Use of health care services by older Hispanics.

This paper presents information on regarding older Hispanics' use of health care services in an urban setting. Using the Comprehensive Assessment and Referral Evaluation (CARE) questionnaire, data on patterns of health care use and correlates of health services utilization were collected from a sample of 704 Hispanics age 60 and over residing in Los Angeles County. The results indicate that during the year preceding the interview, 79.4 per cent of the respondents saw a physician and 10 per cent were hospitalized. Of those seeing a doctor, 83.5 per cent saw a general practitioner and 32.6 per cent a specialist. When requiring medical care, respondents said that they would go to local private doctors (49.9%), hospitals (26.7%), neighborhood clinics (18.6%), and Mexico (2%). Further analysis revealed that some utilization measures varied significantly according to respondents' sociodemographic and economic correlates such as age, language, income, and availability of health insurance.