840-P: Lower Health-Care Utilization among Diverse Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) Who Receive Culturally Discordant Care

Background: AYA with T1D encounter many challenges in managing their diabetes, such as uncontrolled glycemic levels, higher probability of complications, and poor clinic attendance. AYA minorities often encounter health care disparities that could be addressed with culturally competent care, which considers the patient’s diverse background and sociocultural factors like communication, language, and beliefs that may influence health behaviors. Objective: To assess patient-reported provider cultural competence and health care utilization among diverse AYA population with T1D. Methods: Patients were recruited during routine diabetes outpatient care visits and asked to complete questionnaires on sociodemographic variables, health care utilization, and clinical experiences and cultural competence as assessed by the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS). Results: One-hundred forty three AYA (58.7% Male; 45.5% Latinx, 22.4% non-Latinx white) participated, with an average HbA1c of 9.8% in Latinx and 8.6% in non-Latinx whites. Participants who reported some negative experience with provider cultural competence were marginally lower health care utilizers. Specifically, these AYA went to the ER for diabetes-related problems less frequently (p=0.07), had fewer urgent care visits (p=0.08), went to urgent care for hypoglycemia issues less frequently (p=0.08), and attended fewer diabetes care visits (p=0.07). They also went to urgent care for reasons unrelated to diabetes less frequently (p=0.11) and spent fewer days in the hospital when admitted (p=0.13), but these results were not significant. Conclusions: AYA who experience culturally discordant care may utilize health care less frequently. It is unclear if AYA receiving discordant care need less healthcare support, or if their experiences lead to avoidance of needed care. Our results are hypothesis-generating and further investigation is needed. Disclosure J.J. Flores Garcia: None. J. Raymond: Other Relationship; Self; Insulet Corporation. S. Agarwal: None. A. Torres Sanchez: None. M.W. Reid: None. Funding The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust