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

NCT01041014 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 447

Last updated 2015-10-01

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

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.

Conditions

  • Language Discordance

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Professional medical interpreter

All treatment interpreters were certified bilingual in Spanish and English and had completed (1) at least 40 hours of training in medical terminology, ethics, patient privacy, and basic interpreting skills; and (2) an online course in protection of human subjects.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

    collaborator OTHER

  • Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Robert Eisenstein, MD · University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

  • Ann D Bagchi, Ph.D. · Mathematica Policy Research

  • Stacy Dale, MPA · Mathematica Policy Research

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2008-10-31
Primary Completion
2009-04-30
Completion
2010-01-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01041014 on ClinicalTrials.gov