Encounters Online Magazine
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11
T
he role of the language services provider in the healthcare setting is
to assist the medical practice achieve superior health outcomes for
the non-English speaking patients. Through research we have found
ways that go beyond the exam room setting to assist in achieving such goal.
It is the intent of this paper to share one of those ways and the results of our
study at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
We have developed and tested a cloud based solution to improve
administration and physician efficiency for patient services at the point of
medical intake. Our solution benefits physician practices treating both English
(1 billion per year) and non-English (60 million per year) speaking patients.
Further expanding the role of the language service provider to the intake
process before the patient sees the physician.
Intake forms often have questions that require free text responses such as
“What is the reason for your visit” or “previous medical history” questions. By
being prepared to answer these free text questions in real time with a call
center type format, language services companies can increase revenue and
provide a value added service to their medical customers.
The chosen study site was the Urology Deparment at the Feinberg School
of Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. An electronic
intake capability was set up (including just-in-time translations) to measure
the impact of using the technology to deliver superior value for English and
non-English (LEP) speaking patients. The study included 100 patients with
15% LEP.
The study was designed to measure the impact of the technology on
two relationships:
Provider and Patient
– Increase understanding of patient need in a timely
manner and coordinate services to meet those needs at lower cost.
Administration and Patient
– Improve the ability for the LEP patient to
negotiate the intake or registration process in an expedited manner and
improve the ability for the administration to use current workflow processes to
interact with the LEP patient and reduce extra costs in doing so.
The study revealed that non-English speakers were able to use the technology
with a 70% satisfaction rate and physicians were provided a greater degree
of information to treat patients more effectively. It also allowed physicians to
obtain crucial information before the exam and it enhanced the language
services offered during the exam. Our solution provided more information to
the physician than is usually provided in a common intake format. We had a
100% satisfaction rate from the LEP users of our system. These LEP individuals
usually had some assistance from family members when completing their
intake forms.
By RAY ARIAS, PRESIDENT, WORKFLOW HEALTH LLC
Just in Time Language Services at Intake
