Assessing Language Access Disparities in Los Angeles County through Evaluation of a Healthcare Interpreter Training Program

L.A. Care Health Plan provides health care to nearly 800,000 low-income families and individuals in vulnerable communities in Los Angeles County, California. L.A. Care's membership reflects the county's diverse urban population, with over 50% of members indicating a preference for services in languages other than English. Language access is key to addressing disparities and providing quality health care. For this purpose, L.A. Care sponsors a 40-hour Health Care Interpreter Training program for bilingual medical office staff members who serve as interpreters for patients. As part of program evaluation, trainees in 2007 and 2008 completed pre- and post-course surveys (n=88). This presentation covers lessons learned from analysis of the data on operational questions like the following: Are clinics accurately detecting members' interpretation needs and voluntarily seeking training, or does the training need to be targeted? To analyze this, attendees were grouped by geographical region within the county, and matched against language access findings in the health plan's annual CAHPS member satisfaction survey. 2008 CAHPS results identified two regions where interpreter needs were double the county average. Providers in the two regions with the greatest disparity on interpreter access were underrepresented among clinic staffs seeking interpreter training. This analysis is designed to help target interventions, to educate members to ask for interpreter access; to promote interpreter training among existing providers; to seek contracts with bilingual health care providers; and to familiarize providers with professional interpreter services.