Amazon Care Veterans Create Virtual Care Service For Latino Community

September 21, 2022 - Zócalo Health, a membership-based virtual care service focused on the Latino community, has raised $5 million in seed funding to support its launch.  

Founded by Erik Cardenas and Mariza Hardin — who previously served on the founding team of the soon-to-be-shuttered Amazon Care service — Zócalo Health aims to improve access and the patient experience for Latinos.

"At a macro level, problems with the U.S. healthcare system are well documented — unsustainable costs, poor outcomes, dissatisfied patients," said Hardin, who currently serves as head of strategy and operations at Zócalo Health, in an email. "However, these factors are disproportionately worse for underserved populations like Latinos."

According to a 2021 brief from the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Latinos are less likely to have a usual source of care and are more likely to be concerned about medical bills compared to non-Latinos. The brief also noted that language barriers play a significant role in creating the care gaps within these communities.

Further, visits with physicians not familiar with Latino communities can be challenging for Latino patients, as "treatment stops short of true cultural awareness, since physicians may not understand why they tried home remedies first or asked their families for support," Hardin said.

"We designed Zócalo Health specifically for the Latino patient; our service and payment model is designed to close the gap in access to primary care for Latinos through relationship-based care," she continued.

Zócalo Health offers monthly and annual memberships as well as direct pay memberships and one-time visits to help remove cost barriers, according to Hardin.

The Zócalo care teams are staffed by people from the Latino community who provide same-day virtual appointments for members. Each member is also assigned a community health worker who focuses on building a relationship with the patient and helps coordinate their care.

"Training for Zócalo Health's community health care workers includes developing skills in service coordination, advocacy, health coaching, community outreach, and care coordination," Hardin said.

Zócalo Health has gained $5 million in a seed funding round co-led by Animo, Virtue, and Vamos Ventures.

These funds will support the service's launch in California, Texas, and Washington. Invite-only memberships are currently available in California, and those interested can sign up for an invite on the website. The company will open access to all residents in California, as well as in Texas and Washington later this year, Hardin said.

The funds will also be used to hire and train more community health coworkers, she said.

Prior research shows that the company may face an uphill battle in achieving its goals amid enduring social determinants of health like the digital divide.

Hispanic and Latino individuals are significantly less likely to use, and therefore benefit from, virtual primary care as compared to White populations, according to a study published in April.

But by providing added support through community health workers, Zócalo Health may be able to move the needle on access issues.

Another study, also published in April, found that assistance with connecting to video visits could help narrow the digital divide and increase successful connection rates by 9.8 percent among Latino patients.