Findings on Insurance Reported by Investigators at RAND Corporation (Patient Experience for Hispanic Older Adults Varies By Language Preference): Insurance

Health Policy and Law Daily

2022 DEC 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Researchers detail new data in Insurance. According to news originating from Santa Monica, California, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Hispanic people with Medicare report worse patient experiences than non-Hispanic White counterparts. However, little research examines how these disparities may vary by language preference (English/Spanish).”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from RAND Corporation, “Using Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey data, assess whether 2014-2018 disparities in patient experiences for Hispanic people with Medicare vary by language preference. We fit a series of linear, case-mix adjusted models predicting Medicare CAHPS measures by race/ethnicity/language preference (Hispanic Spanish-respondents; Hispanic Spanish-preferring English-respondents; Hispanic English-preferring respondents; and non-Hispanic White English-respondents). A total of 1,006,543 Hispanic and non-Hispanic White respondents to the Medicare 2014-2018 CAHPS surveys. There were disparities for all Hispanic groups relative to non-Hispanic White English-respondents. Hispanic Spanish-preferring English-respondents reported worse experience than Hispanic Spanish-respondents for getting care quickly (-8 points), getting needed care (-5 points), doctor communication (-2 points), and customer service (-1 point), but better experiences for flu immunization (+2 points). Similarly, Hispanic Spanish-preferring English-respondents reported worse experience than Hispanic English-preferring respondents for getting care quickly (-4 points) and getting needed care (-2 points). Hispanic English-preferring respondents reported worse experience than Hispanic Spanish-respondents for getting care quickly (-4 points), getting needed care (-3 points), doctor communication and customer service (-2 points each), but better experience for flu immunization (+2 points). Regardless of language preference, Hispanic people with Medicare experience disparities in patient care relative to non-Hispanic White English-preferring counterparts. Hispanic Spanish-preferring English-respondents report the worse experiences, followed by Hispanic English-preferring respondents.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Hispanic Spanish-respondents experienced the least disparities of the three Hispanic language subgroups.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Patient Experience for Hispanic Older Adults Varies By Language Preference. Medical Care, 2022;60(12):895-900. Medical Care can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Medical Care - http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/pages/default.aspx)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Marc N. Elliott, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, United States. Additional authors for this research include Robert Weech-Maldonado, Amelia M. Haviland, Steven C. Martino, Jacob W. Dembosky, Katrin Hambarsoomian, Loida Tamayo and Sarah Gaillot.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/mlr.0000000000001783. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.