Promotion of prevention and wellness in urban underserved Asian immigrant and refugee populations through a Patient Navigator model

Immigrant and refugee populations experience many barriers to accessing prevention and wellness services in a health care setting. Language and cultural factors are two of the largest challenges facing these groups. A lack of health care providers speaking the patient's language, health illiteracy, as well as differences in utilization of health care resources in the United States compared to the country of origin impact immigrant and refugee communities. Furthermore, the complexity of eligibility for insurance products, and constantly changing policies and regulations for public benefits, create additional barriers for these groups. A new model of allied health care professionals, called Patient Navigators, aims to break down these barriers to enable access to prevention, wellness, and acute and chronic medical care, for various populations of Asian immigrants and refugees in the Alameda County, California area. Asian Health Services, a federally qualified community health center located in Oakland, California, designed the Patient Navigator roles for several different Asian immigrant and refugee communities speaking different languages (Chinese – Cantonese and Mandarin, Cambodian, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino – Tagalog). This presentation will discuss the different barriers faced by these underserved Asian immigrant and refugee groups in accessing health care, the role of the Patient Navigator in enabling services, and the strategies used for successful implementation of the Patient Navigator in a community health center.