Health Services Research in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, USA.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2011 Oct;30(10):1930-8. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0667.
Language barriers in health care-a large and growing problem in the United States-contribute to disparities in health care quality and outcomes in populations with limited English proficiency. Providing access to adequate interpreter services has been shown to reduce health disparities in these populations. However, many health care organizations do not provide such services because of the perceived high cost. In this observational study we calculated the costs incurred by a group of California public hospitals that formed a network to make trained interpreters available via videoconference and telephone. We found that encounters in this network where interpreters helped patients and providers communicate lasted an average of 10.6 minutes and cost an average of $24.86 per encounter. Such costs should be weighed against the likely alternatives, such as the opportunity costs of having other hospital staff act as ad hoc interpreters; medical errors that could result from inadequate interpretation; and the fact that not providing such services may leave providers out of compliance with federal law. We also discuss ways in which providers could be compensated for providing interpreter services.
医疗保健中的语言障碍——这是美国一个日益严重的问题——导致英语水平有限的人群在医疗质量和结果方面存在差异。提供足够的口译服务已被证明可以减少这些人群的健康差异。然而，许多医疗保健组织由于认为成本高昂而不提供此类服务。在这项观察性研究中，我们计算了一组加利福尼亚州公立医院的成本，这些医院组成了一个网络，通过视频会议和电话提供经过培训的口译员。我们发现，在这个网络中，口译员帮助患者和提供者进行沟通的服务平均持续 10.6 分钟，每次服务的平均成本为 24.86 美元。这些成本应该与可能的替代方案进行权衡，例如让其他医院工作人员充当临时口译员的机会成本；口译不足可能导致的医疗错误；以及不提供此类服务可能导致提供者不符合联邦法律的事实。我们还讨论了提供者提供口译服务的补偿方式。
