Stratus Video Interpreting Partners With Yale-New Haven Hospital To Provide On-Demand Medical Interpretation Services In Sign Language And Languages Other Than English

Yale-New Haven Hospital is deploying nearly 50 stationary and mobile touch-screen units to offer Stratus video remote interpreting (VRI) services for patients who are deaf and hard-of-hearing or with limited English proficiency (LEP).

To better serve the needs of patients who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, and of limited English proficiency (LEP), Connecticut-based Yale-New Haven Hospital (http://www.ynhh.org/) (YNHH) has partnered with Stratus Video Interpreting (http://www.stratusvideo.com/) to provide on-demand medical interpretation in multiple departments and locations. The medical center is deploying a combination of stationary and mobile touch-screen units that will enable hospital staff to access Stratus video remote interpreting (VRI) when American Sign Language (ASL) or interpretation for any language other than English is required and in-person interpreters are not available.

“As the first hospital in the state of Connecticut to deploy Stratus Video’s on-demand medical interpretation services (http://www.stratusvideo.com/healthcare-why-choose-us/) across multiple departments and campuses, we are committed to serving the needs of patients who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or of limited English proficiency,” said Maureen Rosselli, who is the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator for Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNNH), as well as a multi-certified ASL interpreter and instructor.

YNHH has made significant equipment investments to ensure widespread access to video interpretation services. This includes the deployment of 18 large carts with 23-inch, three-in-one touch screens, which will be stationed in emergency departments, transplant centers, operating suites and other designated locations. They are currently used at the hospital’s York Street campus, Saint Raphael campus and Shoreline Medical Center, with other locations to follow. The stationary units will be supplemented by 30 mobile units consisting of iPads mounted on poles—or “iPoles”—which are designated for use in Smilow Cancer Hospital infusion centers, labor and birth suites, physical therapy centers and other areas. The iPoles can be easily wheeled around the facilities to provide access to Stratus’ certified healthcare interpreters (http://www.stratusvideo.com/healthcare-interpreter-services-overview/) anytime and anywhere they are needed.

Rosselli notes that YNHH built its own carts with extra-large touch screens to ensure the monitor was large enough to facilitate communication clearly, since some patients also have visual limitations. By partnering with Stratus, YNHH can now provide its patients with on-demand interpretation services in more than 175 spoken and signed languages. Currently, the hospital’s most commonly requested languages are Spanish, Arabic and ASL interpretation.

The expanded access to interpretation services is part of a broad program of performance improvement initiatives undertaken by the Yale-New Haven Health System, which recently earned recognition for its efforts to improve the quality of patient care while reducing related costs.⁽¹⁾

“We are proud that Yale-New Haven Hospital chose to partner with Stratus; and together, we are committed to setting a new standard for healthcare interpretation services,” said Sean Belanger, CEO of Stratus Video Interpreting. “At Stratus, we designed our services to be flexible and adaptable, with cloud-based video communications that can run on virtually any device and any Wi-Fi or 4G cellular network. Yale-New Haven Hospital capitalized on those capabilities with a customized video remote interpreting solution that includes both stationary and mobile units. Their implementation demonstrates how healthcare providers nationwide can better serve deaf, hard-of-hearing and LEP patients in any medical environment.”

For more information on Yale-New Haven Hospital, visit www.ynhh.org. To learn more about Stratus and its medical interpretation services for limited English proficient, deaf and hard-of-hearing patients, visit www.stratusvideo.com.

About Stratus Video Interpreting
Stratus Video Interpreting provides on-demand interpreter services by using technology to connect clients with interpreters in over 175 spoken and signed languages in less than 30 seconds. Stratus’ cloud-based video solution delivers an array of unique features to virtually any Internet-enabled PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet. Stratus clients use the technology to connect with their own staff interpreters, as well as with Stratus interpreters, who have years of healthcare and courtroom experience and hold multiple certifications. With Stratus, state-of-the-art video remote interpreting is made available with virtually no capital investment. Stratus averages 65,000 video calls a day, up from 40,000 in mid-2013. Stratus Video is the sister company of The Z® (CSDVRS, LLC, dba ZVRS), which was established in 2006 and developed by and for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, setting the industry standard as the nation’s premier Video Relay Service Provider and the first VRS Provider to receive a 5-year certification from the FCC. In 2014, Stratus was recognized as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies, ranking #3,827 on Inc. magazine’s Inc. 5000 list. For more information, visitwww.stratusvideo.com.

About Yale-New Haven Hospital
Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine. Yale-New Haven was founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826. Today, the hospital's two New Haven-based inpatient campuses include Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. The Interpreter Services Department is comprised of nationally certified medical interpreters and ASL interpreters with the highest level of national credentialing. YNHH's York Street campus and associated ambulatory sites are Magnet-designated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

⁽¹⁾ Hagland, Mark. “Yale-New Haven Health System’s Bold Plunge Into Analytics-Driven Performance Improvement”; Healthcare Informatics; January 7, 2015. healthcare-informatics.com/article/yale-new-haven-health-system-s-bold-plunge-analytics-driven-performance-improvement