@article{ref1,
title="Addressing health care needs of Colorado immigrants using a community power building approach",
journal="Health services research",
year="2022",
author="Albright, Karen and de Jesus Diaz Perez, Maria and Trujillo, Theresa and Beascochea, Yesenia and Sammen, Joe",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To assess and address through policy change the health-care needs of immigrant populations in Colorado. DATA SOURCES: Primary data were collected in two Colorado communities from June 2019 through December 2020. STUDY DESIGN: This work utilized a mixed-method, community power building approach to determine and meet health-care needs of immigrants, a marginalized population of mixed documentation status. <br><br>FINDINGS were then used to inform Emergency Medicaid (EM) expansion in Colorado. DATA COLLECTION: In-depth interviews were conducted in Spanish, English, and Somali with 47 immigrants in rural Morgan County in June-September 2019; findings were presented to the community for feedback in January-February 2020. In March-December 2020, 330 interviews were conducted in Spanish and English with 208 unique individuals in Morgan and Pueblo Counties by local community grassroots leaders via four rounds of a novel phone tree outreach method. Interviewees were identified through snowball sampling and direct outreach among individuals seeking immediate relief (i.e., food assistance). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Interviewees reported numerous barriers to health-care access, including discrimination and limited service hours and transportation options. Data also revealed a clear health insurance coverage gap among undocumented immigrants. These data were then presented to Colorado's Department of Health-Care Policy and Financing, ultimately contributing to securing EM expansion to this population to include COVID treatment, including respiratory therapies and outpatient follow-up appointments. Data-informed continued implementation advocacy to ensure the effectiveness of EM program expansion. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Immigrants are particularly marginalized by the health-care system. Rapid data collection grounded in a community power-building approach produced data that directly informed state policy and an increased power base. This approach enables direct connection to immediate &quot;downstream&quot; needs in communities while simultaneously building collective systemic &quot;upstream&quot; analysis and capacity of community members and laying pathways to translation and implementation of research into policy.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0017-9124",
doi="10.1111/1475-6773.13933",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13933"
}