The Application of Community-Based Information from the American Community Survey in a Large Integrated Health Care Organization.

Background: The American Community Survey (ACS) is the largest household survey conducted by the US Census Bureau. We sought to describe the community-level characteristics derived from the ACS among enrollees of Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC), evaluate the associations between ACS estimates and selective individual-level health outcomes, and explore how using different scales of the census geography and the linearity assumption affect the associations.

Methods: We examined the associations between track-level and block group-level ACS 5-year estimates and 4 individual-level Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) outcome measures (comprehensive diabetes care, postpartum care, antidepressant medication management, and childhood immunization status) using multilevel generalized linear models.

Patient-physician language concordance: a strategy for meeting the needs of spanish-speaking patients in primary care.

The Hispanic/Latino community increased by 58% in the last decade (1990-2000) and it is estimated that Hispanics/Latinos will be 30% of the population by 2050. Many of the Hispanic/Latino households (40%) surveyed by the census bureau in 2000 spoke Spanish. Because of its location, the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, which provides the medical services for Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) serves a large and growing Hispanic/Latino community.