Increasing Influenza Immunizations Among Spanish-Speaking Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries Through Care Navigator Outreach and Teletalks

SCAN built trust among its Spanish-speaking members by recruiting Spanish-speaking care navigators to conduct outreach to encourage them to receive the flu vaccine and by holding a telephonic town hall with a Spanish-speaking physician. By relying on staff who speak colloquially and accurately about the vaccine, SCAN helped its members make more informed and confident decisions about their care. How does this build trustworthiness? Communication in a patient’s primary language shows you “know me” and respect me.

How It Works

Care Navigation
The Care Navigation program is designed to promote positive health outcomes by increasing health literacy and access to services and resources. We recruited two Spanish-speaking Care Navigators to focus solely on increasing flu vaccination rates among our Spanish-speaking members. These Care Navigators were given outreach lists of Spanish-speaking members who had not consistently received the flu vaccine in the past. They called each member and had conversational and factual discussions about the flu vaccine and the importance of getting vaccinated, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Care Navigators tracked member intent to receive the vaccine, discussed potential barriers, and worked with members to make sure they were making the best decision for themselves. From October 2020 through December 2020, the Care Navigators reached out to about 2,600 Spanish-speaking SCAN members.

Teletalks
Alongside our individual outreach, in October we also held a telephonic town hall event (“teletalk”) hosted by a Spanish-speaking SCAN employee and Dr. Ilan Shapiro, a Spanish-speaking physician who serves as Medical Director of Health Education and Wellness for AltaMed, one of SCAN’s provider partners. Dr. Shapiro is an advocate for health promotion and education who has done extensive work to promote health equity.

Somewhat to our surprise, some 3,000 Spanish-speaking SCAN members joined the teletalk. As a fluent Spanish speaker and native of Mexico, Dr. Shapiro was able to discuss the flu virus, the flu vaccine, and the importance of staying healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic in a way that resonated with members.