How does No Barrier reduce encounter time in ophthalmology visits?

Phone interpretation adds hold time and connection delays before a single word is spoken. No Barrier connects in seconds, runs hands-free on an existing device and keeps the provider focused on the patient. At Pacific Eye Associates, encounter time dropped from 22 to 12 minutes across LEP visits.

Can AI medical interpretation handle specialty terminology in ophthalmology?

Yes. Pacific Eye Associates tested No Barrier against bilingual and multilingual staff across multiple accents and dialects before committing. The technology matched the accuracy of native-speaking employees across Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese.

What happens to interpreter wait times when a practice switches to AI interpretation?

Pacific Eye Associates previously waited five to ten minutes per encounter to connect with a live phone agent. After switching to No Barrier, connection is immediate. Average encounter time dropped from 22 to 12 minutes and clinicians increased volume by 30% over two seasons.

How do patients respond to AI interpretation in a clinical setting?

At Pacific Eye Associates, zero patients declined and zero patients complained after the switch. Many did not realize they were interacting with AI. The practice discloses AI use through written and verbal consent as standard protocol. Patients from 40 to 70 found the on-screen transcript easy to follow and the audio quality competitive with native-speaking staff.

USE CASE

Community Health · FQHC

How CAN Community Health made AI interpretation stick.

Item: No Barrier
Rating: 5
Author: Corinne Knowles

CAN Community Health is a network of over 30 health centers across six states, serving immigrants, refugees and underserved communities in dozens of languages. Katy Wendel, VP of Care Delivery Innovation, built the adoption program from the ground up: staff surveys before training, internal champions in high-volume clinics, recorded modules for clinical staff with limited time and a flat rate that removed the per-minute friction stopping staff from using interpretation as often as patients needed it.

6 states

30+ health centers

Pediatric provider consulting with a child and parent at Steamboat Pediatrics using No Barrier interpretation

30+ health centers

6 states

The challenge

Before No Barrier

Staff feared AI would replace them. Pre-training surveys surfaced real anxieties: job loss, AI hallucinations and a lack of human empathy. A generic rollout would have failed. The training had to address those fears directly.
Complex languages needed internal validation. The North Miami clinic serves a large Haitian population. Skeptics questioned whether AI could handle the language accurately. Without a trusted internal voice, adoption would have stalled.
Care providers had no time for training. Getting dedicated time with clinical staff for a new technology rollout is one of the hardest operational challenges in community health. Training had to fit into the workflow, not compete with it.

The decision

Why No Barrier

CAN Community Health runs every new AI tool through a formal AI steering committee covering clinical, technical, data and ethical dimensions. No Barrier passed that process quickly. A flat monthly subscription replaced per-minute billing, removing the cost pressure that had discouraged staff from using interpretation at every touchpoint. Recorded training modules let clinical staff ramp at their own pace. It is HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II certified.

“That was one of our first AI ventures really was No Barrier and it was such a wonderful easy adoption for our team that really made a difference in health equity for our patients very quickly.”
“No Barrier offered us a flat rate so that everyone could feel very comfortable, not just the providers but every member of our team, in not hesitating to reach out and use this service when a patient needed it.”
Katy Wendel · VP of Care Delivery Innovation, CAN Community Health · July 2026
Katy Wendel · CAN Community Health

Deployment

How it runs in practice

Locations

30+ health centers across Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Texas and Virginia

Workflows

Front desk, patient access, care management, behavioral health and provider encounters

Top languages

Haitian Creole, Spanish and dozens more, part of 295+ language access options

Devices

Dedicated iPads plus existing kiosks and laptops across all health centers

Outcomes

What changed for CAN Community Health

Across 30+ health centers in six states:

Across all 30+ CAN Community Health locations.

$17K

saved annually

30+

health centers adopted

92%

patient satisfaction score maintained

$17,000 saved annually by switching from per-minute to flat rate billing across all 30+ locations.

Staff use interpretation more freely — no per-minute hesitation, from the front desk to the case manager to the provider.

Patient satisfaction maintained at 92% — well above industry average — through and after the AI interpretation rollout.

Patients prefer it to in-person interpreters — one patient, previously reliant on a live interpreter, switched voluntarily and said they no longer want to go back.

“

We're lucky enough to have staff that speak Cantonese or Mandarin. We just can't clone them across 20 exam rooms and have them be in 40 places at once across different clinics. But we found that the technology is intelligent enough to compete with those bilingual staff and patients have been really grateful and quite happy with it.

Our champions went out and said: this works. This is getting our patients into care faster.

Katy Wendel · VP of Care Delivery Innovation · CAN Community Health

VP of Care Delivery Innovation, CAN Community Health · July 2026

Why it works

Adoption at scale requires more than a good product. CAN Community Health built their rollout around the real concerns of their staff, identified champions in the clinics where trust was hardest to earn and used recorded training so clinical staff could ramp without carving time out of patient care. The flat rate removed the last friction point: cost anxiety that was stopping staff from using interpretation as often as patients needed it. The result was a network of 30+ health centers where interpretation is no longer a hesitation. Talk to us about pricing

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Q1.

How do you design staff training for AI interpretation adoption?

Health systems that succeed build adoption from the inside out. CAN Community Health started with a staff survey before any training, surfacing real fears around job loss, hallucinations and lack of empathy. Training was then designed around those specific concerns. Recorded modules gave clinical staff access on their own time and live Q&A was layered on top for follow-up questions.

Q2.

How do internal champions accelerate AI adoption in health centers?

CAN Community Health identified frontline champions in high-volume clinics, especially at their North Miami location serving a large Haitian Creole population. Haitian-speaking staff members were brought in to vet No Barrier directly. When they confirmed the accuracy and saw the real-time transcript, they became the most credible voice for skeptical colleagues. Champions moved adoption faster than any top-down mandate.

Q3.

How does flat rate billing change how staff use interpretation?

Per-minute billing creates a background pressure that discourages staff from using interpretation as often as patients need it. When CAN Community Health switched to No Barrier's flat monthly subscription, that friction disappeared. Staff from the front desk to behavioral health specialists reported feeling free to use interpretation without hesitation, knowing the cost was fixed regardless of usage.

Q4.

How does patient choice work when AI and human interpretation are both available?

CAN Community Health gives patients the choice. For emotionally significant encounters, human interpretation is offered and respected. In practice, patients have responded positively to AI interpretation. One patient who previously required a live in-person interpreter tried No Barrier when their interpreter was unavailable and chose to keep using it. Patient satisfaction scores held at 92%, above industry average, through and after the rollout.

See No Barrier in your clinic

$17,000 saved annually · 30+ health centers · 92% patient satisfaction maintained.

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