Institutional interpreter services cost 5.85 million dollars in 2016 requiring 43 FTE in-person interpreters

Description #

Total institutional language-department costs for providing interpretive services across the medical campus in 2016 were calculated at $5,847,000, comprising $4,290,000 for in-person interpreter salary and benefits and $1,528,000 for VRI and telephone vendor services. Maintaining in-person interpreter availability for all patients required 43 full-time-equivalent (FTE) interpreters. Only a fraction of this campus-wide cost was directly attributable to the surgical/procedural areas surveyed. Reported in the Results and Discussion text; no dedicated figure or table.

"Total institutional language departmental costs for providing interpretive services in the year 2016 were calculated to be $5,847,000. This included both $4,290,000 for salary and benefits of in-person interpreters and $1,528,000 for VRI and telephone vendor services." (Burkle, 2017, p. 3)

"the availability of in person interpreters to meet the needs of all our patients requires a total of 43 full time employee equivalent interpreters." (Burkle, 2017, p. 4)

Methods Context #

What? #ⓘ

The observable: the annual institutional cost of providing interpretive services and the interpreter staffing (FTE) required.

"we also explored the cost to our institution associated with providing interpretive services over the study period." (Burkle, 2017, p. 2)

How? #ⓘ

Costs for 2016 were determined through analysis of departmental accounting datasheets (a descriptive cost accounting, not a formal economic evaluation).

"Costs for providing interpretive services for 2016, the year in which the study took place, were determined through analysis departmental accounting datasheets." (Burkle, 2017, p. 2)

Who? #ⓘ

The entire language-services department of a single private, not-for-profit, quaternary-care US medical campus (campus-wide, not restricted to the surgical/procedural cohort studied).

"The total cost for providing interpretive services in 2016 at our medical campus was $5,847,000." (Burkle, 2017, p. 4)

Other Notes #

The authors note limited reimbursement: Medicare does not reimburse for language-access services, and the institution does not charge patients or insurers, though it may seek reimbursement from the State of Minnesota for patients on medical assistance.

Caveats #

• Reported cost is campus-wide with only a fraction attributable to the surveyed surgical practice The $5,847,000 figure is the total campus-wide language-services cost for 2016, not a cost specific to the surgical/procedural cohort that the study actually observed. The authors state that only a fraction of this amount was directly attributable to the surveyed practice areas, so the cost cannot be read as the price of interpretive services for the surgical population studied. The figures also come from a descriptive accounting-datasheet review, not a formal economic evaluation.