Date: 10/19/2009
Final
Limited English Proficiency Report
HEALTH CARE TASK FORCE
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09:03 AM -- Limited English Proficiency Report
Dr. Louis Hampers, Section Chief, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, The Children's Hospital, Dr. Sandeep Wadhwa, Medical Director, Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and Francosie Mbabazi, Director, Colorado Progressive Coalition Health Justice introduced themselves and provided a brief introduction to their presentation. Ms. Mbabazi described the Colorado Progressive Coalition Health Justice and its members. She provided a report "Ensuring the Quality and Safety of Care for Limited English Proficient Patients in Colorado" to the committee (Attachment A). Ms. Mbaabzi described the report to the committee. Ms. Mbabazi stated that in situations of emergency, the need for a high level interpreter can be crucial in ensuring quality health care.
09:12 AM
Dr. Wadhwa spoke about the Health Disparities program in Colorado. He stated that approximately 40 percent of the clients in the Medicaid program are Hispanic. He described the consumer engagement group that addresses health disparities in Colorado. Dr. Hampers stated that The Children's Hospital took an internal study of the physicians and the results were quite interesting. He reported that about 19 of the residents reported that they speak Spanish fluently and about 32 residents reported that they avoid limited English proficient families. He stated that the hospital projected that the 19 residents who reported speaking Spanish fluently spent approximately 44 hours a week translating for limited English proficient families. Dr. Hampers spoke to the barriers of why some hospitals do not incorporate translators into the process including that interpreters slow the process down, a family member did not request an interpreter, and the treating physician is not reimbursed for the translation services provided. Dr. Hampers provided data on the cost differences between individuals who received no translator and the medical decisions which accompanied those individuals, versus individuals who spoke English and the accompanying medical decisions. He stated that the cost differences were quite high for individuals with language barriers. The data showed that when an interpreter was provided, there was about a 19 percent additional cost, but without any type of an interpreter, there was approximately a 34 percent additional cost.
09:28 AM
Dr. Hampers described how much time was spent by a physicians when an interpreter was used telephonicly versus an in-person interpreter. He stated that in the study that The Children's Hospital reported, that most physicians thought that telephonic interpretation would not be preferred by a family member. He stated that the report showed that many families did not have any preference regarding on-site or telephonic interpreters. Committee members asked several questions of the panel.