Blog entries tagged Healthcare Translation

Is Your Language Assistance Program In Need of an Upgrade?

Julianne — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 07:00:00 +0100

As a health care provider, you know that clear, open communication with your clients is critical. If your LEP (Limited English Proficient) clients don't fully understand discharge instructions, insurance information, consent forms, applications, and other written materials, you may be putting them - as well as yourself and your organization - at risk.

When you make an effort to communicate with your clients in their primary language, the benefits are enormous. You will improve un...

10 Best Practices for Hiring a Translation Company

Julianne — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:00:00 +0100

In response to the current regulatory climate, many companies are in need of translation services for the first time.

Avantpage has responded with a report on 10 industry "best practices" that will help any business navigate the process of obtaining, coordinating, and evaluating translation services. These best practices are especially relevant for companies in the healthcare industry.

Because Avantpage realizes how important it is to get things right from the beginnin...

Special Report Now Online: Health Benefit Exchange

Julianne — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:00:00 +0100

Health Benefit Exchange Gives Uninsured Consumers Access to High-Quality, Affordable Health Care

In accordance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed in March of 2010, the California Health Benefit Exchange is slated to go into effect on January 1, 2014. The Health Benefit Exchange is essentially a health plan "marketplace" where uninsured individuals and small businesses can shop for and purchase high-quality health insurance. Individuals with low to mode...

LinkedIn Hits +100 Million Users

Julianne — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:00:00 +0100

Today, LinkedIn announced a major milestone for its site: it's surpassed 100 million users. Congratulations!

Avantpage invites you to link with us on LinkedIn.....

Our Healthcare Language Assistance Group on LinkedIn is a powerful resource for healthcare professionals - providing answers, assistance, discussion forums, up-to-th...

Avantpage to Attend HIMSS Conference!

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:00:00 +0100

For the first time, Avantpage will be attending the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, February 20 - 24, 2011.

We are excited to be a part of an exhibition of this size and scope, and are looking forward to offering our translation solutions, expertise and experience to today's top healthcare IT providers. As longtime experts in the healthcare translation industry, Avantpage i...

In the Health Care Industry, Language Barriers Endanger Patient Health

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +0100

There are approximately 47 million people in the United States who speak a language other than English. Effective communication is critical to safe, quality health care, yet many health care organizations fall short when it comes to caring for Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients.

According to a study conducted by the International Journal for Quality in Health Care, language barriers in hospitals were shown to increase risks to patient safety. Data was collected on adverse events...

Federal Health Care Reform — What Does it Mean for You?

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:00:00 +0100

In the wake of the recent federal health care regulations that went into effect on September 23rd, 2010, it's now more critical than ever to make sure that client health care information is distributed clearly and in a timely fashion.

As more people become eligible for health care under the new laws, health care organizations and insurance providers will find that they are faced with greater challenges regarding language access. And as these reforms become part of our ...

Cross-Cultural Health Care: Caring in All Languages

Julianne — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Our friend, Carolyn Wang Kong, MPH, MPP, Practice Leader, Language Access, Northern California Diversity, Kaiser Permanente, will be participating in a noon-time panel presentation on September 24th at the Commonwealth Club of California.

The topic of discussion is Cross-Cultural Health Care: Caring in All Languages. The event will address how doctors and patients can overcome the language barriers to enable and enhance access to health care. Come hear how technology is helping d...

Moving Language Access Forward: Follow Up from CPEHN Event

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Avantpage just returned from the CPEHN conference in Los Angeles. The theme was one of celebration--a look back, celebrate accomplishments and look forward to continuing challenges and what can be done. The event was sponsored by the California Endowment.

The conference was attended by many different organizations from across the U.S.: community-centered groups and other not-for-profits, to publically held companies and federal government agencies.

Ellen Wu, CPEH...

CPEHN Event: Building Quality and Equitable Health Care Systems

Julianne — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Avantpage is pleased to join the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN), a multicultural health advocacy organization, at their event next week: Building Quality and Equitable Health Care Systems.

Sponsored by The California Endowment, this convening is an important opportunity to celebrate and share with one another our advances in eliminating health disparities through language access, cultural competency, and workforce diversity, and to work together to move the fiel...

Thoughts on Machine Translation

Luis Miguel — Mon, 17 May 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Being a technologist myself, I always look to the advances our scientists and engineers make with awe and wonder. As a society, we owe much to them.

I also know better than to give absolutes like "Machine translation will never replace human translators". Human capacity and ingenuity knows no bounds as of yet.

That said, we need to remember that as we apply machine translation to medical information, there are legal implications and, most importantly, the basis...

Use of Personal Health Records Growing; More Translation Will Be Needed

Luis Miguel — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:00:00 +0100

This week I read an engaging and informative survey report released by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) detailing Americans' usage of personal health records, or PHRs.

What's a PHR?

According to the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), a PHR is "a tool that you can use to collect, track and share past and current information about your health or the health of someone in your care." A personal health record is different from a medi...

The ROI of Language Assistance: How It Pays to Communicate in Your Patients’ Language

Julianne — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Research shows that the per-patient costs of Language Assistance are low, while providing services in a culturally and linguistically appropriate (CLAS) manner leads to better patient outcomes and significantly lower costs to the system.

With minorities providing most of the growth in California's population today and in the future, offering CLAS is a key factor in growing your patient base. Avantpage offers quality language access solutions at the government, insurer, provid...

10 Best Practices for Translation

Julianne — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Whether your company is in need of translation services for the first time or you have years of experience, it's always good to review best practices.

These 10 tips can help your business navigate the process of obtaining, coordinating, and evaluating translation services. Because Avantpage realizes how important it is to get things right from the beginning.

1) Be an educated translation consumer. When it comes to selecting a Language Services Provider (LSP) y...

What is an Attestation?

Julianne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0100

Translation attestation is an important regulatory requirement for Federal Medicare and California Language Assistance programs (Executive Order 13166, California Code of Regulations sections 1300.67.8 and 1304.67.04, and California Insurance Code sections 82538.1 to 82538.8).

An attestation is the equivalent to a notarized certification; it simply corroborates or authenticates the facts detailed. It's not a guarantee of quality. The actual translation must be performed ...

With New Regulations Looming, Avantpage Translations Releases Report on Translation For Pharmacies

Julianne — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:00:00 +0100

Today Avantpage Translations released a special report called "Translation Law and The Pharmacy: Protecting The Consumer's Right To Understand."

Healthcare providers, insurers, and managed care organizations have already changed the way they interact with limited-English proficient (LEP) clients. With recently settled lawsuits in New York and upcoming changes in enforcement in California, the new focus is on pharmacies. How can pharmacies meet the new translation requirements...

5 Reasons to Reach Out to the Latino and Asian Health Care Markets

Julianne — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0100

Recent changes in state regulations have forced health care providers, insurers, and managed care organizations to take a hard look at the way they interact with limited-English proficient (LEP) clients, primarily those of Latino and Asian heritage. The question for the health care industry has now changed: Instead of "Do I accommodate the LEP market?" we are asking, "How do I get my share of this market, and how do I keep it?"

What happens when businesses have a cho...

Medical Tourism and the American Hospital

Julianne — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Despite the proclamations by some that United States health care leaves much to be desired, the U.S. is the destination of choice for hundreds of thousands choosing to leave their countries for medical procedures each year.

According to one study, in 2008, 3.5% of inpatient procedures in the U.S. were performed on international patients. In response to the linguistic challenges that such tourism presents, Avantpage Translations recently released Part I a special report called "Med...

Don’t Let Medical Records Get Lost In Translation

Julianne — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Medical tourism is a hot healthcare trend, with hundreds of thousands of people choosing to leave their countries for medical procedures each year. It's even the subject of the newest thriller by Robin Cook, Foreign Body. According to some projections, up to six million Americans will journey overseas for medical procedures in 2010. In response to the linguistic challenges that such tourism (both inbound and outbound) presents, Avantpage Translations recently released a special report called &qu...

Avantpage Translations Releases White Paper

Julianne — Thu, 28 May 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Avantpage Translations recently released a new white paper, One Body, Many Voices: Claiming the Fastest-Growing Healthcare Market in America.

The complete white paper can be downloaded from http://www.avantpage.com/Contact/download-brochure.html.

Recent changes in state regulations have forced healthcare providers, insurers, and managed care organizations to take a hard look at the way they interact with limited-English proficient (LEP) clients. The question for ...