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Improving Access to and the Quality of Health Care for Limited English

Proficient Patients: Bringing Together Research, Interpreters, The Private

Sector, and Policy

Panel Organizer/Moderator: Glenn Flores, MDDirector, Center for the Advancement of Underserved Children

Department of Pediatrics

Medical College of Wisconsin & Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin

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Background Between 1990 and 2000

Number of people in US speaking a language other than English at home increased from 31.8 millionto 47 million

Number of Americans limited in English proficiency (LEP) rose from 14 million to 21.4 million

Projections indicate that by 2010 At least 69 million Americans will speak a language other than

English at home (a 47% increase) At least 28.4 million Americans will be LEP (a 33% increase)

5% of school-aged US children (4 million) are LEP An 150% increase since 1990

3Language Barriers andChildren’s Health and Healthcare

Many studies document that language problems profoundly impact multiple aspects of children’s health and healthcare

Access to care Health status Use of health services Patient-physician communication Satisfaction with care Outcomes Resource utilization

But despite federal requirements to provide interpreters to LEP patients and ample data on effectiveness of interpreters and bilingual providers, about half of LEP patients fail to get interpreters, and 80% of states do not have 3rd-party payer reimbursement for interpreter services

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Session Overview Purpose of today’s session: examine mechanisms for improving access

to and quality of healthcare for LEP patients by bringing together research, interpreters, the private sector, and policy

Experts from each of these 4 fields will examine following topics: Research: Lou Hampers, MD, MBA, Medical Director of the ED

(Children’s Hospital, Denver) Medical Interpreters: Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, Manager of Minority

Community Relations and Interpreter Services (University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics)

Private Sector: Michael Greenbaum, CEO (CyraCom International)

Policy: Steve Hitov, Staff Attorney (National Health Law Program) 4 presentations will be followed by 5 minutes of questions/discussion,

with an additional 10-minute discussion period at session’s end

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Presentations by Panelists