Background
As the population of Asian Americans continues to rise, it is increasingly important to address specific health concerns within their communities. Many Asian Americans live at or below the federal poverty level. They face significant health issues, an excess burden of disease, and often lack health insurance. Cultural and linguistic barriers continue to prevent them from accessing quality health services consistently. Asian Americans with limited English proficiency are unable to communicate effectively, which can result in faulty diagnoses, poor follow-up care, and deficient health-status outcomes.
About the Patient Navigator Program (PNP)
The Asian American Health Initiative (AAHI) in partnership with Cross Cultural InfoTech (CC InfoTech), developed the Patient Navigator Program (PNP) to provide information about accessibility and availability of health services within Montgomery County. The Patient Navigator Program addresses the issue of health disparities with a particular focus on impacting disparities of health outcomes in the County’s Asian American population. This Program helps patients make their way through the healthcare system by providing access and identifying resources for Asian Americans diverse backgrounds, whose socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency, or payment status (uninsured / underinsured) may be a potential barrier to care.
Asian Americans facing health care challenges will find an invaluable partner in the Patient Navigator Program. As part of this program, Multi-lingual information specialists or “Patient Navigators”, who are also certified medical interpreters, will bridge the cultural and linguistic divide by helping with navigation through the health services available in Montgomery County. The Patient Navigators are:
- A respected source of information among people in their targeted communities
- Able to interpret the medical culture to those who are unfamiliar with it
- Sensitive and compassionate about the concerns and potential fears of patients
- Knowledgeable about the County’s health care system
- Skilled at communicating with health care providers and institutions
The Patient Navigator Program ensures that community members are closely guided through the process to ensure the quality of patient care, increased patient satisfaction, and improved health status outcome. The program’s unique feature lies in assigning the Patient Navigators to community members that speak the same language and have a similar cultural background. People needing health care want to know someone in their own community is there to help them, and a program like this makes that possible.
Services Offered by the Patient Navigator Program
The Patient Navigator Program consists of two main services:
- Multi-lingual Health Information and Referral Telephone Line
The Multi-lingual Health Information and Referral Telephone Line component is staffed with multi-lingual interpreters who are able to provide general health information and also inform and navigate callers to the proper health services in the County.
The services provided by the Multi-lingual telephone line include, but are not limited to:
- Helping callers navigate Montgomery County health resources
- Helping callers gain access to disease prevention screening programs
- Providing information and referrals to county health services
- Assisting with interpretation needs over the phone
- Disseminating information about health service options available to eligible community members
- Trained Multi-lingual Medical Interpreters
Trained Multi-lingual Medical interpreters will assist low income uninsured clients through medical appointments made through the Multi-lingual Health Information and Referral Telephone Line at various County medical clinics. The interpreters will empower patients with the information they need to understand their diagnosis and treatment options, communicate with doctors, ask the right questions and to find the answers they need.
The services provided by the Multi-lingual medical interpreters include, but are not limited to:
- Helping Asian Americans overcome communication barriers by assisting them with scheduling appointments at county safety net clinics (for eligible low income and/or uninsured Montgomery County residents)
- Providing on-site, face-to-face medical interpretation during appointments
- Assisting with translating patient education materials, patient registration, make follow- up appointments, and explain medical procedures as needed
We speak your language
Information Specialists are available in Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Vietnamese and other Asian languages.
To speak to an Information Specialist in your language, Please Call:
(Local) 301-760-4993
(Toll Free) 1-866-403-1566
Or Send Email To: PatientNavigator@ccinfotech.com
