The Hispanic population in the U.S. has more than doubled in the past 15 years, to around 45 million. But it is an increasingly heterogeneous population. The Pew Hispanic Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation decided to find out more about how Hispanics access health care, where they get their information and what they know—particularly about chronic diseases such as diabetes.

The survey found that more than one-in-four Hispanic adults in the United States lack a usual health care provider (other than the E.R.) and a similar number reported obtaining no health care information from medical personnel in the past year. In fact, they were more likely to get their health information from television.

Having a regular health care provider correlates with preventive care and monitoring, which in turn is associated with better outcomes—including control of chronic conditions (see chart below). The survey illustrated this: 86 percent of those who had a regular health care provider had had their blood pressure checked in the past two years vs. 62 percent of those without a regular provider. The gap was even broader for cholesterol checks and blood tests for diabetes. Among Hispanic diabetics, a third of those with no provider hadn't had their blood sugar checked in two years.

About seven in 10 of the Latinos reported getting information from a medical professional in the last year—but 83 percent reported that television (68 percent), radio, newspapers, magazines or the Internet were sources of health information. Many respondents, however, said the TV news had prompted them to take action, either to improve their diet and nutrition or to go see a doctor about something they were concerned about.