Inpatient care experiences differ by preferred language within racial/ethnic groups.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To describe differences in patient experiences of hospital care by preferred language within racial/ethnic groups. DATA SOURCE:2014-2015 HCAHPS survey data. STUDY DESIGN:We compared six composite measures for seven languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Other) within applicable subsets of five racial/ethnic groups (Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Blacks, and Whites). We measured patient-mix adjusted overall, between- and within-hospital differences in patient experience by language, using linear regression. DATA COLLECTION METHODS:Surveys from 5 480 308 patients discharged from 4517 hospitals 2014-2015. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Within each racial/ethnic group, mean reported experiences for non-English-preferring patients were almost always worse than their English-preferring counterparts. Language differences were largest and most consistent for Care Coordination. Within-hospital differences by language were often larger than between-hospital differences and were largest for Care Coordination. Where between-hospital differences existed, non-English-preferring patients usually attended hospitals whose average patient experience scores for all patients were lower than the average scores for the hospitals of their English-preferring counterparts. CONCLUSIONS:Efforts should be made to increase access to better hospitals for language minorities and improve care coordination and other facets of patient experience in hospitals with high proportions of non-English-preferring patients, focusing on cultural competence and language-appropriate services.

SUBMITTER: Quigley DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6341216 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature