LOS ANGELES – L.A. Care Health Plan, the nation’s largest public health plan, is presenting four of its innovative practices—the highest number L.A. Care has presented since 2000—at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) 137th Annual Meeting and Exposition. The APHA’s Annual Meeting and Exposition is the oldest and largest gathering of public health professionals in the world, which features the work of public health experts on a wide array of topics significant in today’s health climate. This year’s APHA Meeting and Exposition will be held in the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia from November 7 – 11, 2009.
APHA aims to protect all Americans from preventable, serious health threats and strives to assure that community-based health promotion and disease prevention activities and preventive health services are universally accessible in the United States.
The innovative programs being presented by L.A. Care fulfill the health plan’s mission to provide access to quality health care for its members and support the health care providers that serve these patients in Los Angeles County, the most diverse county in the United States. Each of these best practices will be presented either in a poster session or an oral presentation and include:
- Obtaining Better Survey Data to Improve the Quality of Health Care Services
L.A. Care uses a nationally-recognized CAHPS member satisfaction survey to assess the
quality of its health care services and identify areas for improvement. Through refined survey strategies, such as combining the information gathered across years from patients to improve precision and adding questions to the survey to gather feedback in patients'own words, L.A. Care has been able to obtain more accurate and comprehensive survey results, which have been used to improve the quality of health care services for its members.
quality of its health care services and identify areas for improvement. Through refined survey strategies, such as combining the information gathered across years from patients to improve precision and adding questions to the survey to gather feedback in patients'own words, L.A. Care has been able to obtain more accurate and comprehensive survey results, which have been used to improve the quality of health care services for its members.
“Getting detailed feedback from our members has been particularly valuable, because the members identify specific issues, to tell us what needs fixing,” says main author and Santa Monica resident, Rae Starr, Senior Biostatistician at L.A. Care Health Plan. “This information can help us make more informed decisions to improve the quality of services provided by our staff.”
A contributing author is Eleanor Young, Director of Healthcare Outcomes and Analysis at L.A. Care Health Plan.
- Addressing Language Access Disparities in Los Angeles County
L.A. Care analyzed data from its CAHPS member satisfaction survey and Medical Professionals Interpreter Training Program to identify language access barriers for members in Los Angeles County. The results showed that the health care providers attending the training were not from the geographic areas where interpretation services were needed most. These findings allowed L.A. Care to target interventions in the right areas; educate members about their rights for interpretation services; and familiarize clinic staff with the professional interpreter services that L.A. Care provides at no cost to doctors or patients.
“Access to trained medical interpreters has been a critical element to overcoming cultural and language barriers for many of our members,” says co-author and Eagle Rock resident, Lenna Monte, Cultural and Linguistic Specialist at L.A. Care Health Plan. “They are now able to understand and follow their physician’s instructions better.”
Other contributing authors include Rae Starr and Nai Kasick of L.A. Care Health Plan; Beverly Treumann of the Health Care Interpreter Network; and Stergios Rousssos, Ph.D., and Whitney Schroeder of San Diego State University.
The poster sessions include:
- Training Medical Professionals To Improve Language Assistance in a Health Care Setting
The goal of L.A. Care’s Medical Professionals Interpreter Training Program is to improve interpreting knowledge and skills among bilingual medical staff members who often function as interpreters for patients in a health care setting. Interpreters provide on-the-spot translation services between doctors and patients who do not speak each others’ language. Evaluation of before and after surveys of trained medical staff members found improvements in trainees’ knowledge about patient rights for interpreting and correct interpretation of chronic disease management scenarios. This analysis is the most comprehensive study of an interpreter training program published to date.
“Improved medical staff training and education improves patient-doctor interactions and leads to better health care outcomes,” says co-author and West Los Angeles resident, Nai Kasick, Cultural and Linguistic Services Director at L.A. Care Health Plan.
Other contributing authors include Stergios Rousssos, Ph.D., and Whitney Schroeder of San Diego State University; Beverly Treumann of the Health Care Interpreter Network; and Rae Starr and Lenna Monte of L.A. Care Health Plan.
- Using an Evolving Consumer Engagement Model To Educate, Empower, and Mobilize Members
L.A. Care’s local community advisory committees, comprised of approximately 300 consumer, advocate and provider members across Los Angeles County, were redesigned to educate participants about community health topics and access to health care issues, and empower them to participate in practical advocacy efforts. This redesigned program
has improved grassroots participation and realigned its programmatic direction to better meet the needs of L.A. Care’s culturally and linguistically diverse members.
has improved grassroots participation and realigned its programmatic direction to better meet the needs of L.A. Care’s culturally and linguistically diverse members.
“The participation of stakeholders is key to impacting not only our members but their communities. We know that through health care education and knowledge about available resources, the active participants can improve their health and the health of their communities,” says author and South Los Angeles resident, Auleria Eakins, Community Outreach and Education Manager at L.A. Care Health Plan.
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L.A. Care Health Plan (Local Initiative Health Authority of Los Angeles County) is a public entity and community-accountable health plan serving residents of Los Angeles County through a variety of programs including Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, L.A. Care’s Healthy Kids, and L.A. Care’s Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plan. L.A. Care is a leader in developing new programs through innovative partnerships designed to provide health coverage to vulnerable populations and to support the safety net. With nearly 800,000 members, L.A. Care is the nation’s largest public health plan.