KEY FINDING: PROVIDER ACCESS Members are culturally diverse and want providers who both speak their language and understand their culture.
Research has shown that improving cultural competency can improve overall quality of care and reduce health disparities.18 Throughout the United States, health disparities exist where certain populations, including Hispanic/Latinos, Asian/Pacific Islanders and African-Americans, have higher incidences of diseases compared with non-Hispanic whites.19 In Orange County, disparities exist in disease outcomes, both across different ethnic groups and regions in the county. For example, Hispanic adults have the highest rate of diabetes, followed by whites and Asians. African-American adults have the highest rate of obesity, and Hispanics and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander young adults have the highest rate of obesity. Cities with a lower median household income, such as Santa Ana, Stanton and Westminster, have high rates of diabetes, obesity and babies born with low birth weight.20 CalOptima serves a diverse low-income population that experiences many of the health disparities described above. Many are also immigrants to the United States. Based on the weighted CalOptima population estimate, 40 percent of members were born outside of the United States, about 14 percent have been in the United States less than five years and 24 percent indicated they did not speak English well. When looking at the same data by language group, more than one-third of non-English speakers felt they did not speak English well and more than 50 percent were born outside of the United States (Exhibits 34, 35 and 36). These factors can present challenges for members to find a well-paying and fulfilling job, safe and affordable housing, and healthy and familiar food. CalOptima, along with many other organizations, realizes the importance of providing culturally competent services to members in order to best serve such a diverse population and to address and reduce health disparities that members face.
Exhibit 34: Percent of members who reported that they speak English “not well,” by language 65.4%
64.1%
63.3% 50.9%
39.5%
35.8%
32.0%
23.6% 7.8% English (n=641)
Spanish (n=659)
Vietnamese (n=919)
Korean (n=907)
Farsi (n=707)
Arabic (n=612)
Chinese (n=715)
Other (n=380)
All members, weighted (n=5,549)
Key Findings: Provider Access | 53
