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A Cyclical Model of Barriers to Healthcare for the Hispanic/Latinx Population

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Abstract

As the Hispanic/Latinx population in the United States continues to grow, disparities in health outcomes for this population continue to widen. Worse health outcomes can be attributed to a variety of barriers to healthcare specific to this population, but scant literature exists that presents the connections among them. Many of these barriers to healthcare stem from institutional racism, disparities in socioeconomic status, and xenophobia. To synthesize barriers that hinder the Hispanic/Latinx population from receiving quality healthcare, we propose a cyclical model. The model begins with obstacles present before even visiting a healthcare provider, including structural inequalities, cultural beliefs, documentation status, scheduling, and transportation. Next, the model poses barriers during the visit with a healthcare provider, including problems with provider bias, cultural barriers, and interpretation services. Finally, the model presents barriers that occur after the medical encounter, including payment, medication adherence, indigent care, and follow-up appointments or referrals. Once the patient needs to schedule a follow-up appointment or referral, the cycle restarts with the barriers present before accessing care. All of these barriers to healthcare are areas for potential mitigation of the healthcare disparities that currently disadvantage the Hispanic/Latinx population. The proposed Hispanic Cyclical Healthcare Barrier (HCHB) model helps organize solutions to the barriers, illustrating the need for multiple interventions due to the interconnectedness of the barriers.

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Notes

  1. The terms Hispanic, Latino, and Latinx are used interchangeably but have slightly different connotations. The term “Hispanic” refers to people of the Americas or Spain who speak Spanish [1]. This term suggests a connection of this population with Spain, which colonized the Americas. Avoiding this connection to imperialism, the term “Latino” refers to people of Latin American heritage living in the US who may speak any language. Later, the term “Latinx'' arose as a gender-neutral version of “Latino,” which is a masculine noun [1]. This paper uses the terms “Hispanic” and “Latinx'' interchangeably to refer to the US population of Latin American origin who speak Spanish, as neither of these terms perfectly encompasses the population desired to be described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA

    Samantha Brener, Stephanie Jiang, Emma Hazenberg & Daniel Herrera

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Contributions

Samantha Brener had the idea for the article. All authors performed the literature search and contributed to drafting the article. Samantha Brener drafted the introduction, “Barriers Before Healthcare,” and “Strategies to Minimize Barriers” sections. Stephanie Jiang drafted the “Barriers During Healthcare” section. Emma Hazenberg drafted the “Barriers After Healthcare” section. Daniel Herrera drafted the conclusion section.

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Correspondence to Samantha Brener.

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Brener, S., Jiang, S., Hazenberg, E. et al. A Cyclical Model of Barriers to Healthcare for the Hispanic/Latinx Population. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 11, 1077–1088 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01587-5

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