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Innovative Health Technologies - LifeLinks Video Interpreting Services

Sometimes combining two simple ideas creates a really great idea. I had a chance to sit down with Stanley Schoen, CEO of LifeLinks Video Interpreting Services, who has built the foundation for a pretty unique business.

LifeLinks combines two off the shelf services - video conferencing technology and interpreting services. LifeLinks has a stable of interpreters in a few different locations who can translate from virtually any language, including sign language, to English.

Every translator spends their day in front of a computer with a $20 Web cam. Translators are available 24×7.

A hospital installs the LifeLinks Web conferencing software on a server. A doctor can then sit down with a non-native English speaking patient, open their laptop with their own USB web cam, select the language they need help with, see which interpreters are available, click on the interpreters name and see, full screen, an interpreter ready to assist. The interpreter can also see the doctor and patient in total detail, down to the coffee stain on the doctor’s red tie.

This allows for some pretty interesting interactions. A doctor can ask “where do you feel pain. point to where you feel pain.” The interpreter translates and the patient points to his chest. Both doctor and interpreter can see the patient pointing to his chest.

The bottom line, of course, is improved care and / or reduced cost. With LifeLinks, a hospital doesn’t need to have an interpreting team on staff. Interpreters are available on-demand, at any time day or night, in any language, from the infrequent (Urdu) to the common (Spanish).

Hospitals can buy LifeLinks service like a utility. This is the future of software and services - paying for what you need when you need it. With LifeLinks, instead of paying upfront, hospitals pay per minute of translation service. And the per minute cost is nominal.

LifeLinks, based in NYC, already has installed their platform in a few NYC hospitals, including Bronx Lebanon Hospital(new York), Jacobi Medical Center(New York), New York Community Hospital(Brooklyn). They even signed up a hospital in Tenessee - Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.

I’m sure there are other applications of this one-two punch within both the health care space and other industries. For example, I have a friend who used to volunteer as an interpreter for, I believe, the US Immigration and Naturalization Services office in NY. Her specialty was Chinese. Think of how many different ethnic groups have to sit down with an English only administrator every day. Imagine if the administrator, the person who decides the fate of thousands of people per year, had on-demand access to interpreters at their desk.

- Peter

View all interviews from the World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Conference.