NPR, in this in-depth investigation, highlights the life-threatening risks that can result when interpreters aren’t provided to limited English-language proficiency patients. It also highlights the high costs to clinics and hospitals resulting from misdiagnoses and re-admissions.
The Language Banc is devoted to addressing these issues, day by day and case by case. We do this by providing the highest quality interpreters in over 100 languages, all of whom possess experience and training in clinical settings. In fact, The Language Banc was founded and has as its mission to work directly with care providers as an integral part of the care team to ensure that their practitioners and patients are able to communicate, thus reducing misunderstandings that can lead to misdiagnoses, improper care, and higher costs. In fact, NPR cites Minneapolis, where The Language Banc was founded and plays a critical role in patient outcomes, as a model of success.
The Language Banc’s goal is ambitious but simple: to eliminate language differences as a barrier to patient care.
Despite laws guaranteeing access to health care, non-English speakers in the U.S. often rely on family and friends as ad hoc interpreters — and may misunderstand what doctors think they're conveying.