Reimagining the Language and Translation Space for Patients

For most Americans, receiving information from a medical provider is relatively straightforward. While understanding the finer details may be challenging in any language, English speakers are generally assured of always receiving guidance in their language of choice. The same cannot be said for the nation’s estimated 68 million limited English proficiency (LEP) individuals, as well as the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, which are expected to represent 19% of the population by 2050. For this segment of society, access to language support is often sporadic or not provided at all.

Indeed, an American Medical Association study found that 43% of non-native speakers who were hospitalized communicated without an interpreter during admissions and 40% lacked linguistics support after admission. 

Setting a dangerous precedence

Lack of adequate translation and interpreting services isn’t just an inconvenience, it is dangerous and potentially life-threatening. The National Institutes of Health found that language barriers lead to miscommunication between clinicians and patients, impacting patient satisfaction, quality of healthcare delivery, and patient safety. Not surprisingly, studies show that patients who face language barriers have poorer health outcomes compared to those who speak the local language. 

Provisions in Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act helped to level the playing field for LEP patients, backed up more recently by Section 1557, which makes it unlawful for health care providers, including doctors’ practices and hospitals that receive Federal financial assistance, to refuse to treat — or to otherwise discriminate against — an individual on the basis on their race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. These laws require that the LEP population be afforded a meaningful opportunity to participate in programs that receive federal funds, which includes services from healthcare providers that accept government reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare. 

While some providers may perceive the government mandates as yet another legal obligation, the importance of successful communication between patient and provider is well accepted. Following a review of 21 studies, 16 reported positive results from the quality of communication both in the history-taking segment of the visit and discussion of the management plan, which was found to influence patient health outcomes. 

Without question, effective communication is mutually beneficial for all, helping to foster: 

• Greater trust between patients, families and caregivers
• An increase in health literacy
• Better outcomes and increased participation in care (medication adherence, lifestyle changes, etc.)
• Improved empathy, sensitivity and cultural awareness by providers
• Reduced errors and ongoing error reduction

Covering all touchpoints

To truly solve the language access dilemma, LEP patients need coverage across all touchpoints in their health journey, which includes pre-service, service and post-service interactions. However, managing the sheer volume of interactions patients encounter when navigating today’s highly complex healthcare ecosystem, especially if they suffer from a chronic condition, can be daunting – and costly. Studies have found that providing an interpreter costs healthcare facilities roughly $279 per patient per year. 

Given the shortage of live interpreters, it is both impractical and cost-prohibitive to provide live interpreting (either in-person, phone or telehealth) for every patient need that arises. To level up linguistics’ quality and availability, the industry is rightly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) as a cost-effective way to help fill the gaps, especially when conveying non-critical information like appointment updates, medication refills, etc. On average, according to the Slator 2024 Interpreting Technology and AI Report, machine translation costs around $0.10 per word, compared to $0.22 for human translation. 

AI is also expected to be a game changer for live interpreters, both as an essential work tool to help reduce human errors related to terminology, coding and more, and in training, accelerating time to certification. For administrators, AI can provide valuable insights on non-English-speaking populations, helping organizations to better meet the needs of linguistically challenged patients in specific markets.

When re-imagining the language and interpretation space with AI, patients, providers and interpreters can expect to see:

• Greater use of AI-assisted translation and interpreting platforms as essential work and training tools
• Increased use of live interpreting via telehealth or onsite, with AI monitoring accuracy and quality of conversations 
• AI-enabled apps for providers and patients to access linguistics services on demand, whenever and wherever they need it
• AI-assisted interpretation with real-time feedback for reporting
• Greater personalization via AI to address social determinants of health (SDoH) and improve health literacy
• Auto translation for care instructions, texts and other alerts, reducing administrative tasks
• Integration of AI-assisted linguistic platforms with major systems (Epic®, Zoom, Alexa, Teladoc, etc.) for a turnkey software and human solution 

Improving the patient experience

Ultimately, AI-enabled language solutions are expected to preserve and improve human contact and relationships, turning natural language questions into natural language AI responses, delivered in a supportive, non-threatening manner. While there are valid concerns involving errors and bias, often due to limited historical data, these issues are expected to auto self-correct as the industry matures and AI datasets grow and become more accurate. 

There is little doubt that an automated, culturally aware language service will improve the physical reach and capabilities of care teams, with AI helping to identify mistranslations and cultural confusion. Data garnered from AI engagements are also expected to expand patient pools, including for drug trials, enabling almost any healthcare organization to provide comfortable, trustworthy communications that overcomes language barriers. 

Photo: gesrey, Getty Images

This post appears through the MedCity Influencers program. Anyone can publish their perspective on business and innovation in healthcare on MedCity News through MedCity Influencers. Click here to find out how.