Spanish-Speaking Parents' Experiences Accessing Care: Evolving Challenges and Promising Approaches

In our study entitled "Spanish-Speaking Parents' Experiences Accessing Academic Medical Center Care: Barriers, Facilitators and Technology Use," we found substantial barriers to care facing Spanish-speaking parents, including language-related issues (eg, heavy interpreter workload and challenging phone access) and nonlanguage-specific barriers, such as the size and complexity of hospitals. 1 We report here what has been reported on this problem especially given the COVID-19 pandemic that unfolded since we first submitted that manuscript on June 20, 2020. Subsequent changes to health care delivery exacerbated existing barriers, presented new ones, and accelerated changes we and others had anticipated in telehealth and health information technology (HIT). We provide updates to these barriers in 3 areas: impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, limited bilingual staff and interpreter workforce, and the emergence of telehealth and HIT.