The Affordable Care Act (ACA) fundamentally shifted the health insurance landscape:
The recent shift in our nation's healthcare reimbursement model (from pay-for-volume to pay-for-value) has given patient satisfaction scores a new level of significance for health systems. Though there's uncertainty surrounding the future of the Affordable Care Act, which put this model in place, value-based care is likely here to stay.
With hospital reimbursements based on outcomes and quality measures, your HCAHPS scores now have a direct and causal effect on your facility’s bottom line. So how do you improve patient satisfaction and boost HCAHPS scores?
Effective communication is a vital component to HCAHPS success. And with a growing number of limited-English speakers in the United States, so is the quality of your health system’s medical interpreting.
Read on to learn 1) why limited-English patients factor so heavily into your patient satisfaction scores, and 2) how implementing quality medical interpreting at your facility aids in clearer communication, resulting in greater positive experiences for all of your patients.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly impacted the healthcare industry over the past 6 years. And while the fate of the ACA is unknown, it's safe to say that value-based care – a model that promotes quality, affordability and accessibility – is here to stay.
This shift from a reimbursement system once based on quantity of services provided, to one based on quality of care, means medical outcomes and patient satisfaction now play into your facility's bottom line.
Today, health systems have to work harder than ever to keep patients healthy and happy, even long after they’ve been discharged. And this initiative doesn’t get any easier when a language barrier is present, which is why language access is so important to your health system’s success, both financially and holistically.
Patient-provider communication has a direct impact on medical outcomes, patient satisfaction and system-wide efficiency. Considering the ongoing growth of the limited-English population, a hospital’s language support is becoming more important each day.
Reflecting on your own facility: Does your health system have the interpreting support in place to break down language barriers, promote patient satisfaction and minimize medical errors? If you're not entirely sure, here are three signs your hospital deserves a medical interpreting upgrade.
It’s that time of year again. Today the Marketplace Open Enrollment Period commences, and Americans across the country will be shopping for new health insurance plans for 2017 coverage. If you’re a health insurance provider, you’re braced for the influx of calls that’ll be pouring into your call centers – many are confused applicants who are getting health insurance for the first time. Your call center agents are probably prepared for all of the questions, but are they prepared for all of the languages?
When you’re on the hunt for a new services provider, price crops up almost instantly. And that makes perfect sense – affordability has to be one of your primary concerns. But it can’t be your only concern.
There are two kinds of “affordable” options out there: affordable services with long-term value, and affordable services that are just, well, “affordable.” And discerning the difference (ahead of time) is crucial.
The final ruling of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) put major changes in motion regarding individuals’ ability to access health care and coverage. The law prohibits discrimination based on age, sex, disability, race, color and national origin, which includes the language an individual speaks.
The enhancement of language assistance for individuals classified as Limited English Proficient (those who speak English less than "very well”) is just one piece of the puzzle in the law's efforts to reduce disparities in healthcare. Since the final rule was implemented, language services have been a hot topic for many health insurers and providers. However, the rule, which is extensively outlined in a whopping 99-page document, isn’t entirely easy to digest.
Questions such as ‘Does Section 1557 affect me?’ and ‘How do I comply with the language access requirements?’ often arise. To help make sense of the law (and answer these questions), we’re breaking down exactly who the law affects, and how those affected can become compliant with the language access requirements, with two simple flowcharts:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was created to reduce the number of uninsured Americans, while improving quality measures and containing costs. Another goal of the ACA is to reduce disparities among underserved populations, including individuals with limited English proficiency.
When your business relies on a call center to generate sales and support customers, you need as much information about your incoming and outgoing calls as you’re able to gather.
How much data do you have about your incoming and outgoing calls? How about when those calls require the assistance of your telephone interpreting service?
If you have a lot of data on the interactions between your call center representatives and your English-speaking customers, but almost no data on your interactions with Limited English Proficient (LEP)* customers, you don’t have the telephone interpreting call data you need.
Claims management looks very different than it did 20 years ago, and the industry will continue to change dramatically over the next decade. That's because the number of Americans who speak a language other than English at home is on a hard climb – more than doubling since the 1980s, and currently coming in at over 60 million. That’s one in five Americans. And according to the 2010 U.S. Census, about 41% of this group is considered Limited English Proficient (LEP) – i.e., 25 million people who speak English “less than very well.”
