California Biomedical Industry - California Healthcare Institute

FluentialSunnyvaleWebsite: www.fluentialinc.comPublic health issue:Due to the rapid increase of limitedEnglish proficient residents in theU.S., it is becoming more difficultfor healthcare professionals tocommunicate with many of theirpatients and provide the highestquality of care. Unfortunately, thelanguage barrier goes both ways: thereare difficulties in assessing a patient’scondition or progress, and patients findit equally challenging to understandwhat they need to do to aid in thehealing process. Slower progress meansspending more time in the hospital or athome, and more time until the patientis able to get back to work and resumeother normal activities.Professionally trained medicalinterpreters are often required by law,but at $20 to $30 per hour (on site)and $130 to $150 per hour (overthe phone), their services can becost-prohibitive and most insurancecompanies will not cover them. Evenif they did, interpreters are often notavailable when and where they areneeded the most.Technology developed:Fluential provides fast, fluentautomated speech translation forhealthcare providers. The companyhas created one of the most advancedplatforms for speech translationtechnology in the world. Its productsenable people who speak differentlanguages to communicate face-to-facein real time. S-MINDS, an advancedspeech-to-speech translation system,enables healthcare providers to remainin control of communication with non-English-speaking patients.The success story:Fluential’s S-MINDS is the firstinteractive speech translation systemever used in a U.S hospital.Fluential continues to expand the scopeof its applications, providing innovativesolutions and cutting-edge technologyprimarily to the military and healthcareprofessionals. Fluential is currentlyoptimizing systems to enable U.S.service members to train Iraqi soldiersand policemen, nurses to improve safetyand the quality of care for their non-English speaking patients, and physicaltherapists to speed the recovery of theirlimited English-proficient patients.Fluential’s clients are: U.S. SpecialOperations Command (USSOCOM),Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA), Defense LanguageInstitute (DLI), and El CaminoHospital in Mountain View, Calif. Thecompany partners with Nuance and SRIInternational.NIH-CAP’s benefit to the company:NIH has funded Fluential to evaluatethe potential for its speech translationtechnology to improve the quality ofcare and patient safety for limitedEnglish proficient hospital patients.This research was conducted incollaboration with one of the largestintegrated health organizations in theUnited States with their Spanish- andCantonese-speaking patients.22 | California Biomedical Industry 2011 Report