Delta Dental/DeltaVision: Responsibilities in Language Program

California law requires Delta Dental and DeltaVision (Delta Dental) to have a language assistance program (LAP) to support the language assistance needs of Delta Dental’s limited-English proficient member population. The law also requires Delta Dental to notify contracted providers of their obligations.

As a Delta Dental contracted provider, your obligations under the program include:

1. Informing patients covered by Delta Dental about our LAP services, including:
   • The patient’s right to language assistance services free of charge
   • That the use of services is preferable to using family or friends
   • Grievance forms and procedures are available upon request from Delta Dental
   • Information is also available from the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC).
2. Informing patients, when an appointment is scheduled or at any time the need for interpretive services becomes apparent, of the availability of interpretive services.
3. Contacting Delta Dental to coordinate requests for interpretation assistance with scheduled appointments.
4. Informing Delta Dental of any patients who need assistance and in which language.
    

Arranging for interpretive services:

Delta Dental believes that clear and accurate health information is essential to the delivery of quality health care. Interpretation through a trained and certified interpreter is preferable to interpretation through friends or family. If you discover a language barrier, call Delta Dental. To help assure the highest quality patient care, Delta Dental will arrange for a qualified interpreter to help you communicate with your patient, in any language/dialect at no cost.

Provider and/or office staff are not prohibited from speaking with limited-English proficient patients in their preferred languages. However, you are encouraged to call Delta Dental first.

• Delta Dental telephone numbers for interpretive services:
  • State Government Programs: 800-838-4337
  • Delta Dental Premier®/Delta Dental PPO™: 800-765-6003
  • DeltaCare® USA: 800-422-4234
  • DeltaVision®: 866-774-5595 (providers) or 800-422-4234 (members)
  • TTY 711

Delta Dental can also arrange interpretive services at your office location. To arrange for face-to-face interpretive services, call Delta Dental’s Customer Service department 72 hours in advance of the appointment time.
 

Grievances:

Grievance forms and procedures are available for distribution to your patients upon request. Our grievance procedures and forms are available in English, Spanish and Chinese for you to distribute to your patients.

DMHC informational notices are available in non-English languages from the DMHC website or by U.S. mail:

DMHC
Attn: HMO Help Notices
980 9th Street, Suite 500
Sacramento, CA  95814

These notices explain how your patients may contact their plan, file a complaint with their plan, obtain assistance from the DMHC and seek an independent medical review.
 

Provider network office directory:

Delta Dental's online provider directory includes information about the languages spoken at provider offices. You are encouraged to self-report languages spoken in the office; however, Delta Dental does not certify your proficiency in reported languages.
 

Provider audits:

As part of Delta Dental’s quality assurance program, we will validate your office’s self-reported languages. This ensures the accuracy of the online provider directory.
 

Demographic profile data:

We document patient demographic profiles via ongoing survey and assessment efforts, as well as by collecting information at routine points of contact. We will share this information with you upon request.
 

Communication:

Delta Dental will communicate with you regularly to ensure that:

• You are aware of Delta Dental’s LAP
• You know how to arrange for language assistance services
• You understand that we’ll provide language assistance services at no charge

We’re committed to providing timely and effective language assistance services to ensure delivery of the highest quality dental benefits. We appreciate your cooperation and support in fulfilling the needs of our members who have limited proficiency in English.