Two of the biggest nuts to crack in building the “hospital of the future” are the widespread nursing staff shortages and ensuring equitable access to healthcare. Pexip, a leading provider of video technology, and LanguageLine, a global leader in on-demand interpretation and translation services, are bringing their technology together to meet these pressing challenges.
Our joint solution is perhaps best understood through experience. Let’s imagine, for instance, being a patient in a modern care facility. In your room is a smart TV with a camera and microphone, giving you a constant connection to the staff. Your vitals are digitally fed to them, so caregivers are always up to date on your condition by simply looking at their video screen. Gone are the days of clipboards hanging on beds, and waiting hours in between check-ins.
Let’s throw a wrench in this scenario by imagining that you only speak Mandarin, and no one else in the hospital does. With your virtual health solution, you get live translation every time a staff member communicates with you via video. It gives you a better understanding of your health situation and more knowledge upon which to make decisions.
Sounds ideal, right? The good news is that this isn’t a scenario from a far-off, utopian future. It’s happening right now in hospitals across the U.S., where Pexip and LanguageLine have already teamed up with virtual health providers who’ve cracked the nut that is the future of healthcare. LanguageLine uses Pexip’s video platform to power on-demand interpretation across 240 languages.
What makes Pexip and LanguageLine’s solution especially relevant today is our ability to support healthcare systems in ensuring equitable access to care, as mandated by Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. This act emphasizes the need for healthcare providers to offer language access, ensuring that no patient is left behind due to a language barrier. Together, we are able to directly address these requirements by seamlessly incorporating interpreters into telehealth sessions.
“Virtual, video-based healthcare is solving some major challenges in the health industry,” LanguageLine President and CEO Simon Yoxon-Grant said. “It’s a solution that scales the nursing staff in a better way, creating greater efficiency and the ability to manage more patients even with staff constraints.”
“On top of this, we’re also enabling more equity in health care by ensuring that no one struggles due to lack of language access. What we see as a result are better patient outcomes and experiences.”
Pexip and LanguageLine’s collaboration is an important step toward creating a healthcare system that works for all, regardless of language or location. As the health industry evolves, so will the tools that support it, ensuring that patients get the care they deserve no matter the languages they speak, or the staffing issues the hospitals face.