Helping Spanish-speaking members access care through HouseCalls
HouseCalls meets members where they are
When Suleima, a nurse practitioner with HouseCalls, knocks on a door to meet a new member, she often hears a sigh of relief when they hear her say, “Hola!”
Suleima, who meets with UnitedHealthcare Medicare members in their homes as part of their annual HouseCalls benefit, is there to answer questions, assess their environment and help support their health care journey. That includes helping them feel comfortable by speaking their language.
“When people are able to see you, and see themselves, it opens up a whole new world for them,” she said. “As soon as we greet each other and they hear me say ‘¿Hola, cómo estás?’ then I can really see them relax and their shoulders go down. That’s when I’m like, I’m really seeing you.”
What is HouseCalls?
HouseCalls is a program that provides annual home health care visits to millions of older adults each year, resulting in improved health outcomes. In 2024 alone, HouseCalls closed over 3 million gaps in care, for things like pain assessment, mental health and controlling high blood pressure.
These visits occur at no added cost to members, helping ensure they have access to preventive care in between their regular doctor visits that may be difficult, or even impossible, for some to access.
When Suleima visits members like Angela, she’s able to do everything from check her blood pressure, assess her home for fall prevention and go over her current medications.
How do HouseCalls visits help support culturally relevant care?
Having Suleima speak the same language adds another layer of comfort and understanding to the often-confusing health care terminology.
“I felt happy when I saw Suleima speaking to me in Spanish and treating me as if we had known each other for a long time,” Angela said, through translation.
In addition to helping members feel more comfortable in talking about their health needs, having this cultural competency is a part of good medicine. Recent research has shown that speaking a patient’s language and connecting to their culture may lead to better care and improved outcomes.1 This connection can help ease barriers to preventive care, promote medication management and more.
HouseCalls is also able to help members with social drivers of health – things like food insecurity, housing and transportation that can have a huge impact on one’s overall health. By looking at the person’s health holistically right where they live, HouseCalls practitioners like Suleima can help “connect the dots” to make sure members have the resources they need to thrive.
“What makes me proud to be a HouseCalls provider is meeting people where they’re at,” Suleima said. “I want to be out on a medical mission every day. That for me is so important. That’s what I love about this specialty of nursing.”
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