Breaking Through Barriers: Why Call Centers Need Multilingual Texting
By Sean Roy
To improve efficiency, productivity, and ultimately performance, call centers serving healthcare organizations have increasingly embraced text messaging. Doing so is enabling them to reach patients more successfully and cost-effectively, and for good reason. Texting — and more specifically conversational two-way texting — reduces outbound calls, improves agent output, and allows patients to engage with communications on their own time.
But if your call center's text messages are only going out in English, you are likely missing a critical opportunity to effectively connect with a large and growing portion of the U.S. population.
Why Language Matters a Lot in Patient Communication
America is multilingual. More than 67 million U.S. residents speak a language other than English at home, and for many of them, English is not their preferred language for receiving healthcare instructions, guidance, and information. Yet many call centers are still communicating in a single language, often leading to misunderstandings, missed appointments, failed compliance, lost revenue, and lower patient and provider satisfaction.
This is where multilingual text messaging comes in. When call centers send texts in a patient's preferred language, they break down significant communication barriers that can stand in the way of effective care, adherence, trust, and relationship-building that increases engagement and loyalty. Multilingual messaging is no longer a nice-to-have. It's a strategic advantage that call centers need to remain viable and competitive while capitalizing on growth opportunities.
7 Reasons Multilingual Texting Strengthens the Patient Journey
Let's take a closer look at some of the key ways multilingual texting enhances the care experience.
1. Better understanding leads to better outcomes. Instructions are only helpful if patients can read and follow them. Multilingual texting better ensures patients accurately grasp what is being asked of them, covering what to do before, during, and after their appointment. With better understanding comes reduced errors and oversights as well as improved outcomes and experience.
Clearer understanding is also essential for organizations aiming to achieve improvements in areas like reducing readmissions, closing care gaps, boosting recall program performance, and increasing use of preventive services.
2. It encourages patient engagement. People are more likely to engage with those messages in their preferred language. Multilingual texts naturally see higher read and response rates, making it easier for patients to ask questions, confirm appointments and understanding of directions, and complete tasks required for successful care and other important issues like making payments.
3. It builds trust and satisfaction. Patients who receive care communications in their own language feel more respected and valued. This can lead to higher satisfaction scores, stronger loyalty, and better reviews and Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the provider organization.
4. It reduces costly miscommunication. Missed appointments, non-compliance with preparation instructions, and confusion around billing can all lead to revenue loss. Multilingual texting helps avoid these issues by ensuring patients know exactly what to expect and what's expected of them.
5. It aligns with health equity goals. Health systems and their partners are increasingly focused on health equity and strengthening access to services, in part to improve performance around value-based care and efforts to support large patient populations. Offering multilingual communication demonstrates a commitment to reducing and overcoming disparities and fosters greater access for all patient populations.
6. It enhances family and caregiver involvement. In many cultures, healthcare decisions are made collectively with family members. Multilingual texts make it easier for patients to share important information with loved ones or caregivers who may be assisting with decision-making as well as support in areas like transportation, medication, and recovery. Better communication translates to improved ongoing care coordination and adherence.
7. It supports compliance with regulations. Many healthcare organizations are required to provide language access services under laws like Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Multilingual texting helps call centers meet these requirements in a scalable, cost-effective way while also avoiding potential penalties tied to noncompliance.
How to Make Multilingual Texting Work for Your Call Center
The right texting platform will empower call centers to automate messages in multiple languages and tailor communications based on each patient's preferences. Whether it's Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, or any of the other common languages spoken in the United States, multilingual texting ensures that patients aren't left behind or feeling underappreciated because of a language barrier.
Two-way texting also makes it easy for patients to respond in their preferred language, giving them confidence to ask for help or clarification and take requested actions like making a payment, participating in a survey, and reviewing documentation. This improves both the patient experience and adherence while reducing call volume and agent workload.
Speak the Patient's Language — Literally
If you want to improve patient engagement, reduce no-shows, improve financial performance, and deliver a more inclusive experience, multilingual text messaging needs to be part of your call center's strategy. It's one of the simplest and most effective ways to show patients you see them, respect them, and are committed to their care — no matter what language they speak.
Sean Roy is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Dialog Health, a provider of a conversational, two-way texting platform that organizations use as a communication and engagement channel.