BRIEFING EXAMINES COST & NEED OF MEDICAL INTERPRETATION SERVICES

Providing Medicaid Beneficiaries with Face-to-Face Medical Interpretation Services Would Cost the State $2.35 Million Annually

NEW BRITAIN – The State of Connecticut’s annual share of providing face-to-face medical interpretation services to Medicaid beneficiaries not proficient in English would total about $2.35 million, according to a new Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) report released today.

Co-author Ann Bagchi, a researcher from Princeton-based Mathematica Policy Research, will review the findings of the report, Estimates for the Cost of Interpretation Services for Connecticut Medicaid Recipients, and the accompanying 4-page policy brief, Seeking Solutions: Enhancing Health Care Delivery for People In Connecticut with Limited English Proficiency, during today’s educational briefing at 1:30 p.m. at The Lyceum, 227 Lawrence Street in Hartford (click here to view the report and here to view the policy brief.  Look under Publications to view the Spanish language versions).

Major findings include:

• More than 22,000 people with limited English proficiency (LEP) were enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program in 2003 and used about 5 percent of the program’s health services. 
• Sixty-five different languages are spoken by these low-income residents with LEP, about half of whom are Spanish speaking.
• About three-quarters of these Medicaid beneficiaries receive coverage through managed care.  Although managed care already pays for medical interpretation services, the study shows usage is limited. 
• Medicaid does not provide medical interpretation services to the remaining one-quarter of these beneficiaries who are enrolled in fee-for-service.
• The state’s annual share of providing medical interpretation services through Medicaid would total about $2.35 million if the state takes advantage of the federal match of 50 percent.  The total cost would equal $4.7 million.

The briefing also will feature people who have personal experience with language barriers in health care settings. 

Carol Burkhart-Lyons, Executive Director of the Naugatuck Valley Project, will discuss how members of her community have mobilized around the issue of medical interpretation.  Through an Asian Family Services interpreter, An Pham, a 71-year-old West Hartford resident who immigrated to the United States in 1996, will share his frustrating experiences trying to communicate with health providers who do not speak Vietnamese.

“Ever since the Foundation’s inception in 1999 I have heard the same concern over and over again -- language barriers create problems in accessing quality health care,” said Patricia Baker, President & CEO of CT Health.  “If the provider and patient do not speak the same language and cannot communicate effectively, problems like misdiagnosis and treatment non-compliance can become dangerous and costly.”

During the briefing Jeannette DeJesús, Executive Director of Hartford’s Hispanic Health Council, will talk about the formation of a new, broad-based, statewide coalition that will not only advocate for the inclusion of medical interpretation services in health care settings, but also ensure the development of a medical interpretation curriculum for those bilingual health care professionals interested in providing these services.

The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) is the state’s largest independent, non-profit grantmaking foundation dedicated to improving the health of the people of Connecticut through systemic change, program innovation and health policy analysis.  Since it was established in July of 1999, CT Health has awarded 318 grants in 41 cities and towns throughout the state totaling more than $25 million primarily in three priority areas – children’s mental health, racial and ethnic health disparities, and oral health.

Please contact Public Affairs Officer Maryland Grier at Maryland@cthealth.org, 860.224.2200 ext. 32, cell: 860.967.7347, for more information about the briefing or to schedule an interview with one of the briefing presenters.