Wellstar Health System: Building a Scalable, Hybrid Model for Language Access
How Wellstar extended interpreter coverage across a growing health system using staff interpreters on Martti, an internal call center, and on-demand video.
SUMMARY
Wellstar Health System's approach to language access includes:
1. A hybrid model: Wellstar’s own interpreters deliver care through the Martti platform, with on-demand video and phone interpretation extending coverage across the system.
2. An internal interpreter call center: A centralized call center extends the reach of Wellstar’s interpreter team system-wide.
3. Language access at system scale: The model supports patients across Wellstar’s hospitals, ambulatory practices, and a broad range of languages.
4. People-first foundation: The program is built around helping patients understand their care and participate in medical decisions.
As Wellstar has grown into one of Georgia's largest health systems, its language access team has focused on making sure access keeps pace with demand.
Fast Facts
13 hospitals and 400+ care locations
60+ language access team members, plus a dedicated internal call center
250+ Qualified Bilingual Staff
30+ languages interpreted through Martti
Debbie Lesser, Director of Language Access, Stephanie Boyd, Manager of Interpreting Services, and members of the Wellstar care team shared how the organization is scaling language access across its hospitals and ambulatory practices.
A Growing System, Growing Demand
At Wellstar Cobb, a recovery-room nurse, Lainey, works with patients who have limited English proficiency at least once a day, and often more. "People deserve to be cared for in the language they're most comfortable in," she says.
Lainey, a recovery-room nurse at Wellstar Cobb
That need extends across the health system. Stephanie Boyd, Manager of Interpreting Services, estimates the team served roughly 20,000 unique patients in the past year.
As Wellstar expanded to 13 hospitals and more than 400 care locations, demand for interpretation began to outpace what the on-site team could provide.
"I was constantly hearing, 'we need more access. We can't get an interpreter.' I needed a vendor that was scalable and would grow along with us — and Martti made that happen," explains Debbie Lesser, Wellstar's Director of Language Access.
Extending the Reach of Wellstar's Interpreter Team
Wellstar built a hybrid model around its internal interpreter team. Staff interpreters provide services through the Martti platform, with on-demand video and phone interpretation available when additional coverage is needed. A dedicated internal call center helps extend that support across the system.
Debbie Lesser, Wellstar's Director of Language Access
"One of the things Martti has done to help us mitigate costs is enable us to create our own internal call center," says Lesser. "We use our staff interpreters on the Martti platform to provide interpreting services across our system."
The call center turns Wellstar's internal interpreter team into a system-wide resource, allowing staff interpreters to support patients across facilities while on-demand Martti interpreters provide additional coverage when needed.
The Language Access team has grown alongside the program. What started with 10 spoken-language Spanish interpreters has grown to more than 60 team members providing access across the health system.
Through Martti, Wellstar interprets in more than 30 languages. Spanish makes up most of volume, with steady demand for Haitian Creole, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin, American Sign Language, and more.
Access When and Where It's Needed
The hybrid model gives Wellstar another way to respond when its on-site interpreters are already supporting patients elsewhere in the system.
Stephanie Boyd, Manager of Interpreting Services
"It's a true partnership. When the on-site interpreters are taking care of another patient, but there's a patient that just arrived to the ED — what do you do? You're going to use Martti to fill that need until the interpreter can get there." — Stephanie Boyd, Manager of Interpreting Services
For Wellstar's interpreters, the work is deeply personal.
Jorge, Medical Interpreter
"For me, it does come from the heart. Coming from a non-English-speaking country to the States, it was very hard for myself and my family to be understood or communicate with others. Once we were able to actually understand each other, it felt really nice." — Jorge, Spanish Medical Interpreter
Carmen describes that ability to help patients communicate as a "superpower."
Carmen, Medical Interpreter
"Interpretation is like a superpower because we can help so many people. I enjoy helping people to have a voice, to make their voices heard, in particular within the medical field, looking for the best outcome for the patient." — Carmen, Medical Interpreter
Together, Wellstar's staff interpreters and on-demand Martti interpreters extend language access across care settings, languages, and moments of need.
The Takeaway
Wellstar's experience shows what it takes to scale language access across a large, growing system while keeping patient understanding at the center.
For health system leaders, three lessons stand out:
Build for scale: Create a model that can keep pace with new hospitals, practices, and patient populations.
Combine staff and on-demand access: Extend the reach of in-house interpreters with video and phone interpretation when additional coverage is needed.
Keep people at the center: Make patient understanding, participation, and communication central to how language access is delivered.
By combining its own interpreter team, an internal call center, and on-demand access through Martti, Wellstar has built a scalable model that extends interpreter coverage across the system and gives its own team greater reach.
