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Middletown schools blend over-the-phone, video, and face-to-face interpreting, as well as translation, to drive new levels of understanding between students, parents, and educators.

Middletown City School District (New York) places great value on diversity. Appreciating the eclectic nature of its student body is an active area of focus that sets the district apart nationally. As you’ll read in our new case study, Middletown goes far beyond minimum compliance requirements in an effort to level the academic playing field for English language learners (ELLs).

It’s no secret that our world is increasingly becoming more digitized. Where we once had customer service agents, we now have apps. Where there were retail outlets, we now have online platforms and overnight delivery. “Bites” have become “bytes,” as even fast food can be ordered with your smartphone.

Some personal interactions remain intact, however. Think of the person who walks into a branch location to set up a utility service or open a bank account. There are also times when utility providers or other service people must come to our homes to check a meter, make a repair, or deliver an item.

Overcoming language barriers during these face-to-face interactions frequently presents a challenge, which often leads to frustration for multicultural customers.

Suffolk County has an ambitious plan to better relations between the department and the Hispanic community

Of the nearly 1.5 million people living in Suffolk County, New York, nearly 13 percent speak Spanish.

So what do you do if you’re the police chief in a community like this one? If you’re Suffolk Police Chief of Department Stuart Cameron, you learn Spanish.

One in five of our neighbors here in the United States speaks a language other than English at home. That’s more than 65 million people—25 million of whom say they speak English less than well. Another 10.6 million Americans are deaf or hard of hearing.

Multicultural patients face multiple barriers to receiving care for depression such as scant referral options.

A Virginia-based health center's quality improvement project was able to significantly improve depression care for a vulnerable multicultural population, research shows.

Annual societal costs associated with depression are estimated at $210 billion, and depression is the top cause of disability globally. For minority, immigrant, or refugee patients, cultural factors often impede depression treatment.

"Improving depression screening should lead to measurable outcomes for those who screen positive, including referral to mental health specialists, prescription of appropriate medications, and perhaps most importantly, scheduling of follow-up appointments to monitor signs and symptoms of depression," said Ann Schaeffer of the Harrisonburg Community Health Center.

"There are multiple barriers. These include clinics not prepared with screening tools in multiple languages; providers not culturally aware of the stigma attached to depression; lack of provider confidence in client engagement; and few referral options for multicultural populations."

More organizations are recognizing the power of video remote interpreting to connect with customers instantly, providing the benefits of face-to-face interaction at a fraction of the cost.

Each year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) conduct a Call Center Monitoring Study.

CMS performs the study between February and June by placing calls to Medicare Part C and D call centers to - among other thing - evaluate performance in assisting Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Deaf and Hard of Hearing callers.

A portion of the study measures the availability of an interpreter, as well as the accuracy of information provided by the customer-service agent. This portion is called the Accuracy and Accessibility Study.

There are massive financial and marketing implications to the CMS study, as plans earning four and five stars stand to net additional dollars in Quality Bonus Payments, as well as valuable opportunities to shop their plans. (Five-star plans are afforded the opportunity to enroll members throughout the year.)

Given these high stakes, it’s only natural that misconceptions would emerge as plans aim for the highest score possible.

Below are three misconceptions that we hear most often. We’ve researched each of these suppositions and are glad to explain the reality behind each of them.

The increasingly competitive healthcare market is facing the problem of balancing the need to deliver good clinical outcomes with demands for patient satisfaction. Patients and families are increasingly taking the initiative in steering their healthcare experiences.

A five-star rating could equal millions of dollars in bonus payments. We invite you to download our Guide to the 2019 CMS Call Center Monitoring Study to better understand CMS requirements and their impact on your organization.

The 2019 Call Center Monitoring Study, which is conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will launch in a few weeks. The impact of this process is profound.  Is your call center ready?

CMS carries out this study every year beginning in February. The study impacts quality ratings for Medicare Part C and D plans.

Based on their assessment and other factors, contact centers will be awarded a rating of 1 to 5 stars. This rating has a direct impact on how much money plans are reimbursed by Medicare and impacts a plan’s ability to attract and retain members.