The global COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States harder than any other region, totaling more than 6 million cases and 187,000 deaths since it started. The situation is much worse when we look at the number of Spanish-speaking populations affected by the coronavirus.
At Massachusetts General Hospital, the number of Spanish speaking-language patients jumped from approximately 10% to more than 50% during a surge in April. These Spanish-speaking patients were even more isolated than ever since family members could not visit or accompany them due to the social distancing restrictions in the hospital. Even worse, there are cases of hospitals and clinics refusing care for Spanish-speaking patients with COVID-19 symptoms because of communication barriers. The language barrier existing in our healthcare system has escalated to a new level during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As an industry-leading Medical Spanish training provider, Canopy has launched an Infectious Disease learning module offered to frontline healthcare workers, free-of-charge, since the start of the outbreak. Canopy has also implemented a more flexible payment model for healthcare organizations and institutions to foster more Spanish-speaking bilingual providers without worrying about the financial burdens. We have received an influx of inquiries from numerous healthcare heroes since March with a need to improve their Medical Spanish in order to serve more Spanish-speaking patients.
Together, with the top medical institutions, Canopy is doing as much as possible to minimize the language barriers in our healthcare system, yet the language and the cultural barriers that inherently exist will continue long after the pandemic resolves. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that Hispanics will comprise nearly 25% of the U.S. population by 2045. Yet nationwide, the proportion of physicians who identify as Spanish-speaking is less than 6 percent. The shortage of Spanish-speaking providers is at a critical stake and the demand is growing higher than ever.
In the short-term, Canopy can help healthcare systems to evaluate and qualify bilingual providers with our new Canopy Credential + Compliance bundle. As part of the Affordable Care Act, hospitals must use qualified interpreters or healthcare providers to serve the patients with limited English proficiency. Therefore, in our latest innovative solution, Canopy has been partnered with healthcare organizations to adopt the Canopy Credential: Medical Spanish and Medical English Test, which is designed specifically for the healthcare facilities to qualify the bilingual skills and proficiency levels of their healthcare workers.
In the long-term, we need to increase the number of Spanish-speaking professionals in the medical schools. For 2019-2020, there were only 3,350 Hispanic medical school applicants in the U.S. out of more than 53,000 in total. Canopy has worked with over 150 top medical institutions across the country, offering the NIH-awarded 40-hour medical Spanish online courses to foster more high-quality bilingual physicians and nurses for the future of US health care.
If you are interested in joining the force with us, being a part of the solution, being trained with the award-winning Medical Spanish curriculum, and being certified as a Medical Spanish healthcare provider, please visit our website, www.withcanopy.com, to learn more about our products, courses, and innovative solutions!