Sharon Blank Spills the Tea on the Prescription Translation Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight

[00:00:04] Welcome to HITea With Grace, where we spill the tea on HIT. Today I'm honored to welcome to the pod Sharon Blank, CEO of Language Scientific and RxTran. Thanks for joining me, Sharon. Hi, Grace. Thank you so much for having me here today. We are so thrilled to learn from you. So tell me a little bit about the path that brought you to leading Language Scientific and RxTran. Was there a moment when you realized that prescription translation wasn't just a niche problem, it was a public health problem?

[00:00:31] So yeah, so first I am a self-described chemist turned businesswoman. I've always been drawn to work where precision matters and details are not just details. And we're honestly getting something wrong has real consequences.

[00:00:48] So the creator behind RxTran, Leonid Fridman, had a very large pharmacy chain approach him about how to provide translated prescription instructions on the medications they were dispensing. And once he figured out a way to do this, he realized that even if one pharmacy needed this, what about all the others?

[00:01:11] And this is where I came in to join and help take the single client solution and help lead the way to ensuring that other pharmacies provide this, what I consider to be absolutely essential service to their limited English proficient population. And by the way, that's most commonly referred to in the business as the LEP population.

[00:01:34] And I remember thinking about what it would feel like if I were traveling overseas and I unfortunately took ill and received a medication prescription bottle written in, let's even go with a character language. I would have no idea what to do.

[00:02:22] As they interact with the healthcare system. That would be so scary to be abroad and not be able to understand these prescription information. And yet that's happening in the United States today where people are getting these prescriptions and it's not in their language and in a way that they can understand it. So it's pretty amazing what you guys are building. Thanks, Grace. And just to kind of add a little bit of the boring data and stats to that point, it's mind boggling.

[00:02:52] There is over 8% of the U.S. population and that really kind of trickles down to 26 million people over the age of five are considered LEP in the United States here today. So certainly no small amount of people struggling with this.

[00:03:12] I also can remember early on when joining RXTran, I once received a call from a tearful Vietnamese pharmacist who said, I can't believe there's now a service that I have to offer to provide this proper information amongst my community. And it truly is a basic safety need. It is not a nice to have. So true.

[00:03:42] Now, tell me a little bit about where does the prescription journey break down between the moment a doctor writes a prescription and then the moment a patient tries to take it? So the breakdown happens when the clinical intent doesn't make it all the way to the patient in a way that the patient can understand it. A doctor will prescribe the right medication. The pharmacy will dispense the right medication.

[00:04:08] And if all goes well, there is no problem there. However, let's add in now that the patient gets home and can't understand or read or interpret the instructions on the bottle. So now this entire journey has just failed. And to add to that, there are basically three dangerous things that can happen, in my opinion. One, the patient is too scared to take the medication at all. They're looking at it.

[00:04:38] They don't understand what they're doing. And it's not that they're being careless. It's that they truly are afraid to put something in their body when they don't understand how to correctly do it. Second, they may try to take it but misunderstand the instructions. So maybe they take it at the wrong intervals. Maybe they take the wrong amount. Maybe it was supposed to be taken with food or without food. So there's that real risk.

[00:05:07] And third, which is, I think, a very common challenge is they might ask a relative, a child, a neighbor, or someone to sort of help them try to understand what it means. And as well-intentioned as this person may be, they're not necessarily a medical translator.

[00:05:27] They don't understand the clinical abbreviations, the specifications, the seriousness of any small interpretation that they've just made. And this is the moment the patient has to really just make a decision and rely and hope. That's not good enough. And I think everyone can really guess. It's really scary when you think about it. That's a scary reality that this is happening.

[00:05:56] And it's so interesting to see that changes are being made to try to fix this issue. And there seems to be something happening in pharmacies right now where they're quietly, pharmacists are quietly using ChatGPT, Google Translate, and other kind of consumer tools to translate prescription instructions to people. And sometimes that has a waiver, which just kind of pushes the liability onto the pharmacy if something goes wrong. So what does that actually look like at the counter?

[00:06:21] What's that risk to patients when they're using these AI tools, which we know could potentially hallucinate and say something incorrectly to the patient? Well, so thanks, Grace, because you just helped me highlight some of the problems here. And I understand why this happens. The pharmacists are trying to help. They want to be helpful. They want to provide the best patient experience that they can.

[00:06:47] They want to try to enforce and support adherence. They're under pressure. They want to solve the problem. So they're quickly turning to an easy fix. However, I use technology all the time. And as you said, translation tools are good, but they're not exactly accurate. If I'm traveling and use Google Translate to help me understand a menu. Sure.

[00:07:16] I doubt, unless I have severe allergies, that there's any life-threatening situation in using that. However, would I use Google Translate to help me decide how much medicine to give to a dear family member, my daughter, someone like that? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Because, probably right, it's just not good enough when someone's safety is on the line. Yeah, simply not good enough. Exactly.

[00:07:45] When someone could potentially die due to misinformation or the wrong information being communicated to them. About 22% of U.S. hospitalizations trace back to medication non-adherence. That is a very interesting stat to me and something I've been really tracing and thinking about for the past few years on how innovation can really come and fix this issue. And recently, actually, Washington State implemented a new law that will require pharmacies to provide prescription instructions in at least 10 languages.

[00:08:15] We know New York, California, Oregon, and Nevada already have something in place like that. So, what should pharmacy leaders, chain CEOs, regulatory affair leads, operation heads do right now knowing that, no matter what state they're in? Right. And, again, I do want to commend the states that have already regulated this. And Washington is predicted to come online here in January 2027.

[00:08:43] But my message to pharmacy leaders, Grace, is don't wait until the state forces you to act. If you have a significant non-English speaking LEP population coming through your pharmacy doors, then it's already your issue. And I would give pharmacy leaders three practical sort of guideline steps. First, just identify the languages your patients are actually speaking.

[00:09:12] Don't guess. Look at the pharmacy location, the demographics in your area. Second, put a validated solution in place. It can't just be a casual workaround. It needs to be clinically appropriate, accurate, and built for pharmacy use. And third, implement before the deadline. Give yourself time. Any new workflow takes effort, planning, staff, system integration, operational comfort.

[00:09:41] Speed matters in the pharmacy. And I understand that and am sensitive to their rigorous workload. But please don't wait till the last minute. And the other point that I'd like to make is that finding the right solution for your pharmacy should not make your job harder. Pharmacy teams, they're already very stretched.

[00:10:07] If the process is cumbersome, it will not be adopted consistently. Now, you are building category authority in this space. Thank you so much for teaching us more about how important this is in the industry and for the industry to take it seriously. We want to learn, too, about you as a female CEO leading these companies and using that amazing chemistry background and now business prowess in a very male-dominated healthcare technology industry.

[00:10:36] So I'm wondering on that side of things, what advice would you give to women coming into health tech, especially those building in overlooked categories where the work really matters? My number one advice would be advocate for what you know matters. Even if the spotlight isn't there yet, let's bring the light on. And for women coming into health tech, I would say don't wait for permission to care about a problem.

[00:11:04] Don't minimize your instincts. Trust them. If you see a gap and you know the gap is hurting people, say so. Keep saying so. Build the case. Bring people along. And do not take this is how it's always been done for a final answer. I also think that women bring a very important leadership style to healthcare innovation. Relationship building matters. Listening matters. Collaboration matters. Empathy matters.

[00:11:33] These are not soft skills in healthcare. These are strategic skills. So my advice, stay true to your mission, build a team that believes in it with you, and be willing to keep pushing. So inspiring. Now, as a woman leader, are there certain habits in your daily life that help you work your best and make a difference? What are things that you do regularly that just keep you at the top of your game? First and foremost, continuous coaching.

[00:12:01] And I don't mean me coaching others necessarily in that. I mean, I love to surround myself with mentors and coaches. And it is something I have a very strong passion about. Tom Brady, even when he was the number one most performing quarterback out there, he had coaches around him all the time.

[00:12:26] So I really am passionate about collaborating and being mentored. And, of course, returning that back to people and providing coaching and mentorship for the people I work with. So, so true. And I do think people don't, they think once they made it to a certain spot, they don't need to keep honing their skills. And it's truly a real leader that understands that there's always more to learn. There sure is. I learn something new every day.

[00:12:56] And I'm very fortunate. I work with people much smarter than me with the areas in which they cover. And I am constantly learning from them. And, again, I think also one thing is that anyone would tell you about me is I'm always willing to be wrong.

[00:13:17] I love a good, fierce argument and point-counterpoint and the open-mindedness to ingest what someone else is saying, hear it, think about it, and learn from it. I think if more of us were willing to be wrong, this world would be a better place. Oh, amen. Listening to each other and learning from one another. Now, to finish this conversation off right, where can our listeners find you online? I can be found on LinkedIn. Perfect. Awesome.

[00:13:47] And Language Scientific and RxTran. Excellent. Now, before I forget, did you happen to bring tea with you today or coffee? I did. And if so, tell me about your mug. Okay. So, I'm so excited because I've listened to your podcast for a while now. And I always thought, oh, if I have high tea with grace, I know exactly what mug I'm going to use. So, I have here a cup of tea. And it is so, my mug is so me.

[00:14:16] It's actually a beaker with a handle. I've had this for over 25 years from when I worked back in the lab. And I actually have quite a set of them. They came from different scientific glassware manufacturers. And basically, for me, it's a fun little connection back to my scientific roots. I started as a chemist. And even though my career moved me so far into business and leadership,

[00:14:42] my scientific foundation is still very much a part of how I think. I think all of us need to go out and get ourselves beaker mugs in the science and technology world. That is so good. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We loved learning from you. Well, thank you so much for having me, Grace. It's a pleasure. And thanks to you folks for joining us too. Check out the High Tea with Grace podcast for more interviews with great guests like Sharon today. Cheers. Like a Girl Media is more than a media network. It's a community.

[00:15:10] We want to meet you and amplify your voice and the voices of outstanding women innovating in health care. Interested in starting your own podcast or hosting an event near you? Connect with us online or in person. We're here to support and empower you.