Watch: Should You Use AI for Your Healthcare Interpreting?

AI interpretation is an exciting new option for healthcare interpreting. It can significantly reduce costs, increase efficiency, and help ensure better customer service for patients and their families. However, AI interpretation is not always appropriate for language services for healthcare. AI interpretation performs, on average, at a 90% accuracy rate. This leaves about a 10% error rate, enough to trigger serious consequences. Healthcare institutions and medical offices that choose solely AI-powered interpretation solutions for sensitive scenarios may learn firsthand that even a minor medical interpretation mistake can result in:

• Clinical miscommunication
• Medical errors
• Noncompliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act or Section 1557 of the ACA
• Malpractice suits
• Reduced patient satisfaction

These serious ramifications could cost an organization much more than they initially saved by using AI-enabled interpreting services. Beyond financial repercussions, these consequences can also ruin a healthcare institution’s strong reputation. Reputational damage is especially painful in the age of internet reviews for providers and online forums where people share their negative experiences.

Human healthcare interpreters and medical interpreters are necessary in many medical scenarios involving providers, patients, caregivers, or families. Human professional interpretation services offer comprehensive training, real-world experience, and the human connection required for optimal patient outcomes.

AI could be very applicable in more routine circumstances, like discussing benefits coverage or billing questions. When deemed appropriate for healthcare usage, working with an AI partner (like Lionbridge) that will responsibly train, validate, deploy, and monitor AI systems is vital. You or your AI interpretation partner must assess an AI model before usage. This evaluation should focus on the model’s:

• Training materials
• Accuracy
• Bias
• Tone

Watch our video to understand when you can reduce costs with AI services and when to reduce risk and protect your organization’s reputation by choosing human professional interpreters.