Blog

Language and culture are vital subjects in modern society. Each week, LanguageLine curates three related stories that we think should be top-of-mind. Here are this week's "Liner Notes."

Language barriers and cultural differences are among the reasons many Latino people, particularly men, avoid doctor visits – and that could lead to dire outcomes, experts warn.

Studies have suggested that of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, Hispanic people are least likely to seek medical care for an illness. In a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, Hispanic adults were less likely than all U.S. adults to say they had seen a health care professional within the previous year.

Last month, a refugee patient stood in the cold outside of a Partnership Health Center clinic in Missoula, MT, and waited.

With little understanding of English and no experience with the United States healthcare system, he was unsure what to do once he got inside. It is a situation fellow refugee Yu Yu Htwe knows well.

LanguageLine Solutions’ interpreting app is now available in Epic’s App Market, the company announced today. Once the LanguageLine app is implemented, clinicians can invite a professional medical interpreter directly from the Epic EHR platform in more than 240 languages.

LanguageLine is the world’s foremost supplier of on-demand interpretation and translation services, as well as the language-service industry's technology leader. Thousands of healthcare organizations – including 19 of North America’s top 20 hospital systems - currently use LanguageLine for on-demand interpretation. The integration with Epic extends the power of the LanguageLine app to the charting application physicians use for nearly every appointment.

Health Advocate, a leading provider of health advocacy, navigation, well-being and integrated benefits programs, has introduced an innovative new solution to support Spanish-speaking members. Through a partnership with LanguageLine Solutions, Heath Advocate will ensure members with limited-English proficiency have immediate access to an interpreter, making it easier to connect with a Personal Health Advocate and improving the call experience.

With more than 350 languages spoken from coast to coast, America is unique in its multilingualism. One in five of us – more than 67 million in total – speak a language other than English at home.

Our new infographic shows you the top languages spoken in your community.

Minorities have long experienced disparities with regard to health and medical care. This has been especially true with COVID-19, with ethnic and racial minorities three times more likely to contract the virus and twice as likely to die from it.

When it comes to the coronavirus, our ability to recover will only be as strong as our most vulnerable population. More than 350 languages are spoken across the U.S. In fact, one in five of us speaks a language other than English at home, while 26.5 million are officially considered limited-English proficient, meaning they are entitled to language assistance when seeking health care.

Alarming racial disparities in who contracts and dies from coronavirus are playing out across the country, according to a new report.  The New York Times has reviewed data from the Centers for Disease control that details 640,000 infections in more than a thousand U.S. counties.

Among the hardest-hitting findings is the fact that Latino and Black people are three times as likely to become infected with COVID-19 as their white neighbors. Latinos and Blacks are twice as likely to die from the virus.

Hispanics comprise just 18 percent of the U.S. population, yet they make up 33 percent of all COVID-19 cases.

This is according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It offers a complete picture of who in the United States has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and how they fared.

According to the report, "the coronavirus pandemic continues to be severe, particularly in certain population groups. These preliminary findings underscore the need to build on current efforts to collect and analyze case data, especially among those with underlying health conditions."

Health crises do not affect everyone equally.

The coronavirus pandemic and recent social unrest have shined a light on the racial and socioeconomic disparities in health and health care in North America. Ethnic minority communities and groups of lower socioeconomic status consistently experience worse health outcomes, and have more difficulty accessing health care and health education.