New report outlines recommendations to improve chronic disease care for Latinos

Latinos face significant health disparities, especially in chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and cancer. Primary care clinicians play a critical role in managing and preventing these diseases, yet Latinos face multiple barriers to quality care.

In April 2024, the Primary Care Latino Equity Research (PRIMER) Center convened the Latino Primary Care Summit on "Chronic Conditions in Latinos: Trends, Innovations and Care for the Future." This special report summarizes the discussions at the summit and outlines key research areas and the advances needed to answer questions crucial to Latino primary care, outlining seven recommendations.

The report urges pairing research with policy partners so evidence moves into practice, consistently disaggregating Latino data, and investing in the mentorship and career advancement of Latino scientists and students. It also calls for expediting implementation research in real-world primary care settings that serve Latino communities and for co-designing communication practices and new technologies with those communities. The report recommends using telemedicine and AI equitably and studying multigenerational households and policy eligibility frictions to design trauma-informed interventions that fit Latino family life.