One of the hardest things to scale in healthcare is also one of the most basic: making sure patients and clinicians actually understand each other.

TL;DR: Opalite helps healthcare providers communicate with patients who don't speak English with an AI medical interpreter that saves 20% time per session and millions annually on interpretation costs.

Launch Video: https://youtu.be/_AMvW9Co9do?si=YTKM4wGUgz0-qmrs

🤯 The Problem

When patients and providers don't speak the same language, critical medical information gets lost - symptoms are misunderstood, diagnoses are wrong, and patients can't follow treatment plans.

Over 30 million people in the US have limited English proficiency, and these communication breakdowns lead to worse outcomes across nearly every measure. Federal law requires healthcare providers to offer interpretation to solve this, but the current solution - a human medical interpreter - doesn't work.

Getting an interpreter takes up to 30 minutes, if one is available at all. When they do connect, interpreters frequently omit or mistranslate important details, especially in fast-moving or complex visits. It also costs hospitals upwards of $1-2M per year. The system is expensive, slow, and unreliable, creating gaps in communication that put patients at risk and increase liability for healthcare organizations.

❤️ The Solution

Opalite is an AI-powered medical interpreter that helps healthcare professionals communicate with non-English-speaking patients. It’s available instantly, 24/7, so care doesn't have to wait for an interpreter to connect.

Opalite works directly inside clinical workflows, including the EHR, allowing providers to communicate in real time without switching tools or interrupting visits. Translation quality is proven to be superior to certified medical interpreters, but at more than 50% lower cost than traditional services. Opalite also generates visit documentation automatically, reducing the amount of charting providers need to do after each encounter.

📊 Our progress:

Opalite is currently used daily by patients and providers across 10+ states. Our customers include hospitals, community health centers, home health organizations, telehealth providers, and clinics. We are also set to roll out in a large healthcare enterprise within the next two months.

💡 Our Story

@Cathleen Kuo is a physician and the child of immigrants who don't speak English. She has seen the language barrier issues from both sides - watching her parents struggle to communicate with their doctors, and later experiencing firsthand how language barriers compromise the care she can deliver as a physician.

@Alex Mehregan is a former software engineer at Apple where he worked on Apple Intelligence and the updated Siri - software that touches many millions of users every day. He is a 2x founder and Berkeley EECS alumni.

🙏 Our Ask:

• Know healthcare administrators, clinic directors, or hospital C-suites? We’d appreciate an intro.
• Building a product that serves patients or providers? If language barriers affect your users, let’s chat.
• Have experience with medical interpreters (as a provider or patient)? Your feedback would be invaluable.

Reach out at: cathleen@opalitehealth.com & alex@opalitehealth.com

Visit us: https://opalitehealth.com