AT&T Inc. Announces Completion of Language Access Project for California Public Hospitals
Network Will Support Interpretation Services in Hundreds of Languages to Help Bridge Language Barriers in Hospitals
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 16 -- AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced the completion of a project to provide new language access solutions to support the Health Care Interpreter Network (HCIN), a system of shared remote interpreter services operated by Northern California public hospitals and created by Paras and Associates, which now manages the HCIN network. Paras and Associates will now offer a managed video/voice call center service available internationally for interpreter services in health care and other service sectors.
Working with Paras and Associates, AT&T helped implement the Remote Medical Interpreter Bank in Northern California using video and Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies to help sustain the HCIN. Using one of the world's first Video/Voice Over IP Call Centers, the HCIN has access to trained interpreter professionals in hundreds of different languages. Participating health care providers in the HCIN, including San Joaquin General Hospital, San Mateo Medical Center, Contra Costa Health Services, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and Riverside County Regional Medical Center, can use this model to access interpreters at their own hospitals or at colleague hospitals through videoconferencing and various telephone technologies to help overcome the language barriers between doctors, hospital staff and patients.
In accordance with the three-year agreement, AT&T delivered a converged, IP-enabled frame relay network to Paras and Associates to host the video interpreter service. This solution will help support the videoconferencing and telephony technologies and ensure the secure transfer of patient information across the private IP-based network. It will also provide increased bandwidth with high-performance capabilities to ensure consistent, high-speed access to sensitive applications, such as VoIP and multimegabit broadcast quality video.
"The network delivered by AT&T will enable us to guarantee efficient, reliable and secure communications between locations, allowing health care providers, government and education facilities to access our network of interpreters and use our videoconferencing services to communicate with America's limited English proficient (LEP) patients," said Melinda Paras, president and CEO, Paras and Associates.
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About Paras and Associates
Paras and Associates offers a unique managed service of Video Interpreter Networks (VIN) for interpretation services in hospitals, government, education, the hospitality industry and all customer service lines.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. is one of the world's largest telecommunications holding companies and is the largest in the United States. Operating globally under the AT&T brand, AT&T companies are recognized as the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to business and as leading U.S. providers of high speed DSL Internet, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. AT&T Inc. holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider with 58.7 million wireless customers. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and AT&T products and services is available at www.att.com/ .
Subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. provide products and services under the AT&T brand.
Source: AT&T Inc.
CONTACT:
Ted Carr
AT&T Inc.
+1-415-778-1354
tcarr@attnews.us
Web site: www.att.com/
