Technology Assists Franciscan St. Francis Health In Communicating With All Patients

LAN's Martti(TM) Platform Helps Limited English Proficient and Deaf Patients Communicate With Providers

Columbus, OH (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Hospitals continually face pressures to control costs while at the same time remaining dedicated to ensuring the highest quality care for patients. Language Access Network (LAN) has partnered with Franciscan St. Francis Health to provide Video Medical Interpretation services for their Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Deaf and Hard of Hearing patients. The ability of healthcare providers and patients to communicate effectively from the beginning reduces anxiety, expedites treatment and greatly improves patient outcomes.

LAN enables patients and providers to utilize its Martti™ (My Accessible Real-Time Trusted Interpreter) devices to connect via live video, within seconds, to the highest quality medical interpreters in over 210 languages, including American Sign Language. "Franciscan St. Francis Health understands the importance of providing timely and effective communication to our Limited English Proficient and Deaf and Hard of Hearing patients. Martti offers qualified interpreting at a moment's notice and plays a sizable role in our ability to provide interpreting on demand. Martti also helps us hold the line on costs, even as our volume of patients continues to increase," explains Donna Prendergast, Service Excellence Manager at Franciscan St. Francis Health.

Healthcare providers simply touch the Martti screen, select the language that is needed and instantly connect to a highly-trained LAN medical interpreter located in one of five HIPAA-compliant LAN Language Centers throughout the country 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

"As a physician-led company focused solely on medical interpretation, we understand the challenges that a diverse patient population can pose in delivering the highest quality care efficiently," said Andrew Panos, LAN's COO. "Martti greatly enhances the effectiveness of patient and provider encounters while reducing risk for healthcare providers."

About Language Access Network, LLC
Language Access Network, LLC (LAN) is the leader in trusted healthcare communications. LAN provides Video Medical Interpretation (VMI) services to hospitals and other medical venues nationwide. As a result of being physician owned and solely focused on healthcare, LAN has unique insight into how to drive better outcomes, improve patient satisfaction and be a true partner to its client hospitals. Targeted towards Limited English Proficient and Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing patient populations, LAN provides its rapidly growing client base (currently over 350 medical facilities nationwide) with 24/7/365 access to the highest quality, trained interpreters available via its 5 centralized video language centers. www.lan.us

About Franciscan St. Francis Health
A division of the Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Alliance, Franciscan St. Francis began its health-care ministry in 1914 in Beech Grove. Today, it operates hospitals in Indianapolis, Mooresville and Carmel and annually serves 24,000 inpatients and 1.4 million outpatients. Franciscan Visiting Nurse Service Franciscan provides in-home and hospice care to thousands of patients and families annually. The hospital system also operates five Immediate Care Centers in the Indianapolis area and employs more than 200 specialty and primary care doctors who are members of Franciscan Physician Network. To learn more about Franciscan St. Francis Health, visit:

www.franciscanalliance.org/hospitals/indianapolis.

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