Accessible Communication

Fostering Inclusive Care for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Patients

Effective communication lies at the heart of providing quality healthcare services. However, for the millions of Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, communication barriers in healthcare settings can lead to adverse consequences for their health and well-being. To bridge this gap, healthcare providers must proactively develop communication access plans to ensure effective communication with their deaf and hard-of-hearing patients. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of planning for effective communication, the steps involved in developing a communication access plan, and the significance of supporting this diverse patient population.

AWS customers can now deploy NexTalk in any call center environment to provide fully integrated TTY, RTT, and speech recognition solutions for Deaf and hard-of-hearing customers and agents.

Each year the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rate the performance of Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D plans through the CMS Five-Star Quality Rating System.

Contact Centers are required by federal law to service Deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers through TTY. For many companies, this means routing the call to 711 relay operators, which can jeopardize the customer experience. So today, we are diving into the advantages and disadvantages of managing direct TTY dial-in numbers. Here are some points to consider if you are considering implementing a customer-friendly TTY solution in your contact center through a direct-dial partner, like NexTalk.

Communication plays a vital role in our daily lives, yet we often overlook its importance. Unfortunately, people with hearing impairments face significant communication challenges, so the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates businesses to provide reasonable accommodations and equal access. This includes accessible communication for those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or non-English speaking.

A reliable SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) partner can make providing Direct Dial TTY (Teletypewriter) services easy by offering a comprehensive and user-friendly solution that simplifies the process of setting up, managing, and maintaining Direct Dial TTY services. Luckily for contact centers, creating a direct TTY connection is made easy by partners like NexTalk. NexTalk is a cloud-based accessible communication platform that provides contact centers with integrated TTY (Teletypewriter) services for Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. NexTalk works directly with contact center architects to implement secure TTY solutions and provide exceptional customer support to your Deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. Here are the reasons why NexTalk is the best solution. 

How a Saas Provider can help

On February 17, 2022, the FCC released a Public Notice seeking comment on an application filed by NexTalk, Inc., for certification to provide Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS) using fully automatic IP CTS.

NexTalk has submitted the application with the hopes of making AccessHome SpeechPath accessible to all hard-of-hearing individuals who need captions to communicate effectively and make it available at no cost to consumers under the government-reimbursable IP CTS program. 

Communications Dailycovered in full detail. 

As of May 2023, NexTalk is still awaiting comment and ruling from the FCC.