PURPOSE: To review the findings from the Hmong Quality of Care Project related to the patients’ interactions with their health insurance plans and health education materials, and to highlight implications and recommendations for future health education, promotion, and outreach in the Hmong community. METHODS: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with ten Hmong community leaders, as well as two focus groups with hypertensive Hmong patients from Fresno, CA, in order to understand the contextual issues related to quality of care. This qualitative data also led to the development a culturally relevant, Hmong-adapted, quantitative quality of care survey instrument which was administered to 200 hypertensive Hmong patients recruited from the health department in Fresno, clinics, churches, and through outreach activities. The findings from both the qualitative and quantitative data will be presented here to demonstrate a clearer understanding of these themes. FINDINGS: Although most study participants are insured in one of two local managed care plans under either Medi-Cal or Medicare, an alarmingly high proportion did not know the name of their health care plan. In addition, despite an acceptable proportion of patients responding correctly to questions testing level of knowledge around hypertension and heart disease, most were not able to correctly report when care should be sought when experiencing specific symptoms. These findings have important implications regarding the interactions between this traditionally underserved and non-English speaking population and the health care plans that serve them, particularly in regards to potential areas for health education, health promotion, and health care delivery system outreach.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, a participant in this session will be able to: 1. List the barriers experienced by the Fresno Hmong population when accessing managed care services, interpreter services, and linguistically and culturally appropriate health education materials. 2. Discuss potential solutions for overcoming some of these barriers at the health care delivery point of contact, by instituting appropriate health education, promotion, and outreach activities. 3. Understand the importance of collecting qualitative, contextual data from the population you wish to serve better, in order to fully understand their health care delivery needs, and to best design the most responsive and culturally competent solutions.
Keywords: Minority Health, Health Care Delivery
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.