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

M

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)

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).

Trial contacts and locations

2

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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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