Navigating a Crisis: How Texas Children’s and AMN Healthcare Came Together
Sergio A. Hernandez, the Language Services & Spiritual Care Manager at Texas Children’s Hospital, faced a significant challenge when the hospital's primary over-the-phone interpretation (OPI) vendor experienced a major service outage. As a leading pediatric institution that relies on interpretation services to communicate with its diverse patients and families, the outage created an urgent need to quickly find an alternative solution to maintain effective language support.
A Communication Breakdown
Overnight, Texas Children's witnessed a severe drop in availability for over-the-phone interpretation (OPI) services, which were critical for patient-provider communication. For a vast healthcare system encompassing five hospitals, 16 urgent care facilities, eight imaging centers, and 100 outpatient clinics, this was critical challenge.
An estimated additional 150,000 OPI minutes per month had to be covered immediately to maintain operational flow. Sergio needed a partner capable of stepping into this scenario with reliability and precision.
AMN Language Services Steps In
Enter AMN Language Services. Within just 15 minutes of receiving the call for help, the team mobilized its advanced technology and expansive network of professional interpreters to absorb the surged volume of calls. AMN’s ability to scale rapidly was unmatched, and it is the edge Texas Children’s Hospital needed.
Reflecting on the speed and effectiveness of our response, Sergio said, “AMN's swift support, ample bandwidth, and high-quality phone interpreter services ensured continuity of care during a critical time. The smooth transition and steadfast assistance we received ensured that the backbone of our process for language access met the needs and expectations…it made all the difference when it mattered most!"
Over the span of one month, we handled the additional 150,000 OPI minutes, a 50% surge, without a single disruption, all while maintaining our industry-best quality ratings.
Technology and Expertise That Delivered
The success of our intervention wasn’t just about speed—it was about reliability, infrastructure, and quality. Texas Children’s Hospital benefited from several key strengths we brought to the table, including:
- Advanced Interpreter Network: We leveraged our extensive pool of professional healthcare-exclusive interpreters to manage the sudden surge in volume without compromising on quality.
- Unified Vendor Model: By consolidating language services under AMN, Texas Children’s streamlined billing, service monitoring, and overall operations.
- Leading Technology: Our state-of-the-art platforms offered clear and immediate access to interpreters, ensuring every patient interaction proceeded smoothly.
- Unmatched Quality: Providers ranked our interpreter professionalism and quality at an exceptional 4.9/5 over thousands of reviews
The Long-Term Transformation
Texas Children’s leadership valued our performance so highly that they opted to fully transition the entire health system to AMN, awarding us exclusive responsibility for handling all interpretation services.
This shift represented a 133% increase in our scope of work with Texas Children’s. Today, we manage over 700,000 interpretation minutes monthly for the hospital, so every patient and family feels understood and supported.
A Reliable Partner in Healthcare
The story of Sergio and Texas Children’s Hospital is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when purpose meets partnership. If your organization is looking for seamless language support, even in the face of unexpected challenges, partner with AMN Language Services. With scalable solutions, cutting-edge technology, and a proven track record, we're ready to help you achieve communication that inspires trust and delivers better outcomes.