From: Wake County Medical Society
Purpose: Limited access to linguistically and culturally competent primary care in Wake County increases cost of care, threatens quality of care and may contribute to health disparities. Increased demand from Spanish- speaking clients has eclipsed available resources at two large practices, despite their investments to maximize resources.
- Increase the capacity of 5 - 10 pediatric practices in the Community Care network to care for children of Spanish speaking families and increase outreach to families to strengthen the link to the health system.
How:
- Recruit two classes of five practices to participate;
- Train current health professional staff;
- Identify, train and place new bilingual staff in offices;
- Provide resources to support practices accepting Spanish-speaking families;
- Coordinate with outreach services to educate Spanish-speaking families.
Outcome:
- Bilingual students will be recruited and complete training;
- Practices will demonstrate increased capacity to treat Spanish- speaking families;
- Systems will be created to educate Spanish-speaking families prenatally and at birth about available sites for newborn care;
- Latino families will select private practices for care;
- Practice and patient satisfaction with initiative will be monitored.
Cost/Term: $657,735 over three years. September 2007 - September 2010