Mass General Medical Interpreter Services

Hours of operation
Monday-Friday: 7 am - 8 pm
Sat, Sun: 8 am - 6:30 pm – Spanish interpreter available
Telephone: 617-726-6966
Main pager: #27403 (available only during hours of operation)

In Person Interpreters:

  • Due to 40% capacity in Interpreter Services, in person interpreters are available on a limited scale. To arrange for an in-person interpreter, please call 617-726-6966.
  • Our weekend staffing has not changed, a Spanish interpreter/Coordinator is on site from 8:00 am – 6:30 pm.

Telephonic Interpreters:

  • The majority of MGH staff interpreters are working remotely handling phone interpretations.
  • To access an MGH staff telephonic interpreter, please call 617-726-6966 and a coordinator will connect you.
  • For languages we don’t have on staff, or if our interpreters are unavailable, our outside vendor is CyraCom.
    • Dial 617-643-3344 (or from a hospital phone, extension x33344) and give the unit or department’s PIN #.
  • For inpatient units and for the Emergency Department, our interpreters available through IPOPs, VPOPs, Blu Phones, Voalte phones, Vocera and from individual cell phones
    • Dial 617-643-3344 (or from an internal hospital phone 33344) and give the unit or department’s PIN#
    • On Voalte select “IPOP” from the Universal Contact list
    • On Vocera say “Call IPOP”
    • From VPOP select the language or press “8”
  • Our second vendor is Language Line. If an interpreter is not available through Cyracom you may use our back up vendor by calling 855-938-0152.

Video Virtual Visits:

  • For Outpatient Encounters:
  • Interpreters can be booked in EPIC for virtual visits on various platforms such as Zoom, Doximity, Doxy.me, etc.
    • For EPIC Integrated Zoom visits, make the Visit Type a ‘Virtual Visit’, and link the visit with the interpreter.
      • For Zoom Standalone encounters, please email mghinterpreters@partners.org.
      • Please call 617-726-6966 with any questions regarding virtual encounters.
        • For Inpatient Encounters:
          • Interpreters can be included in Care Team Connect (VICS) calls.
          • Call 617-726-6966 to request an interpreter be booked for a certain time.
          • The interpreter will join the video call at the scheduled time.

Overnight On Call for Spanish, Portuguese and American Sign Language Interpreters:

  • To access an interpreter (Spanish, Portuguese and American Sign Language) during the overnight page the interpreter by calling 617-724-5700 and
    • Spanish pager # 30001
    • Portuguese pager # 30003
    • American Sign Language pager # 30007 (hours vary according to on-call availability)
    • Other Languages pager # 30009
  • Once the interpreter has been paged the provider has the option to conduct the call over VICS for a video encounter, do a telephonic interpretation on the spot with the interpreter or ask the interpreter to come in to the hospital in-person.