Cost Effectiveness of Language Services in Hospital Emergency Departments (EDs)

Mathematica Policy Research

Status: Completed

Conditions: Language Discordance

Treatments: Behavioral: Professional medical interpreter

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01041014

55879RWJF

Details and patient eligibility

About

Numerous studies suggest that the use of in-person, professionally trained medical interpreters can reduce health care costs associated with diagnosing and treating patients with limited English proficiency. However, few studies have specifically addressed the question of the cost-effectiveness of language services in health care settings. This study used a randomized controlled study design to compare the cost-effectiveness of using professional interpreters with Spanish-speaking patients seen in hospital emergency departments (EDs) versus using the usual language services available to these patients. The main goal of the study was to estimate the effect that professional interpreters have on resource utilization and patient/provider satisfaction in the ED compared to the language services usually offered in these settings. Our hypothesis was that use of trained interpreters would lead to more cost-effective provision of ED services.

Enrollment: 447 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• limited English proficient (LEP) Spanish-speaking patients
• adults aged 18 or older
• LEP parents of children seen in emergency departments

Exclusion criteria

• cognitively impaired, comatose, or traumatized patients
• healthy volunteers
• prisoners
• hospital employees

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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447 participants in 2 patient groups

Professional medical interpreter

Experimental group

Description:

Limited English proficient Spanish-speaking patients seen in the treatment arm were provided with the services of a professionally-trained medical interpreter to facilitate communication between the patient and emergency department staff

Treatment:

Behavioral: Professional medical interpreter

Control, Usual Language Services

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients randomized to the control arm receive the services of the emergency departments' usual language services (i.e., a telephone language line or ad hoc interpreters).