Examining the association between professional language interpreter services and intensive care unit utilization among patients with non-English language preference: Evidence from a large U.S. hospital

To examine the healthcare utilization of patients with non-English language preference (NELP) who utilized a professional language interpreter (PLI) in the intensive care unit (ICU) compared to similar patients with NELP who did not utilize a PLI in the ICU. Single center cohort study of patients with NELP with at least one ICU admission a large academic medical center in the U.S. Midwest (1/1/2008–12/31/2022). The first model examined ICU length-of-stay (LOS) using a negative binomial and the second model examined whether a patient was readmitted to the ICU using a logistic regression with each model controlling for PLI utilization and covariates. Patients with NELP who utilized a PLI in the ICU had 0.87-days longer in the ICU (p