When it comes to health care, good communication saves lives every day. But what happens when patients don’t speak English in a US hospital? Studies show there is a high chance of costly and preventable medical errors unless hospitals are properly equipped to serve all their patients—and in the languages patients speak. That’s why hospitals across the nation have come to trust Responsive Translation’s range of hospital translation services and their expert medical linguists who make it happen.
The ability to provide patients with foreign-language access to health care in an effective, efficient and cost-effective manner is a growing concern for many hospitals, particularly in California, Texas, New York and Hawaii, where many non-English speakers live. Demand for hospital translators and local hospital translation services is expected to increase due to a combination of demographic trends and legal obligations.
Since 1990, there has been a marked rise in the number of limited English proficient (LEP) individuals in the United States. 25.1 million people, or 8% of the total US population, do not speak English very well, according to data from the US Census Bureau 2013 American Community Survey. This includes both native-born and foreign-born individuals.
Hospitals in the United States have a legal obligation to offer foreign-language access to limited English proficient patients. Hundreds of laws at the federal, state and local levels mandate hospitals provide health care to patients in their own language.
Responsive Translation helps hospitals extend their current offerings to make patient care and patient outcomes better for all foreign-language speakers.
We provide professional, confidential and HIPAA-compliant hospital translation services every day. Some of the patient forms and materials we translate include: patient brochures, patient handbooks, aftercare instructions, informed consent forms, medical records, denial letters and hospital communications. For three decades, we’ve been serving hospitals and health care providers throughout North America.
Responsive Translation’s experienced hospital translators and reviewers are medical specialists and subject matter experts, as well as native speakers of the target language. We apply rigorous quality assurance workflows to ensure the best translation possible every time.
However, our hospital translation services aren’t limited to written translation. We also recruit and provide qualified in-person medical interpreters as well as 24/7 medical interpretation via telephone in more than 200 languages and dialects.
If you would like more information about Responsive Translation’s hospital translators and range of hospital translation services, or receive a customized proposal, please contact us at 1-800-872-6752 or [email protected]. Hospital translation services are our specialty.