Rethinking Medical Translation: How Vocality Health Is Changing the Game

Vocality Health is a groundbreaking healthtech startup founded in 2025 by Brogan McPartland and Vivek Jayaram. As part of the W25 Y Combinator batch, the company is taking a revolutionary approach to tackling one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: language barriers between medical staff and patients. Vocality Health offers an AI-powered voice translation system built specifically for clinical settings, eliminating the need for human translators in hospitals and clinics.

Hospitals worldwide spend billions on outdated, slow, and often unreliable translation services. Despite these efforts, patients who don’t speak English often receive substandard care due to delays, misunderstandings, and inconsistent interpretation quality. Vocality Health's solution stands out by providing real-time, medically accurate, and compliant interpretation across voice and video—accessible instantly within hospital systems.

Why Are Language Barriers Still a Crisis in Healthcare?

Miscommunication in hospitals can be deadly. In the U.S. alone, nearly 9% of the population is considered Limited English Proficient (LEP), which means millions of patients face significant hurdles when seeking medical care. This communication gap often leads to poor patient experiences and serious medical errors.

Current solutions—ranging from in-person interpreters to remote phone services—are not only costly, but frequently unavailable when most needed. On average, hospitals spend over $500,000 annually on these services, which are billed at $60 to $100 per hour. Even then, long wait times and inconsistent quality prevail. As a fallback, untrained staff or family members often step in, introducing serious risks to patient safety and privacy.

These communication gaps directly contribute to higher healthcare costs, longer hospital stays, reduced patient satisfaction, and poorer clinical outcomes. The need for a faster, more reliable solution has never been more urgent.

How Does Vocality Health Solve the Problem?

Vocality Health replaces traditional human translation services with a powerful AI-driven interpretation platform. Its system is designed specifically for clinical use, not general-purpose translation, which allows it to maintain high standards of medical accuracy and data privacy.

Here are the key features that set Vocality apart:

• Instant & Always On: No need to schedule or wait for a human interpreter. Doctors and patients can begin communicating immediately, reducing delays in care.
• Clinically Compliant: Vocality is built to preserve patient privacy and comply with HIPAA and other healthcare regulations.
• System Integration: The tool integrates seamlessly into hospital workflows and electronic medical record (EMR) systems.
• Multimodal Communication: It supports both voice and video modalities, making it versatile for various clinical environments, including emergency rooms, outpatient clinics, and telehealth visits.

By eliminating interpreter bottlenecks, Vocality empowers hospitals to deliver faster, safer, and more cost-effective care to diverse patient populations.

Who Are the Founders Behind Vocality Health?

Brogan McPartland and Vivek Jayaram first met as undergraduates on the Harvard Cricket Club. Their partnership began with Fulltrack AI, a cricket app that went viral and became India’s #1 sports app—even surpassing the Olympics app during the Olympics.

But Vocality is more than a business for them—it’s deeply personal. Brogan spent years navigating foreign healthcare systems after being denied U.S. coverage, learning firsthand how language barriers can delay diagnoses and treatments. Vivek, a PhD expert in speech generative models, has dedicated his career to real-time communication technology. Together, they bring a rare combination of personal experience and deep technical knowledge to solve this critical healthcare issue.

The complementary strengths of the founders—Brogan’s product insight and Vivek’s AI expertise—make Vocality a uniquely positioned startup capable of executing a complex, high-impact vision.

What Makes Vocality Health Better Than Existing Solutions?

Unlike call-center-based interpretation services, which are stuck in the 1980s, Vocality Health leverages cutting-edge voice AI to deliver translation instantly and accurately. Here’s how it stacks up:

• Speed: While human translators may take 30 minutes or more to connect, Vocality responds in real-time.
• Cost: Hospitals can dramatically reduce interpretation expenses, shifting from high hourly rates to a more scalable, technology-based pricing model.
• Quality: Built with healthcare-specific language models, the platform ensures that medical terminology is correctly translated—something Google Translate and general-purpose tools can’t guarantee.
• Availability: Vocality doesn’t rely on staff schedules, call center hours, or network congestion. It’s always available, 24/7.
• Consistency: Because it’s AI-driven, Vocality provides consistent performance and accuracy across every interaction.

Furthermore, the platform eliminates reliance on untrained interpreters or family members, reducing liability and enhancing patient trust. It’s not just a translation tool—it’s an essential clinical support system.

How Are Hospitals Responding to Vocality Health?

The market response has been overwhelmingly positive. Hospitals are already signing up, drawn by the promise of better patient care, shorter waiting times, and substantial cost savings. In an industry that values reliability and compliance, Vocality’s integration with existing hospital systems has been key to its rapid adoption.

From urban health networks to rural clinics, institutions see Vocality as a strategic tool in their mission to deliver equitable care. By breaking language barriers, hospitals not only meet regulatory requirements but also improve clinical outcomes and operational efficiency.

Initial pilot programs have demonstrated reduced ER wait times, fewer miscommunications, and higher patient satisfaction scores. With data-driven evidence of impact, Vocality is well on its way to becoming the gold standard in clinical language interpretation.

What’s Next for Vocality Health?

As the healthcare industry continues to digitize and prioritize equity, Vocality Health is poised to become a vital piece of the modern hospital infrastructure. The company plans to expand its voice AI capabilities to include video-based interpretation and additional languages, making it even more versatile across global markets.

Future updates will likely focus on advanced medical specialty support, like cardiology or oncology-specific terminology, and more integrations with EMR providers. There’s also potential for expansion into telehealth, where rapid translation could open doors for millions of patients worldwide.

The team is also exploring machine learning personalization—tuning translations based on regional dialects and common terminology in local health systems. These enhancements will make the platform even more valuable to both clinicians and patients.

Why Does This Innovation Matter Now More Than Ever?

In an era marked by rising diversity and global mobility, healthcare systems must evolve to serve patients from all backgrounds. The demand for inclusive, high-quality care isn’t just a moral imperative—it’s a medical necessity.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed systemic weaknesses in healthcare communication. Patients struggled to understand instructions, clinicians were overwhelmed, and in many cases, lives were lost due to simple misunderstandings. Vocality Health addresses a long-standing issue with modern tools, offering a solution that scales, saves money, and most importantly, saves lives.

With its roots in personal experience and its foundation in advanced technology, Vocality Health is more than a translator—it’s a bridge to better care for all. It signifies the future of accessible, intelligent healthcare—where no patient is left behind simply because they speak a different language.