Caroline Tourgee ’24
Patient Advocate Experience: Combatting Language Barriers in Healthcare
Caroline Tourgee ’24, Health Policy and Management major
Oral Presentation: Wednesday, April 24, 3:24 p.m.
Language and literacy skills are key determinants of health in the US that directly affect an individual’s healthcare access, quality, and outcomes. After experiencing this firsthand as a Patient Advocate at the Lifespan hospitals, I set out to find a solution. According to American Community Survey Reports, 78% of the US population only speaks English. Understanding, speaking, and reading English are key factors to finding success in American systems, especially in healthcare. The language barriers LEP patients must overcome to interact within the healthcare system have a detrimental effect on health outcomes. Many of the proposed solutions fail because of a lack of funding to fully incorporate language services. Reimbursing providers for providing language services is the best way to bolster LEP patient care. As the percentage of LEP patients rises, interventions must be strengthened by passing legislation in all states that ensure Medicaid and CHIP reimbursement for language services.
