Many communities in the United States that use
languages other than English face language barriers when trying to access vital
health information. Health plans can strive to offer materials and services in
language that is accessible and culturally relevant to their members to
communicate accurate and timely information and promote COVID-19 vaccination.
L.A. Care, a health plan serving around two
million members in L.A. County, including 18,627 dually eligible individuals
and 1.1 million Medicaid beneficiaries, provides services to diverse
communities that are monolingual in a language other than English. L.A. Care
captures members’ preferred language during member outreach calls and tracks
their preference in an individualized member profile.
L.A. Care has a dedicated team working to make
all member-facing materials—including resources related to COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccinations—available
in the country’s 11 threshold languages (those spoken by 5% or more of the
Medicaid population).
·
Currently, L.A. Care’s website is
accessible in these languages via a “Select Language” button prominently featured
at the top of each page that instantly translates the page’s content into the
chosen language. L.A. Care resources include an educational video currently in
production about COVID-19 vaccination that will be available in English,
Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, and Khmer.
·
Additionally, L.A.
Care has started hosting regular Facebook Live events every four to six
weeks in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language (ASL). Each session is
marketed to members one week in advance via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
Twitter, the plan’s website, and member advisory committees. Prior topics have
included COVID-19 safety and the importance of flu vaccination to avoid a
“twindemic,” which garnered 4,000 and 825 viewers, respectively.
·
L.A. Care also
coordinated a Lunar New Year campaign with COVID-19 vaccine promotional
materials available in languages used by East Asian communities that
traditionally celebrate the holiday. This campaign included mail distribution
of face masks and flyers encouraging compliance with current Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines during a time when many Asian
Americans would normally gather in-person for the holiday.
Additionally, health plans should consider
adapting COVID-19 vaccination materials to meet the language needs of blind and
Deaf/Hard of Hearing members, as well as those of members with lower literacy.
This may include providing information in accessible formats such as sign
languages, plain language writing, captioned videos, transcripts of audio
materials, large print sizes, and Braille.[1] For example, L.A. Care is
offering all member materials, including those focused on COVID-19 vaccination,
in both large font and audio format to ensure that the language is accessible
to blind and low vision members. They notify members of these options via their
Evidence of Coverage (EOC), member newsletters, member mailings, and
their website. Additional resources for
communicating information about COVID-19 to people with disability can be found
in the CDC communication toolkit.
Additional resources to support communicating
essential COVID-19 information to communities who use languages other than
English include:
·
The CDC has developed
written materials in 34 languages. These resources include vaccine promotion
materials, community posters, flyers, fact sheets, and more and are available
free at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/print-resources.html?Sort=Date.
·
Additionally, the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health
has made COVID-19 resources and downloadable tools available on their website in eight different
languages. To learn more about what CMS is doing to support health plans and
providers in their effort to connect dually eligible individuals with COVID-19
vaccination, please see our blog post on the topic here.
[1] List of suggestions adapted from https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/acessibility-campaign
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