Language Line Plans a Roll-Up as Translation Demand Soars

The University of California Medical Center in San Francisco spends more than $3 million a year on translation services for thousands of patients who don’t speak English. Since 2009, the demand for foreign language interpreters from the center’s medical personnel has risen by a third, for languages ranging from Farsi to Mongolian.

When the center’s 19 staff interpreters aren’t available or lack fluency in a specific language, it pays translation agency Language Line Services about $2.50 a minute to translate over the telephone. Available 24 hours a day, Language Line touts its ability to make interpreters available within minutes. “If it’s immediate and an emergency, that’s when Language Line is the best,” says David Morgan, the center’s executive director of outpatient services.