Healthcare Facilities

Personalized Experiences Foster Positive Experiences

The future of healthcare revolves around creating positive experiences for healthcare consumers. Today, more than ever, patients are consumers. They research options online, shop for quality of care at reasonable costs, and leave reviews. To earn healthcare consumer loyalty, you must focus on patient experience. Communication – keeping your patients engaged and involved in their own health outcomes – is key to fostering positive patient experience. For your diverse populations, this means ensuring access to information in a way that respects language and culture.

Creating a Dialogue

Diverse patient populations interact with your staff on many levels. From reception through treatment and aftercare, your dialogue with your patients and their advocates and caregivers paves the pathway to wellness. This dialogue occurs in and out of the treatment room. Communication happens:

• In-person: at check-in, with the medical staff, in the testing lab, with the finance office, at check-out, and more.
• Over-the-phone: to schedule, reschedule and cancel appointments, answer questions, provide test results, arrange payment, and beyond.
• Electronically: through email and text and patient portals to gather information, schedule, reschedule and cancel appointments, deliver test results, answer questions, provide education, and handle billing.
• Online: through your website to offer information about your staff, locations, and services, and to provide patient education through documents, videos, and more.
• On paper: for direct communication by mail, for patient education through informational pamphlets and brochures, for individualized instruction on preventative care, treatments, and procedures, to provide legal notices, and to get informed consent.

Confidentiality and Security

Creating a dialogue with your diverse patient population comes with the added challenge of ensuring confidentiality. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and its related statutes and regulations bind you to maintain the privacy and security of your patients’ Protected Health Information (PHI). This means ensuring secured storage for medical records stored on paper or electronically, as well as secured communication channels. If you host medical tourists, you have the added pressure of complying with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The GDPR regulates the use and storage of personal data about individuals located in the European Union (EU). For medical tourism, collecting data such as medical records prior to the medical tourist’s trip to the U.S. falls within the purview of the GDPR.

Language Solutions for Healthcare Facilities

Vocalink Global is your language solutions partner. From compliance-trained linguists to HIPAA- and GDPR-compliant systems, we supply the tools and resources you need to effectively communicate with your diverse patient population.