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Place Matters in Non-Traditional Migration Areas: Exploring Barriers to Healthcare for Latino Immigrants by Region, Neighborhood, and Community Health Center

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Abstract

This paper identifies differences in adult Latino immigrant barriers to healthcare in the Cincinnati area in Hamilton County, OH, on three levels: by region, by neighborhood, and by community health center. Secondary data analysis was performed on 439 surveys. Respondents were aggregated by the geographic regions and neighborhoods where they live and by two community health centers where they receive care. Outcome measures included pragmatic and skill barrier indices adapted from the Barriers to Care Questionnaire (BCQ); the pragmatics index consists logistical barriers, including transportation and cost; the skills index is made up of items related to navigating the healthcare system, including communicating with physicians and completing paperwork. The results indicate that immigrant Latinos living in western Cincinnati and northern Hamilton County face significantly higher pragmatic barriers to care, while Latino immigrants going to a community health center in western Cincinnati have significantly fewer pragmatic and skill barriers than immigrants utilizing a nearby community health center. Because healthcare options for undocumented immigrants do not improve with the Affordable Care Act, community health centers will continue to serve as their primary source of care. This is particularly true in non-traditional migration areas, where immigrants tend to be isolated and lack resources. Efforts to improve access to healthcare for immigrant Latinos require place-based approaches that allow for targeted resources to improve care in these locations. This study helps to fill that need by identifying variation in barriers to care on multiple levels and offering strategies to alleviate these barriers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. HealthLandscape Division, American Academy of Family Physicians, Leawood, KS, USA

    Michael Topmiller

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45220, USA

    Jenny Zhen-Duan & Farrah J. Jacquez

  3. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA

    Lisa M. Vaughn

Authors
  1. Michael Topmiller
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  2. Jenny Zhen-Duan
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  3. Farrah J. Jacquez
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  4. Lisa M. Vaughn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Topmiller.

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Funding

This work was supported by a Community Health Grant from the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training, an organization supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, under Award Number UL1TR000077. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Topmiller, M., Zhen-Duan, J., Jacquez, F.J. et al. Place Matters in Non-Traditional Migration Areas: Exploring Barriers to Healthcare for Latino Immigrants by Region, Neighborhood, and Community Health Center. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 4, 1214–1223 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0329-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0329-6

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