The “skinny” on professional interpreting in healthcare
“Qualified medical interpreters play a role in reducing health care costs… Patients with limited English proficiency who communicate through interpreters have a 1.5-day shorter length of stay in the hospital, on average, than patients who do not.” 2
In 2015, the Center for Disease Control estimated that there were 140 million ED visits throughout the United States, resulting in 12 million hospital admissions. That same year, there were over 125 million outpatient hospital visits.
When we apply these numbers to the LEP population, there were potentially 11 million LEP patient ED visits that year resulting in 100,000 admissions, and 10 million LEP outpatient visits – did someone say communication gap?
Yes, we did
According to the US Census Bureau, there are approximately 26 million US residents who speak English less than very well. These individuals account for 8 percent of the current US population but this percentage is projected to grow to 19 percent by 2050.
This challenge however, is certainly not exclusive to the United States. The world’s countries are becoming increasingly more diverse, creating very similar communication gap challenges for healthcare facilities worldwide.
