Serving Members Better by Speaking Their Language
Date: 01/13/23
Treating the whole patient - not only their conditions - is a major component of delivering quality healthcare. Sunflower Health Plan offers you information and tools to help make that possible.
Member Demographics and Our Members
To meet the needs of its ever growing culturally diverse membership, Sunflower Health Plan offers a language assistance program (LAP) to its members. This report summarizes Sunflower Health Plan’s language assistance programs for its Medicaid line of business for calendar year 2021. The data represented are results of the 2021 LAP analysis.
The following table reveals the top 15 language interpretation requests for Sunflower Health Plan members. The top 15 requests for language interpretation assistance totaled 4,108 requests, and the top language interpretation request, by far, was for Spanish (83.7%). Requests for other languages amounted to fewer than 115 per language throughout the year. There were 112 requests for Burmese interpretation services (2.6%) and 105 for Nepali (2.5%).
Table 5: Top 15 Language Interpretation Requests
| Language | # of Phone Requests | % of Phone Requests |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | 3,558 | 83.70% |
| Burmese | 112 | 2.60% |
| Nepali | 105 | 2.50% |
| Vietnamese | 85 | 2.00% |
| Arabic | 62 | 1.50% |
| Swahili | 57 | 1.30% |
| Kinya/Rwanda | 42 | 1.00% |
| Rohingya | 41 | 1.00% |
| Mandarin | 23 | 0.50% |
| Somali | 23 | 0.50% |
| Russian | 19 | 0.40% |
| Oromo (Ethiopia) | 19 | 0.40% |
| Karen | 15 | 0.40% |
| Karenni | 9 | 0.20% |
| Hindi | 8 | 0.20% |
| Total | 4,108 | - |
Accessing an Interpreter for Sunflower Health Plan Members in Your Office
To request an on-demand telephonic interpreter, please call 1-877-644-4623 (TTY 711) and provide your patient’s Member ID number. Not sure of your patient’s language? Visit our Language Assistance web page. Have the member point to their language. If it’s not listed, you can work with the interpreter service to identify the right language. You may also find out a patient's language by logging on to our provider portal and downloading your Patient List or by contacting Customer Service at 877-644-4623.
We recommend using the speakerphone function for communication efficiency between you, your patient and the interpreter.
All participating Sunflower Health Plan providers are required to comply with certain interpreter requirements.
- Providers must ensure that bilingual staff who act as interpreters are qualified and meet the quality standards, which includes documentation that the staff member’s proficiency was assessed.
- Patients can never be required to bring their own interpreters.
- Minors may not interpret, even if their parent or other relative consents, unless there is an emergency and there is not a qualified interpreter immediately available.
- An accompanying adult may interpret if the patient agrees and if it is appropriate to the situation.
Providers who use bilingual staff to communicate with patients must ensure that bilingual staff can interpret effectively, accurately and to and from the language of the patient and English, using any necessary specialized vocabulary terminology and phraseology.
Providers are strongly encouraged to document in the medical record the use of family, friends and minors as interpreters. If an interpreter is offered and the patient declines, the provider should also document this in the medical record.
Reach out to your provider relations specialist with Sunflower Health Plan to learn more about these requirements and how you can use them to make your relationship with your patients stronger and more effective.
Sunflower Offers Interpreter/Translation Services
Sunflower Health Plan is committed to ensuring that staff, providers and subcontractors receive education about, remain aware of and are sensitive to the linguistic needs and cultural differences of its members. To meet this need, Sunflower commits to the following:
- Having trained professional interpreters available on site or via telephone to assist providers with discussing technical, medical or treatment information with members as needed.
- Providing language line services that will be available at all times in multiple languages to assist providers and members in communicating with each other when there are no other translators available for the language.
- In-person interpreter services are made available when Sunflower is notified in advance of the member’s scheduled appointment in order to allow for a more positive encounter between the member and provider. Telephonic services are available for those encounters involving urgent/emergent situations, as well as nonurgent/emergent appointments, as requested.
- Providing TTY access for members, as needed.
- Sunflower’s medical advice line provides 24-hour access, seven days a week, for interpretation of Spanish or the coordination of non-English/Spanish needs via the language line.
- Providing or making available Customer Service and health-education materials in alternative formats, such as audio tapes or language translation, to meet the needs of the members. All alternative methods must be requested by the member or designee.
Providers must call Customer Service at 1-877-644-4623 (TTY 711) if interpreter services are needed. Please have the member’s ID number, date/time service is requested and any other documentation that would be needed to schedule interpreter services.
Thank you for partnering with us to meet the culturally linguistic needs of our members, and please let us know if we can do anything to improve our services to you.
The Provider News page of the Sunflower website is updated frequently to include important provider information. Please check regularly for updates.
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