Effective Communication in Health Care

Getting the Medical Information You Need

Doctors and other health care providers must be able to effectively communicate with their patients with hearing loss. It could be a matter of life and death for you or a family member.

Know your rights

1. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that doctors and other health care personnel provide reasonable accommodations to ensure effective communication.
2. You’re entitled to request an accommodation that enhances communication, which could be an assistive listening device, captioning, clear medical mask for speechreading, sign language interpreter or other accessibility solution.
3. Be specific about which communication method works for you and if possible, request accommodations several days before your appointment. Health care professionals should provide what you need unless it presents significant difficulty or expense.
4. All telehealth appointments via videoconferencing will require captioning by September 3, 2024, as part of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) interoperable video accessibility rule. Check before your appointment to ensure captions are available and report violations to the FCC after that date.

HLAA has a grassroots community access program working to promote communication access in health care.