HEALTHCARE TRANSLATION – LOCALIZATION OF HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS

The healthcare industry is one of the most lucrative ever. With the outbreak of the pandemic, a lot of attention was brought to this industry, where major changes have been taking place. For instance, the growth of digital health services like telehealth, the development of many health apps, the enhanced teamwork among health providers, the special emphasis on mental health and well-being, the increased demand for healthcare translation, etc.

Because of the global situation people found themselves in during the pandemic, the importance of medical insurance highly rose, and thus the necessity to localize health insurance materials. In this article, you will find information about Health Insurance localization requirements and the importance of quality healthcare translation.

Language: The Challenge of Healthcare Companies

The largest healthcare companies are global in nature, so language is a key factor to consider. Moreover, in countries like the USA where there is a Hispanic population of 62.5 million people, healthcare translation and localization becomes of paramount importance to guarantee good and easy access to health services.

Healthcare and Translation

As the medical industry requires the highest level of precision, there is little room for mistake in a sector where accuracy is critical. An error caused by inadequate translation can have serious repercussions and lead to legal actions or life-threatening situations.

In an area as essential as healthcare, companies must guarantee that translated information is optimal. This is why it is key that they hire a high-quality, professional translation company that is ready for the task.

Among the materials companies need to translate we find Health Insurance Plans. Because they include the costs and numbers related to coinsurance, deductibles, premiums, among other data, translators need to pay a lot of attention and be very precise so that prospective clients and members know what the costs are, what they have to pay for different treatments, etc.

Translation of Health Insurance Plans

Translating and localizing Health Insurance Plans presents its challenges. When localizing this type of materials, translation companies have to deal with the following issues:

• Volume: Health insurance plans are usually large files, so they entail large-volume translation projects.
• Updates: Every year, health insurance companies update all their plans for the coming year. Usually, they include many words to work with and they need to be managed and delivered to the client quickly to be available for the new plan year. When translation companies receive a project like this, they need to be prepared to work with a team that is ready for the task.
• Consistency: Also, when it comes to updates, consistency is very important. Firstly, the client usually requires that the new text are consistent with the translated content from previous years. Secondly, consistency is crucial because these types of texts are generally repetitive and they need to be consistent all throughout.
• Terminology: Health insurance plans comprise names of treatments, surgical procedures, drugs, and other care services covered which need to be accurately localized for the plan to convey the right information to the member or prospective client.
• Placeholders: Typically, health plan CAT files contain multiple placeholders that will be replaced with the corresponding costs, patient names, medical center names, etc. Because of this, translators have to be extremely careful and know what will substitute those placeholders and where they will be placed so that, once they are replaced, the text still makes sense.

Importance of the Localization of Health Insurance Plans

The translation and localization of Health Insurance Plans is of prime importance to guarantee patients access to clear and accurate information worldwide. As explained earlier, there are a number of issues and requirements to consider when working with this type of text. Both translators and localization companies have to be prepared with the specific knowledge and be able to manage the volumes required by the client within the set deadlines before engaging in the task.