The Use of Interpreters in Health Centers: A Mixed-Methods Analysis.

Health centers serve millions of patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) through highly variable language services programs that reflect patient language preferences, the availability of bilingual staff, and very limited sources of third-party funding for interpreters. We conducted a mixed-methods study to understand interpreter services delivery in federally qualified health centers during 2009-2019. Using the Uniform Data System database, we conducted a quantitative analysis to determine characteristics of centers with and without interpreters, defined as staff whose time is devoted to translation and/or interpreter services. We also analyzed Medicaid-relevant policies' association with health centers' interpreter use. The qualitative component used a sample of 28 health centers to identify interpreter services models. We found that the use of interpreters, as measured by the ratio of interpreter full-time equivalents per patients with LEP, decreased between 2009 and 2019. We did not find statistically significant relationships between interpreter staffing and number of patients with LEP served, or in our examination of Medicaid-relevant policies. Our qualitative analysis uncovered homegrown models with varying program characteristics. Key themes included the critical role of bilingual staff, inconsistent interpreter training, and the reasonably smooth transition to virtual interpretation during COVID-19.

Cost burden among the CF population in the United States: A focus on debt, food insecurity, housing and health services.

BACKGROUND: Advancements in the cystic fibrosis (CF) field have resulted in longer lifespans for individuals with CF. This has led to more responsibility for complex care regimens, frequent health care, and prescription medication utilization that are costly and may not be fully covered by health insurance. There are outstanding questions about unmet medical needs among the U.S. population with CF and how the financial burden of CF is associated with debt, housing instability, and food insecurity. METHODS: Researchers developed the CF Health Insurance Survey (CF HIS) to survey a convenience sample of people living with CF in the U.S. The sample was weighted to reflect the parameters of the 2019 Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry Annual Data Report, and chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression models were conducted. RESULTS: A total of 1,856 CF patients in the U.S. were included in the study. Of these, 64% faced a financial burden: 55% of respondents faced debt issues, 26% housing issues, and 33% food insecurity issues. A third reported at least one unmet medical need: 24% faced unmet prescription needs, 12% delayed or shortened a hospitalization, and 10% delayed or skipped a care center visit as a result of the cost of care. CONCLUSIONS: People with CF in the U.S. experience high financial burden, which is associated with unmet medical needs. Income is the biggest risk factor for financial burden for people with CF, with people dually covered by Medicare and Medicaid particularly at risk.

A Mixed-Methods Study of Teaching Health Center Residents' Experiences of Mentorship, Career Planning, and Postresidency Practice Environments.

PURPOSE: The Teaching Health Center (THC) Graduate Medical Education program enables primary care physicians to train in community-based, underserved settings by shifting the payment structure and training environment for graduate medical education. To understand how THCs have successfully trained primary care physicians who practice in community-based settings, the authors conducted a mixed-methods exploratory study to examine THC residency graduates' experiences of mentorship and career planning during their residencies, perceptions of preparation for postresidency practice, and how these experiences were related to postresidency practice environments. METHOD: Surveys were conducted for all 804 graduating THC residents nationally, 2014-2017 (533 respondents, 66% response rate). Three quantitative outcomes were measured: graduates' perceptions of preparation for practice after residency (Likert scale), satisfaction with mentorship and career planning (Likert scale), and characteristics of postresidency practice environment (open-ended). A qualitative analysis of open-text survey answers, using thematic content analysis, was also conducted. RESULTS: Most THC graduates (68%) were satisfied with their mentorship and career planning experience and generally felt prepared for postresidency practice in multiple settings (78%-93%). Of the 533 THC graduates who provided information about their practice environment, 445 (84%) were practicing in primary care; nationally, 64% of physicians who completed primary care residencies practiced in primary care. Of the 445 THC graduates practicing in primary care, 12% practiced in rural areas, compared with 7% of all physicians. Just over half of THC graduates (51%) practiced in medically underserved areas, compared with 39% of all physicians. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers early evidence that the THC model produces and retains primary care physicians who are well prepared to practice in underserved areas. Given these promising findings, there appears to be a substantial benefit to growing the THC program. However, the program continues to face uncertainty around ongoing, stable funding.

The Use of Community Health Workers in Community Health Centers.

BACKGROUND: Until 2016, community health centers (CHCs) reported community health workers (CHWs) as part of their overall enabling services workforce, making analyses of CHW use over time infeasible in the annual Uniform Data System (UDS). OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine changes in the CHW workforce among CHCs from 2016 to 2018 and factors associated with the use of CHWs. RESEARCH DESIGN, SUBJECTS, MEASURES: The two-part model estimated separate effects for the probability of using any CHW and extent of CHW full-time equivalents (FTEs) reported in those CHCs, using a total of 4102 CHC-year observations from 2016 to 2018. To estimate the extent to which increases in CHW workforce are attributable to real growth or rather are a consequence of a change in reporting category, we also conducted a difference-in-differences analysis to compare non-CHW enabling services FTEs between CHCs with and without CHWs before (2013-2015) and after (2016-2018) the reporting change in 2016. RESULTS: The rate of CHCs that employed CHWs rose from 20.04% in 2016 to 28.34% in 2018, while average FTEs stayed relatively flat (3.32 FTEs). Patient visit volume (larger CHCs) and grant funding (less reliant on federal but more reliant on private funding) were significant factors associated with CHW use. However, we found that a substantial portion of this growth was attributable to a change in UDS reporting categories. CONCLUSION: While we do not address the reasons why CHCs have been slow to use CHWs, our results point to substantial financial barriers associated with CHCs' expanding the use of CHWs.

Comprehensive Revenue and Expense Data Collection Methodology for Teaching Health Centers: A Model for Accountable Graduate Medical Education Financing.

BACKGROUND: Despite considerable federal investment, graduate medical education financing is neither transparent for estimating residency training costs nor accountable for effectively producing a physician workforce that matches the nation's health care needs. The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program's authorization in 2010 provided an opportunity to establish a more transparent financing mechanism. OBJECTIVE: We developed a standardized methodology for quantifying the necessary investment to train primary care physicians in high-need communities. METHODS: The THCGME Costing Instrument was designed utilizing guidance from site visits, financial documentation, and expert review. It collects educational outlays, patient service expenses and revenues from residents' ambulatory and inpatient care, and payer mix. The instrument was fielded from April to November 2015 in 43 THCGME-funded residency programs of varying specialties and organizational structures. RESULTS: Of the 43 programs, 36 programs (84%) submitted THCGME Costing Instruments. The THCGME Costing Instrument collected standardized, detailed cost data on residency labor (n = 36), administration and educational outlays (n = 33), ambulatory care visits and payer mix (n = 30), patient service expenses (n = 26), and revenues generated by residents (n = 26), in contrast to Medicare cost reports, which include only costs incurred by residency programs. CONCLUSIONS: The THCGME Costing Instrument provides a model for calculating evidence-based costs and revenues of community-based residency programs, and it enhances accountability by offering an approach that estimates residency costs and revenues in a range of settings. The instrument may have feasibility and utility for application in other residency training settings.

Addressing Social Determinants Of Health Through Medical-Legal Partnerships.

The US health care system needs effective tools to address complex social and environmental issues that perpetuate health inequities, such as food insecurity, education and employment barriers, and substandard housing conditions. The medical-legal partnership is a collaborative intervention that embeds civil legal aid professionals in health care settings to address seemingly intractable social problems that contribute to poor health outcomes and health disparities. More than three hundred health care organizations are home to medical-legal partnerships. This article draws upon national survey data and field research to identify three models of the medical-legal partnership that health care organizations have adopted and the core elements of infrastructure that they share. Financing and commitment from health care organizations are key considerations for sustaining and scaling up the medical-legal partnership as a health equity intervention.

Examining EMTALA in the era of the patient protection and Affordable Care Act.

BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding the characteristics of hospitals that violate the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). This study addresses this gap by examining EMTALA settlements from violating hospitals and places these descriptive results within the current debate surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). METHODS: We conducted a content analysis of all EMTALA Violations that resulted in civil monetary penalty settlements from 2002-2015 and created a dataset describing the nature of each settlement. These data were then matched with Thomson Healthcare hospital data. We then present descriptive statistics of each settlement over time, plot settlements by type of violation, and provide the geographic distribution of settlements. RESULTS: Settlements resulting from EMTALA violations decreased from a high of 46 in 2002 to a low of 6 in 2015, a decline of 87%. Settlements resulting from violations most commonly occurred for failure to screen and failure to stabilize patients in need of emergency care. Settlements were most common in hospitals in the South (48%) and in urban areas (74%). Among Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) with a violation, the majority (62%) were located in the South or in urban areas (65%). Violating hospitals incurred annual settlements of $31,734 on average, for a total $5,299,500 over the study period. CONCLUSIONS: EMTALA settlements declined prior to and after the implementation of the ACA and were most common in the South and in urban areas. EMTALA's status as an unfunded mandate, scheduled cuts to DSH payments and efforts to repeal the ACA threaten the financial viability of safety-net hospitals and could result in an increase of EMTALA violations. Policymakers should be cognizant of the interplay between the ACA and complementary laws, such as EMTALA, when considering changes to the law.

Primary Care Residents in Teaching Health Centers: Their Intentions to Practice in Underserved Settings After Residency Training.

PURPOSE: To describe the residents who chose to train in teaching health centers (THCs), which are community-based ambulatory patient care sites that sponsor primary care residencies, and their intentions to practice in underserved settings. METHOD: The authors surveyed all THC residents training in academic years 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016, comparing their demographic characteristics with data for residents nationally, and examined THC residents' intentions to practice in underserved settings using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The overall survey response rate was 89% (1,031/1,153). THC resident respondents were similar to residents nationally in family medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, pediatrics, and psychiatry in terms of gender, age, race, and ethnicity. Twenty-nine percent (283) of respondents came from a rural background, and 46% (454) had an educationally and/or economically disadvantaged background. More than half (524; 55%) intended to practice in an underserved setting on completion of their training. Respondents were more likely to intend to practice in an underserved area if they came from a rural background (odds ratio 1.58; 95% confidence interval 1.08, 2.32) or disadvantaged background (odds ratio 2.81; 95% confidence interval 1.91, 4.13). CONCLUSIONS: THCs attract residents from rural and/or disadvantaged backgrounds who seem to be more inclined to practice in underserved areas than those from urban and economically advantaged roots. THC residents' intentions to practice in underserved areas indicate that primary care training programs sponsored by community-based ambulatory patient care sites represent a promising strategy to improve the U.S. health care workforce distribution.

The Benefits of Physician Training Programs for Rural Communities: Lessons Learned from the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program.

Rural communities disproportionately face preventable chronic diseases and death from treatable conditions. Health workforce shortages contribute to limited health care access and health disparities. Efforts to address workforce shortages have included establishing graduate medical education programs with the goal of recruiting and retaining physicians in the communities in which they train. However, rural communities face a number of challenges in developing and maintaining successful residency programs, including concerns over financial sustainability and the integration of resident trainees into existing clinical practices. Despite these challenges, rural communities are increasingly interested in investing in residency programs; those that are successful see additional benefits in workforce recruitment, access, and quality of care that have immediate and direct impact on the health of rural communities. This commentary examines the challenges and benefits of rural residency programs, drawing from lessons learned from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program.

Understanding Patient, Provider, and System Factors Related to Medicaid Readmissions.

BACKGROUND: Efforts on reducing hospital readmissions, which are intended to improve quality and reduce costs, tend to focus on elderly Medicare beneficiaries without recognition of another high-risk population--adult nonmaternal Medicaid patients. This study was undertaken to understand the complexity of Medicaid readmission issues at the patient, provider, and system levels. METHODS: Multiple qualitative methods, including site visits to nine safety-net hospitals, patient/family/caregiver inter views, and semistructured interviews with health plans and state Medicaid agencies, were used in 2012 and 2013 to obtain information on patient, provider, and system issues related to Medicaid readmissions; strategies considered or currently used to address those issues; and any perceived financial, regulatory or, other policy factors inhibiting or facilitating readmission reduction efforts. RESULTS: Significant risk factors for Medicaid readmissions included financial stress, high prevalence of mental health and substance abuse disorders, medication nonadherence, and housing instability. Lacking awareness on Medicaid patients' high risk, a sufficient business case, and proven strategies for reducing readmissions were primary barriers for providers. Major hurdles at the system level included shortage of primary care and mental health providers, lack of coordination among providers, lack of partnerships between health plans and providers, and limited data capacity for realtime monitoring of readmissions. CONCLUSIONS: The intertwining of behavioral, socioeconomic, and health factors; the difficulty of accessing appropriate care in the outpatient setting; the lack of clear financial incentives for health care providers to reduce readmissions; and the fragmentation of the current health care system warrant greater attention and more concerted efforts from all stakeholders to reduce Medicaid readmissions.

After the Affordable Care Act: Health Reform and the Safety Net.

Two major safety net providers - community health centers and public hospitals - continue to play a key role in the health care system even in the wake of coverage reform. This article examines the gains and threats they face under the Affordable Care Act.

Hospital language service programs: a closer look at translation practices.

Much of the information we have about the delivery of language services for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) relates to interpreter services. Very little is known about hospitals' experiences responding to LEP patients' needs for written materials in their preferred languages. This study describes the translation practices of 35 hospitals with large interpreter services programs to inform guidance for the effective delivery of translation services in health care settings. We conducted in-depth telephone interviews with hospital staff members responsible for overseeing translation services at their hospitals. Translation practices varied considerably among study participants, with participants relying on a combination of interpreters serving as translators and contract translators to translate between 5 and 5,000 documents per year. This study showcases examples of hospitals with surprisingly robust translation service programs despite limited external funding. The variance in translation practices underscores a lack of guidance in this area.

Reducing hospital readmissions among medicaid patients: a review of the literature.

Reducing hospital readmissions is a key approach to curbing health care costs and improving quality and patient experience in the United States. Despite the proliferation of strategies and tools to reduce readmissions in the general population and among Medicare beneficiaries, few resources exist to inform initiatives to reduce readmissions among Medicaid beneficiaries. Patients covered by Medicaid also experience readmissions and are likely to experience distinct challenges related to socioeconomic status. This review aims to identify factors related to readmissions that are unique to Medicaid populations to inform efforts to reduce Medicaid readmissions. Our search yielded 254 unique results, of which 37 satisfied all review criteria. Much of the Medicaid readmissions literature focuses on patients with mental health or substance abuse issues, who are often high utilizers of health care within the Medicaid population. Risk factors such as medication noncompliance, postdischarge care environments, and substance abuse comorbidities increase the risk of readmission among Medicaid patients.

What the Affordable Care Act means for people with jail stays.

About one in six people expected to enroll in Medicaid under health reform expansions and nearly one in ten expected to enroll in qualified health plans through the health insurance Marketplaces will have spent some time in jail during the past year. People who have spent time in jail frequently cycle in and out of incarceration; have high rates of chronic physical, mental health, and substance use conditions; and historically have been uninsured and without access to continuous health care. The Affordable Care Act may not change the quality of health care in jails, but its provision of better access to care before and after people are incarcerated could have positive long-term effects on both the health of those individuals and overall health care costs. Achieving these results will require careful planning and coordination among jail health care programs, Medicaid, and Marketplace health plans. The use of electronic health records by jails and community providers could help ensure that treatments are consistent no matter where a patient resides. Policy makers and health plans could also ensure continuity of care by including in their networks some of the same safety-net providers that are under contract to furnish care to jail inmates.

Reducing hospital readmissions among medicaid patients: a review of the literature.

Reducing hospital readmissions is a key approach to curbing health care costs and improving quality and patient experience in the United States. Despite the proliferation of strategies and tools to reduce readmissions in the general population and among Medicare beneficiaries, few resources exist to inform initiatives to reduce readmissions among Medicaid beneficiaries. Patients covered by Medicaid also experience readmissions and are likely to experience distinct challenges related to socioeconomic status. This review aims to identify factors related to readmissions that are unique to Medicaid populations to inform efforts to reduce Medicaid readmissions. Our search yielded 254 unique results, of which 37 satisfied all review criteria. Much of the Medicaid readmissions literature focuses on patients with mental health or substance abuse issues, who are often high utilizers of health care within the Medicaid population. Risk factors such as medication noncompliance, postdischarge care environments, and substance abuse comorbidities increase the risk of readmission among Medicaid patients.

Underserved patients' perspectives on patient-centered primary care: does the patient-centered medical home model meet their needs?

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) has gained significant interest as a delivery system model that can improve health care quality while reducing costs. This study uses focus groups to investigate underserved, chronically ill patients' preferences for care and develops a patient-centered framework of priorities. Seven major priorities were identified: (a) communication and partnership, (b) affordable care, (c) coordinated care, (d) personal responsibility, (e) accessible care, (f) education and support resources, and (g) the essential role of nonphysician providers in supporting their care. Using the framework, we analyzed the PCMH joint principals as developed by U.S. medical societies to identify where the PCMH model could be improved to better meet the needs of these patients. Four of the seven patient priorities were identified as not present in or supported by current PCMH joint principles. The study discusses how the PCMH model can better address the needs of low-income, disadvantaged patients.

Should I call an interpreter?-How do physicians with second language skills decide?

Very little is known about how and when clinicians use their second language skills in patient care and when they rely on interpreters. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors most relevant to physicians' decision-making process when confronting the question of whether their language skills suffice to communicate effectively with patients in particular encounters. We conducted 25 in-depth, semi-structured telephone interviews with physicians in different practice settings who, while not native speakers, routinely interact with LEP patients using second language skills. Physicians consider a variety of factors in deciding whether to use their own language skills in clinical care, including their own and their patient's language proficiency, costs, convenience, and the clinical risk or complexity of the encounter. This study suggests the need for practical guidance and training for clinicians on the appropriate use of second language skills and interpreters in clinical care.