondents reported “quality” and “accuracy” and indicated that they were pleased with how Avantpage delivered on both of these attributes. Also a great compliment for us in this year's survey results, 96% of respondents indicated that they were likely to recommend our services to other professionals. Thank you! The 2013 Customer Service Survey enabled us to gain valuable feedback from the people who matter most – our customers. We’d like to say thank you to all the individuals who took the time to participate in our survey. We appreciate the time and effort they took to respond, as well as the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of their replies. We are using this information to further improve our quality of service, our customer relations, and the processes and procedures that drive our organization.

We would love for you to join us on LinkedIn, in the LEP Translation Group--where we bring together healthcare professionals to share valuable insights, technology leads, and other industry info. LEP Translation, formerly Healthcare Language Assistance, offers business professionals, linguistic specialists, and other interested parties a forum for discussion, brainstorming, networking and collaboration opportunities within the LEP translation/linguistic services community. We strive to provide an open dialogue for professionals who utilize LEP services, those who wish to learn more about these services, and those who provide them. Topics may include linguistic and translation issues; sales and marketing; LEP translation in core government sectors including Elections, Healthcare, Education, Government and more; business development; translation technology; customer service; localization efforts; and much more.  We welcome group members to engage in meaningful discussions that will enable them to network, collaborate, learn and grow professionally.

Covered California is poised to hit the ground running later this year! Since 2011, Avantpage has been following the health benefit exchange every step of the way—attending board meetings, creating reports and communicating with Board members, health plans and consumer stakeholders. And we know this: Covered California will have a dramatic impact on healthcare in the coming years. To help you prepare for the major changes ahead, we’ve created an information-packed new Special Report “Preparing for Covered California Today.” It’s part of our ongoing healthcare series to help you make smart decisions and get prepared regarding translation needs, requirements and priorities as Covered California becomes a part of the healthcare landscape. Download our Special Report now, and understand exactly how Covered California will affect your organization: Contact Avantpage today to be well prepared for Covered California and effectively communicate with your LEP customers.

Like many executives at hospitals and healthcare centers, you know that translation plays an important part in providing quality healthcare. But many organizations question how to get started with translation and also ensure compliance with Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care Standards (CLAS). As a specialized, highly qualified healthcare translation provider, Avantpage has the answers needed to communicate more effectively with a Limited English Profi cient (LEP) audience. The key to creating a trusted, safe healthcare experience is translating materials into the core languages that LEP clientele speak and understand. This includes signage, fl yers, surveys, patient education documents, consent and intake forms, booklets, registration forms, and more. Patients will be better equipped to understand medical information and instructions, navigate a healthcare facility with confi dence, and make informed, educated choices regarding their healthcare. Many LEP patients speak some English, but are more comfortable reading signs, forms, and other information in their own languages. While some healthcare organizations think they don’t have extra resources to spend on translation, the truth is that they don’t have the luxury of choosing to forgo translation of critical documents. Language access is mandated by federal laws and regulatory agencies. Not only is it the law, it makes sound business sense, too. Translating critical documents and instructions into threshold languages: Translation done poorly puts a company at risk. At best, an organization might end up with inaccurate translations, which will cause embarrassment and damage to a good reputation. At worst, misinformation exposes an organization to malpractice suits, other legal claims, medical errors, and non-compliance rulings. At Avantpage, we’re fully versed in and adhere to CLAS Standards, which provide a framework for all healthcare organizations to best serve their increasingly diverse communities, and our highly qualifi ed translation teams are trained specialists in managed care threshold languages. For more information on how to create a comprehensive, cost-effective translation program, contact us today.

An MBE (Minority-owned Business Enterprise) is defined as a for-profit business which is owned, operated and controlled by minority group members who are Asian, Black, Hispanic or Native American. At least 51% of the business must be owned by a minority to qualify or, if the business is publicly-owned, at least 51% of the stock must be owned by one or more members of a minority. The management and day-to-day operations of the business must be controlled by minority group members as well. Avantpage, providing translation services since 1996, with owner and CEO Luis Miguel at the helm, is certified as an MBE by The National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC).  The council helps its corporate members (including IBM, Microsoft, Marriot, AT&T, AFLAC, Kraft Foods, Lockheed Martin, MetLife and many more) connect with the more than 17,000 minority-owned suppliers in its database. Seventeen states and 25 cities also accept NMSDC certification for programs designed to help minorities win public-sector contracts. Many federal and state agencies are committed to working with minority owned businesses and have programs in place to ensure that a certain amount of contracts and projects are awarded to these businesses. Corporations are also interested in working with and supporting MBEs, and make it a point to seek out contractors, vendors and suppliers who fit the criteria.  Working with minority owned businesses has proven to be a win-win situation for many of America’s largest organizations:  they are able to build good will and garner positive support throughout many minority communities; they gain the respect and trust of minority consumers; they work with minority suppliers committed to delivering exceptional products and services; and they are recognized for supporting diversity through their actions. As a leading player in the translation industry, Avantpage is accustomed to addressing minority concerns in regard to language barriers. Our staff is sensitive to the communication issues and cultural differences that LEP individuals experience, and our goal is to deliver accurate, high-quality translation that is also culturally sensitive and audience-appropriate. Contact us today at [email protected] to learn more about how our MBE certification informs all aspects of our service, and can help you create a comprehensive, affordable translation strategy. You’ll be able to communicate more effectively with your clients, increase your market share, and secure new business.