GNYHA Ventures, Inc., in collaboration with the New York Task Force on Immigrant Health, of NYU School of Medicine, has been awarded three planning grants to develop a sophisticated interpretation service for the medical community and its diverse patient population. Generous support for the development of this initiative has been granted by the United Hospital Fund, The New York Community Trust, and the Altman Foundation.

The proposed new venture will make cost-effective, high-quality interpretation services available to health care professionals and patients through one centralized source. Advanced communications technology will enable the delivery of a specialized type of interpretation known as remote simultaneous medical interpretation (RSMI). The service will be based on a pilot program developed by Gouverneur Diagnostic and Treatment Center (with assistance from the Task Force), which has been successfully providing RSMI services to patients and providers at Gouverneur for about 18 months.

The new venture's RSMI services, which will be made available in hospitals and various other health care settings, will enable patients and providers who speak different languages to communicate face-to-face. The patient and provider will be able to access the service directly from their individual facility by wearing wireless headsets, which will connect them to highly specialized medical interpreters -- professionals with both clinical knowledge and multi-lingual skills -- located at a remote site. Each participant will speak and hear only in his or her own language, with interpretation occurring simultaneously. The benefits of an RSMI system include reduced total interpretation time compared with the time needed for consecutive interpretation; maintenance of natural communication flow, eye contact, and body language; higher-quality interpretation of complex medical information; and improved patient confidentiality. In pilot programs, the use of such services has improved patient-provider communication, the ability of providers to diagnose illness in people who don't speak English, and patient and physician satisfaction with the health care encounter.