AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Enhancements to Interpreter Program Lead to Better Productivity for Interpreters, More Depression Screening, and Potential Reduction in Readmissions for Non-English–Speaking Patients

Enhancements to Interpreter Program Lead to Better Productivity for Interpreters, More Depression Screening, and Potential Reduction in Readmissions for Non-English–Speaking Patients

Snapshot
Summary
Cambridge Health Alliance enhanced its round-the-clock interpreter services program, which provides face to face interpreting in 60 languages through onsite staff, per diem staff, and agency interpreters and remote interpreting through a call center as well as external telephonic interpreting vendors, with access to 140 languages. Working as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Speaking Together collaborative, the Alliance tracks key indicators that gauge the quality of its interpreter services on an ongoing basis. Based on analyses of these data, along with the desire to harmonize its operations with the Institute of Medicine's Six Aims for Improvement, the Alliance made a number of enhancements to the program, including increasing the capacity of its telephone-based services, improving staff efficiency through use of a database and electronic dispatching system, and instituting linguistically appropriate depression screening for limited English proficiency patients. The program expansion has resulted in an increase in the percentage of time that interpreters spend interpreting and led to minimal wait times and few abandoned calls for patients seeking interpreters, as well as high rates of depression screening for limited English proficiency patients at East Cambridge Health Center. The program enhancements may also have the potential to reduce readmissions, although further study is needed.

See the Description of the Innovative Activity section for revised quality tracking measures and additional program components, the Results section for updated outcomes data, the Planning and Development section for further steps in the development process, and the Resources Used and Skills Needed section for updated staffing and cost information (updated September 2009).

Evidence Rating
Suggestive: The evidence consists of post-implementation data and/or anecdotal reports on the percent of staff time spent interpreting, patient wait times, abandoned calls, and depression screening rates, as well as a small pilot comparison study of readmission rates among Cambridge Health Alliance patients.

Developing Organizations
Cambridge Health Alliance


Date First Implemented
2006

Patient Population
Race and Ethnicity > Asian; Hispanic/Latino-Latina; Vulnerable Populations > Immigrants; Mentally ill; Non-English speaking/limited English proficiency; Racial minorities; Urban populations


abrir aquí para acceder al documento AHRQ completo:
AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Enhancements to Interpreter Program Lead to Better Productivity for Interpreters, More Depression Screening, and Potential Reduction in Readmissions for Non-English–Speaking Patients