Clarivita is pleased to announce new offerings for healthcare facilities: Bi-Lingual Employee Fluency Assessments and Interpreter Training.
Recent federal regulations under the Affordable Care Act / Section 1557 are mandating healthcare facilities that accept federally funded coverage such as Medicare, Medicaid and marketplace insurance plans, to provide meaningful language access to Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients who are native speakers of the top 15 most common non-English languages in Florida.
“Meaningful language access” can come in several different forms, such as professional on-site, phone, or video interpreting services but it also includes utilizing a competent and qualified bi-lingual employee of the healthcare facility to interact with and/or interpret between the provider and the LEP patient … The “key words” are “competent and qualified”.
When healthcare disparities occur as a result of miscommunication involving an LEP patient, the consequences may be severe, as civil liabilities are not covered by medical malpractice insurance.
To be considered competent and qualified, an interpreter or bilingual employee has received training to understand and utilize protocols and skills that ensure accurate communication across language barriers in healthcare settings.
“We’re committed to helping our Healthcare Clients acquire both competent and economical compliance solutions for meaningful language access. Our fluency assessments and trainings are great examples of what I call high efficiency compliance. Since many providers rely on in-house employees to communicate with LEP patients, our assessments and trainings ensure that employees are professionally fluent, have a strong working knowledge of medical terminology, and apply important protocols to ensure accuracy, maximize patient satisfaction, and avoid disparities”.
Mara Cawthorn
Clarivita is happy to provide a complimentary Language Access Plan Consultation with Administrators who are working to ensure their facilities are compliant with the Federal Mandates.
ClariVita’s lead interpreter training specialist, Mara Cawthorn has been working in the industry for 20+ years. With a major in Legal Translation and Interpretation, and minoring in Technical, Literary and Journalistic Translation. Mara heads ClariVita’s vision to lead the language services industry by example through providing the highest quality of service and value to clients, utilizing the most advanced technologies and training systems, and continuing to uplift and support the need for standardized competencies for linguists serving in the Healthcare and Legal sectors. For more information, please contact us at 407-205-9494 or service@clarivita.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.
