COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 7, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beaumont Health System and Language Access Network (LAN) recognize the ability of healthcare providers and patients to communicate effectively, as it is essential in obtaining the best possible outcomes. Imagine trying to communicate without speaking the same language as those caring for you in a routine appointment, let alone a stressful emergency room trip. Time lost waiting for a language-specific interpreter to arrive can be critical.
Beaumont Health System enlists the use of LAN's Martti™ (My Accessible Real-Time Trusted Interpreter) Video Medical Interpreting device to instantly overcome language barriers during medical encounters. Martti is LAN's state-of-the-art technology connecting Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Deaf/Hard of Hearing patients and their healthcare providers to LAN's highly qualified medical interpreters via two-way video and audio, through its own dedicated and secured HIPAA-compliant network.
"Since we began using a video remote interpreting system, we've significantly reduced wait times for patients needing interpreter services," says Patricia Avery, nursing administration information systems coordinator at Beaumont Health System. "This helps reduce anxiety for the patient while allowing caregivers to more quickly assess the patient's medical needs and get care underway."
With the simple touch of a button on the flat screen Martti, medical staff has access 24/7, 365 days a year to LAN medical interpreters in more than 210 languages, including American Sign Language. The Martti unit can then be carried or rolled alongside a patient throughout the encounter.
"Martti puts patients and providers at ease, making them more confident they will be heard and, most importantly, understood. This leads to more accurate and timely diagnoses and treatments, in turn, improving patient and provider satisfaction and reducing risk," said LAN COO, Andrew Panos.
About Language Access Network, LLC
Language Access Network, LLC (LAN) is the leader in trusted healthcare communications providing Video Medical Interpretation (VMI) services to more than 350 hospitals and other medical venues nationwide. Targeted towards Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing patients, LAN provides its rapidly growing client base with 24/7/365 access to the highest quality, medically trained interpreters available via its centralized video language centers. www.lan.us
About Beaumont Health System
One of the founding organizations of Beaumont Health, Beaumont Health System includes three hospitals with 1,778 licensed beds, more than 20,200 employees and 3,100 physicians, including 553 employed physicians in the Beaumont Medical Group and more than 2,500 private-practice physicians. In addition to its hospitals in Royal Oak, Troy and Grosse Pointe, Beaumont has 54 community-based sites of care including medical centers in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties, family practice and internal medicine practices, five nursing centers, home care services and hospice. The Beaumont Research Institute has 924 open research studies including 270 clinical trials with more than 7,800 participants. Beaumont is the exclusive clinical teaching site for the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.