Development and Implementation of an HIV Health Care Practice Transformation Model for Latinos

A Latino Community Health Center in Washington, D.C. implemented and evaluated a practice transformative model to optimize human resources and improve quality health outcomes in HIV service delivery for Latino patients. We conducted a qualitative formative assessment through interviews and focus groups with clinic staff and patients living with HIV/AIDS in order to inform implementation. The formative assessment identified specific training and practice facilitation needs and provided valuable insight for choosing evaluation metrics. Incorporating staff input fostered staff engagement in laying the foundation of the transformation and helped build a sense of ownership of the transformative process. Through the formative assessment process we gained insight into the organization's HIV practice and improved our ability to align practice transformation goals with evaluation metrics to better measure changes resulting from the model implementation. The formative assessment process also highlighted challenges in conducting health systems research with Latino communities in the U.S.