The Need for Affordable Health Care for The Latino Community in The Us

In some areas of the U.S, Covid-19 is killing Latinos at up to three times the rate that it is killing white people. Unfortunately, for Latinos, this statistic is not a surprise; however, it now sheds light for all to see the effects of pre-existing health inequalities among underserved Latino communities. Having access to health care can mean life or death for many people, specially, Low income Latino’s since they have been hit the hardest by the current pandemic, and now more than ever need the government to provide affordable and quality health services. U.S. health policies created before this pandemic set the stage for these inequalities and are contributing to unnecessary sickness and fear during this crisis. The inability of low-income Latinos to access health care due to high health care premiums and low percentage of Latino doctors is helping these inequalities. Solving this issue is vital not only for the health of Latinos themselves, but also for the health of the American the public in general.

It is generally agreed that the health care delivery system in the United States needs change, so it is not surprising that access to adequate and culturally competent health care services in underserved communities is an issue for low income Latinos. Predictably, it is twice as hard for Latinos in underserved communities to thrive without suitable services. Currently, America has a shortage of doctors and an even bigger shortage of physicians of color. Between 1978 and 2008, only 5.5% of graduating doctors in the U.S, were Latino, which means that even though Latinos make up 17% of the U.S. population, they only represent a small portion of the doctor workforce. Also, according to the Pew research center, more than two-fifths of Latino patients considered the physician’s ability to speak Spanish important when selecting a doctor and deciding to continue treatment. The main problem is that the U.S has a low number of Latino doctors specially in underserved communities.

There are 60 million Latinos in the U.S right now and are predicted to become the largest minority in the U.S in 2050, which means they are a big part of our future population and workforce. Therefore, it is crucial that the government provides culturally appropriate services to underserved Latino communities to make sure that our future workforce/generations are healthy and thriving. In this paper, I will discuss the need for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work with other agencies to increase the number of Latino doctors and to provide training to non-Latino doctors so they can provide culturally appropriate services in communities with a high percentage of Latinos. All the people that are dying due to lack of care matter, and the government needs to have a productive approach to fix these disparities.

Key Entities for Health System Governance

To implement solutions to the current problems in the health care system it’s important that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) takes the lead. There are twelve agencies within HHS that have the ability to work together and change certain aspects of health care. HHS is main the federal government’s main agency and the twelve organizations fall within the HHS direction and some of them are: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which conducts programs to protect public health and safety and has taken the lead on addressing Covid-19 and alerting the public of the health emergencies and updates. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which supports efforts to improve health care access for people who are uninsured, have a disability or are medically vulnerable. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the leading health research center in the nation. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which conducts evidence-based research on effectiveness, patient experience and health disparities. Their mission is to generate evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used properly. The Administration for Community Living (ACL), was created around the principle that older adults and people of all ages with disabilities should can participate fully in their communities. They fund services and supports provided by networks of community-based organizations, and provide investments in research, education, and innovation. The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), which is an independent nonprofit organization that works outside of government and is an adviser to policymakers and the private sector on improving the nation’s health. Last but not least, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are in charge of administering Medicare, which is a federal program for adults 65 and older and works with state governments to administer both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which are federal- state programs for certain low-income populations. HHS can shape and update the health care system, which is why it’s important to work with them to address the policy problem since they lead these important organizations and get to weigh in during the decision process. Out of all these amazing institutions, to address this specific issue HHS will need to work with mainly HRSA, AHRQ and the national academy of medicine to come up with a structured plan to increase the number of Latino doctors in underserved communities and to make sure that Latinos that are the most vulnerable are getting the health assistance they need.

Increase Number of Diverse Health Care Providers

As our population, has grown larger and older, our supply of trained doctors, nurses, and other professionals has not kept up with the increased demand. Strengthening the nation’s healthcare system cannot be achieved without improving healthcare quality and accessibility. Increasing the number of Latino health care doctors who can provide adequate services to the underserved Latino community is needed. Spanish-speaking doctors have been shown to improve control of diseases and improve patient’s obedience to health advice and patient satisfaction since they can communicate health care treatment information clearly to the patients. The low percentage of Hispanic doctors explains why some Latinos tend to feel awkward with the American style of healthcare. For many in the Latino community, a doctor-patient relationship needs to feel welcoming and personal so the patient can feel/know they are receiving the best care possible. This makes the American healthcare setting, in which doctors often rush visits and lack time to establish relationships with patients, seem unreliable. I suggest that the government triples the current funding for grants offered to Latinos seeking a career in health care, making it a requirement that after graduating the applicant must provide 3 years of services in an underrepresented Latino community. Latino doctors can communicate effectively and provide adequate treatment to the underserved Latino communities since they understand the culture, needs and expectations.

Attention should also be focused on the wide gap between the ethnic structure of the U.S. population and the structure of the healthcare workforce. The number of Latinos who applied to medical school has tripled over the past 30 years, however, the percentage of those who graduated hasn’t increased much in the past years. The underrepresentation of Latino health care workers in health jobs must be addressed by creating diversity requirements for medical school accreditation, and scholarships should be provided to Latinos and non-Latinos that would like to serve in underserved Latino communities.

Latino students may not pursue a career in medicine due to having low socio-economic status and this adds to the health care workforce gap. So many Latinos have personal experiences with barriers that they had to overcome to get health care treatment; this experience will motivate them to go back to a low-income area and provide health services.

Some of the positive aspects of working with Community clinics is that since they are from the local community they have a greater understanding of the social and physical needs facing the local community. The government needs to partner with underserved community clinics to find the areas that need Latino doctors the most. Strategies to solve disparities in care must engage the community To increase medical school enrollment they need to make sure that they are spreading the word about the financial help they will offer to those that are interested in becoming doctors and providing service in an underserved community, this will also benefit the nation since we would have more doctors. Right now, DHHS must focus on making sure the healthcare workforce is diverse specially in the areas with a high percentage of Latinos. Given the diverse cultural backgrounds of Latinos, consideration should be given to cultural and language compatibility between the communities and health care providers. Studies have found that Latinos who Spanish is their first langue have poorer experiences with health care than whites and Latinos who speak English. Close doctor-patient relationship is important for Latinos to feel that they are receiving the best possible care. This is why we need more Latino doctors, if a patient and the doctor do not speak the same language clearly than there is a big chance that the patient will not understand the doctors description of the illness, treatment advice and this lack of same-language health care services can have life-threatening consequences on the Latino community, since it is likely that the patient will not finish receiving the adequate treatment due to not understanding the illness well. To get more Latinos to join the health care field we must make it affordable for them to attend and remind them that good medical experts are valued extremely high in the United States. Jobs in healthcare guarantee great opportunities and job security. Some medical students join because they lost their loved ones to fatal diseases so they want to contribute to the medical field by finding a cure to the most complicated disorders.

For this method to be successful it is necessary to have Latino representation at all levels of the decision-making process in health care administration. They will keep the need of the Latin community in mind when deciding about the health care system changes needed. DHHS should work closely with AHRQ, to conduct evidence-based research on effectiveness, patient experience and impact. The evaluation criteria should measure the Effectiveness and impact of the program, the Effectiveness meaning seeing if the number of Latinos who enroll and graduated from medical school increased after being offered grants. We can measure the programs impact, by seeing if the percentage of underserved Latinos who receive needed medical treatment increased. These are general criteria that should be used as a foundation for developing evaluative questions. These criteria should provide the HHS and other agencies with the essential information to understand the situations and determine what should be done next. This is crucial to respond to the changing health needs of Latinos in the country to make sure that the country has a healthy workforce and the future generations of our nation are healthy.

Accessible Operating Facilities

As a nation, we have an abundance of healthcare facilities and cutting edge technologies that are the envy of the world However, the availability of newer and improved health-care services, does not mean that they are equally available to all Americans. Health care are needed in the areas that have a high percentage of underserved Latino individuals and are close to their communities. Sadly, Health care services are often not available within a person’s geographic area, or do not offer culturally responsive care, or are available only after delays. Inadequate access to healthcare can exacerbate health problems, increasing costs and preventing better health outcomes. Many people do not know that health care facilities are largely owned and operated by private sector businesses. To be able to address the needs of health care centers it’s important to note that Fifty-eight percent of community hospitals in the U.S are non-profit, twenty-one percent are government owned, twenty-one percent are for-profit, and the remainder are owned by state and local governments.

It is also important to understand the current health insurance options in the United States. This includes the two most popular options which are Health Maintenance Organization HMO’s and Provider Organizations (PPO’s). These plans differ in terms of pricing, mainly offering different fixed payments and pay-per-usage fees as well as flexibility in choosing doctors. To make sure that the current health care facilities are providing adequate health services to underserved latinos, I proposed that DHHS works with community health centers (CHC’s) since they tend to lack the resources and diverse staff needed to provide high quality treatment, they can also identify underserved areas that would benefit from a community clinic These underserved community clinics can help address the address the community needs. These centers have the experience and knowledge needed to make a direct impact on their local communities and with the right approach they can reach out to those that are the most vulnerable. The health care providers from the local community have a greater understanding of the social and physical issues facing the local community. Strategies to solve disparities in care must engage the communityI also suggest that, Non-Latino Health care providers in mostly Latino communities receive cultural competency training for institutions serving the underserved Latino communities. Latinos will choose to visit health care facilities if it satisfies their need for a Spanish speaking staff that offers satisfactory services and support. Creating operations in cities with high Latino population will increase the number of patients able to easily access health care treatment. Providers should operate the health centers to cater to the Latino needs if most of the community is Latin. Operating facilities that are accessible to Latinos need to employ multilingual nurses/doctors, staff that is part of the community, this will make Latino patients feel that they are receiving outstanding health care treatment. To make sure that these facilities are fulfilling their mission of providing adequate services it is needed for DHHS to work with AHRQ, to conduct evidence-based research on patient satisfaction of the patients and impact on the communities’ health. The evaluation criteria should measure the patient’s satisfaction to see what can be offer in the facility to better the quality of services provided to them and to see if more underserved patients return to the facility for follow up treatment. The patient’s feedback on the services they received will allow for the patients to give direct advice about what they want/need out of the services.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Alternative

Before making any final decision, it is important to Weigh pros and cons, this can speed up the decision-making process, improve understanding of the situation and it can reach a balanced informed decision. Some of the pros of having more Latino Doctors are that Latinos who do not speak English will feel more comfortable to receive health care treatment needed since they will be able to communicate their needs and illnesses and will understand clearly the doctor’s findings and orders. The doctors will be able to raise awareness about the needs for Latinos to receive regular checkups to prevent diseases that can lead to death. Some of the cons of this approach is that maybe there won’t be enough doctors that are willing to serve in underserved communities for a long time, that will create inconsistency in services provided. Some of the resource constraints may be that the services offered by the doctors are unaffordable for the community. This is something that must be managed by HHS.

Some of the benefits of having accessible operating facilities is that those Latinos that may live far from health care services won’t have to travel a long way to receive adequate treatment. Having to travel far can prevent some low-income Latinos from wanting to receive services and may lead them to ignore their health issues if possible. More people with access to health care services means a healthier and stronger population which benefits the country. Some of the cons that may arise due to having operating facilities in areas with high percentage of Latinos is that if they don’t have diverse staff in these facilities than Latinos might still not use the services. Receiving adequate health services is just as important as the location of these facilities. A resource constraint may be that we might not have enough latino doctors in the same location therefor, Non-Latino doctors have to be hired and they can only provide effectively care to poor Latinos if they receive cultural awareness/knowledge training and if they learn Spanish. Only then will they be able to cater to the needs of the underserved Latino community. Strategies to move the health care system towards the goal include the need to provide relevant training on cultural competence and cross-cultural issues to health professionals and creating policies that reduce administrative and linguistic barriers to patient care. To clarify, when I mention the “Latino culture” I mean our cultural characteristics which is the Spanish language, our religious beliefs and the importance of relationship building.

Preferred Approach: Health Care Field Grants for Latinos

The increasing diversity of the nation brings opportunities for health care providers, health care systems, and policy makers to create and deliver culturally competent health care services. Even with the possible barriers that attempting to increase the number of Latino doctors may bring, I recommend to pursue this approach because the need for Latino health care providers who can provide adequate services to the Latino community is so great.

In 2010, the U.S. health care workforce encompassed nearly 290,000 primary care professionals, 208,000 were physicians, more than 55,000 were nurse practitioners, and more than 30,000 were physician assistants. Even with this break down, the United States still falls behind more than 24 other countries in the number of doctors per capita, with only 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people. While the number of physician assistants is expected to grow by almost 72 percent by 2025, the growth rate will not provide a sufficient number of doctors to address the projected primary care doctor shortage. The number of Spanish-speaking doctors is even lower, Latino doctors have been shown to improve control of diseases and improve patient’s obedience to health advice and patient satisfaction and this alone can save so many lives. The scholarships should be provided to Latinos and non-Latinos that would like to serve in underserved Latino communities and this will also benefit the nation as a whole and will address the current issue we are facing of not having enough doctors during a pandemic. The rationale behind this approach was thinking ahead, in several years the number of old age citizens will require more doctors. After this current pandemic, the health care system will work on being prepared if anything similar happens again and that includes needing more doctors that can serve anyone in the country, Latino doctors have the benefit of being bilingual which means that they will be ready to provide their services to anyone that needs it. More doctors mean that there will be an increase in research since there will be more passionate professionals working together with the common goal to heal different diseases that are impacting our country.

Implementation Strategy

For a nation to thrive, its population must be healthy. Poor health reduces one’s ability to attend work, school or care for one’s family. Without healthcare services to help improve health, Americans are at greater risk of poor health and human services outcomes. to make sure that my proposed plan is successful at fill the health gaps we will need to implement a strategy. This will help bring the strategic plan to life by breaking it into identifiable steps and each step is assigned a to team member to complete on a set timeline. To implement this to this project we need to have HHS meet with HRSA, AHRQ, the national Academy of medicine and lawmakers to discuss and gather past data of the most underserved communities in the country with a high percentage of Latinos and to brainstorm ideas of the best approach, its important to keep in mind during this stage that just because a city has a large population of latinos des not mean we should only focus on that location. More likely than not, underserved communities are also in rural areas in the country and they tend to be isolated from the crowds. HRSA and AHRQ need to plan for new research to be funded to update the data and how they will identify how many heath care facilities are needed. Once the locations have been identified, they can begin to make an estimate and count how many new facilities they can afford to fund and how many medical graduates they can fund, while at the same time, thinking about how they can add it to the upcoming year’s budget. Consistency in grants offered its important to be able to notice the true impact of it on the health of the patients.

Once HHS has the funds to get started, they must work with its public and private partners to provide high quality, and accessible health for the people in the nation. They will do this by expand the healthcare workforce with diverse staff members. This will help improve people lifespan greatly. HHS needs to work with the American Board of Medical Specialties and the American Board of Internal Medicine to make sure that the medical institutions are considering in increasing the admission and grants offered to Latinos interested in pursuing a career in health care. They can work with medical schools to manage the funds offered and put in place what health care locations the students will offer their services in exchange for a grant that will make their education affordable. Once all of this has been put in place it is also crucial to increase awareness about the grants offered. To address that I propose the following: to spread the word at the federal, state, and local governments level, HHS needs to work with community center, churches, media, and community groups since they are source of information for Latinos. According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent Latinos reported that the health information they gained from the media led them to visit the doctor. The National Alliance for Hispanic Health works to improve the quality of care and its availability to all by listening to the individual, investing in leading community based organizations and working with national partners, examining and improving the resources and systems available, and designing solutions to make health care accessible they should work to adjust its services and marketing based on local Latino demographics that were chosen as the most underserved. The best practice would be to design a community engagement process that will achieve long-term and viable outcomes, and implementation at the district level. This will Improve Latinos access to healthcare and it will expand choices of care and service options. This will strengthen and expand the healthcare workforce to meet America’s diverse needs. Ideally, this program will be mandatory expense specially during this pandemic and the years to come.

Conclusion

Addressing the shortage of Latino health care providers and the need for affordable health insurance will create a more diverse health care force and they will be able to provide adequate health services for Latinos and others in the nation that will need it. Health care provider need to recognize that the Latino population is unique and diverse in its needs and that solving these disparities benefit the country.

The Latino community have a great need for accessible and affordable health care. This is important to address since they will soon be the ethnic majority in the nation and they are the future of our workforce. Addressing the shortage of Latino health care providers will create a more diverse health care force and they will be able to provide adequate health services for Latinos and others in the nation that will need it. The Latino population is unique and diverse in its needs and solving these disparities benefit the country. Health disparities are a result of language/cultural barriers can easily be addressed with the right approach.