Prescription Labels Millions of Patients Can't Read: RxTran Data Shows Surging Demand for Translated Directions

Washington state becomes fifth state to mandate prescription translation, RxTran urges pharmacies to move now rather than wait; CEO Sharon Blank meets with press at NACDS 2026

BOSTON, Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For patients who can't read English, a prescription label is often the only instruction that goes home with them. Millions go home unable to read it. Washington State will require pharmacies to translate prescription directions on request beginning Jan. 22, 2027, becoming the fifth state to regulate prescription language access. RxTran, a division of Language Scientific, says the move signals that prescription language access has become a national patient-safety obligation rather than a state-by-state compliance question.

Hispanic and Latino residents now account for nearly 29 million people nationwide, about 9 percent of residents ages 5 and older, and have limited English proficiency, according to Migration Policy Institute analysis of Census data.

Washington's prescription translation rule, WAC 246-945-029, takes effect Jan. 22, 2027. Under it, every dispensing facility must provide written translation of a prescription's complete directions for use whenever a patient with limited English proficiency, their prescriber, or their authorized representative requests it, and must offer to provide it when the patient's limited English proficiency is self-evident. The translated directions must be affixed to the container, and the rule sets no limit on which languages a patient may request. Pharmacies must also post notice of that right in the 10 most common languages spoken in Washington. Washington will join California, New York, Nevada and Oregon, which already regulate prescription language access.

Since August 2024, RxTran's proprietary data series has tracked which languages patients are requesting. Spanish accounts for the largest share of requests, but the growth curve belongs to less commonly served languages: Farsi and Vietnamese up roughly 50 percent, Pashto up 60 percent year over year, and Burmese up more than 300 percent between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.

"Every quarter our data shows demand growing in states with no translation mandate. Pharmacies don't need to wait for a mandate to act," said Sharon Blank, Chief Executive Officer of Language Scientific and RxTran. "The states writing these laws are setting the standard the rest of the country will be measured against. These patients deserve to understand how to take their own medicine, and we have had the means to give them that for years."

Patients with limited English proficiency face measurably worse outcomes after they leave care. In a study of more than 400,000 hospitalized adults, they had 33 percent higher odds of readmission within seven days than English-proficient patients, even after adjusting for clinical and demographic factors. Federal guidance on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act states that machine translation of critical documents must be reviewed by a qualified human translator, a standard free machine translation tools, including consumer AI chatbots, cannot meet.

Because Washington's rule turns on what a patient asks for, a short list of covered languages won't satisfy it. RxTran's patented Transduction technology draws prescription directions from a controlled library of more than one million pre-translated SIGs (the directions for use that appear on a label) across 26 languages, covering every language currently required under state prescription-translation laws so pharmacies can be immediately compliant, and integrates directly with major pharmacy management systems. Pharmacies without an integrated system can access translations through RxTran's web platform. Every translation passes a five-step quality control process in which three independent linguists review the text and a licensed bilingual pharmacist validates it.

Kristen Beiers-Jones, RN, MN, Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing, is collaborating with RxTran on a paper on the dangers of inaccurate label translations for LEP populations, an area in which she is an expert. Beiers-Jones received the Oregon Public Health Association Policy Award for advancing public health policy in Oregon, and her clinical and community work through OHSU's I-CAN program focuses on refugee and immigrant populations.

"In my work with refugee and immigrant patients, I've watched people nod along at the pharmacy counter, indicating understanding of the instructions, and then go home with medication that could hurt them if taken incorrectly," said Beiers-Jones. "An interpreter helps, but a patient who is stressed and unwell forgets what was said as soon as they walk out the door. The label is all they have."

Given the growing importance of this nationwide LEP patient health issue, RxTran will exhibit at the NACDS Total Store Expo in Boston, Aug. 15-17. CEO Sharon Blank will be available for interviews throughout the show to discuss prescription language access and LEP patient safety. To schedule time with Blank during the show, contact [email protected].

About RxTran
RxTran is a division of Language Scientific, Inc., the clinical, medical, and scientific language specialists. RxTran's patented Transduction technology provides 100% accurate native-language prescription medication labeling in 26 languages. For more information visit www.languagescientific.com or www.rxtran.com.

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SOURCE RxTran