Arturo Vargas-Bustamante, Ph.D.

Professor Vargas Bustamante is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health. He teaches HS200B Health Care Financing and Organization and HS209 Health Care for Vulnerable Populations. He conducts research in two fields: i) health care disparities and ii) health policy in developing countries. His health care disparities research focuses on population groups that are overwhelmingly uninsured or that have poor access to health care, predominantly among Hispanics/Latinos and immigrants in the United States. He also specializes in the statistical analyses of disparities in health care access, utilization, quality and insurance coverage. The outcomes of his research have had direct policy applications, particularly since they estimate the share of disparities that can be attributed to socioeconomic and demographic factors and the corresponding part associated to health system variables, such as usual source of care and insurance status. His research on health services in developing countries focuses in two areas: cross-border health care utilization and healthcare privatization and decentralization in middle-income countries, predominantly in Latin America.

Professor Vargas Bustamante holds a PhD (2008) in Public Policy, an M.A. (2006) in Economics and an M.P.P. (2004) all from UC-Berkeley. As part of his professional experience, he worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and for the California Program on Access to Care, where he was responsible for the cross-border health insurance project. His professional career began in the Health Financing Administration of the Mexican Ministry of Health.

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS (in chronological order)
IN PRINT OR PRESS
1. Vargas Bustamante, A, G Ojeda, X Castañeda (2008) “Willingness to Pay for Cross-Border  Health Insurance between the U.S. and Mexico”, Health Affairs, 27 (1), pp. 169-178.  URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18180492
2. Vargas Bustamante, A, H Fang, JA Rizzo, A Ortega (2009) "Understanding Observed and Unobserved Health Care Access and Utilization Disparities Among US Latino Adults", Medical Care Research and Review, 55(5), pp. 561-577. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19556553
3. Vargas Bustamante, A, H Fang, JA Rizzo, A Ortega (2009) "Heterogeneity in Health Insurance Coverage among US Latino Adults", Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(S 3), pp. 561-566. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19842007
4. Rodríguez, M, A Vargas Bustamante, A Ang (2009) “Perceived Quality of Care, Receipt of Preventive Care, and Usual Source of Care Among Undocumented Latinos”, Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(S 3), pp. 508-513. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19841999
5. Chen, J, H Fang, A Vargas Bustamante, J Rizzo, A Ortega (2010) “Latino Disparities in Prescription Drug Use and Expenditures: A Nationally Representative Analysis” The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 44, pp. 57-69. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20118144
6. Vargas Bustamante, A, J Chen, H Rodríguez, J Rizzo, A Ortega (2010) “Use of Preventive Care Services among Latino Subgroups” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 38(6), pp. 610-619. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20494237
7. Vargas Bustamante, A (2010) “The Tradeoff between Centralized and Decentralized Health Services, Evidence from Rural Areas in Mexico”, Social Science & Medicine, 71(5), pp. 925-934. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20579793
8. Laugesen, M, A Vargas Bustamante (2010) “A Patient Mobility Framework that Travels: European and U.S.-Mexican Comparisons”, Health Policy, 97(2-3), pp. 225-231. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20570386
9. Vargas Bustamante, A, H Fang, J Garza, O Carter-Pokras, S Wallace et. al. (2010) “Variations in Healthcare Access and Utilization among Mexican Immigrants: The Role of Documentation Status”, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. Epub ahead of print: 10/24/10. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20972853
10. Chen, J, A Vargas Bustamante (2011) “Estimating the Effects of Immigration Status on Mental Health Care Utilization in the United States”, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. Epub ahead of print: 2/1/11. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21286813
11. Vargas Bustamante, A, J Chen (2011) “Health Expenditure Dynamics and Years of U.S. Residence: Analyzing Spending Disparities Among Latinos by Citizenship/Nativity Status”, Health Services Research. Epub ahead of print: 6/3/11. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21644969
12. Vargas Bustamante, A, (2011) “Comparing Federal and State Healthcare Provider Performance in Villages Targeted by the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme of Mexico”, Tropical Medicine & International Health. Epub ahead of print: 7/12/11. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21752162
13. Vargas Bustamante, A, J Chen (2011 Oct.) “Physicians Cite Hurdles Ranging From Lack of Coverage To Poor Communication In Providing High Quality Care To Latino Patients” Health Affairs, 30(10), pp. 1921-1929. URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=vargas%20bustamante%20latino%20hurdles
14. Stoddard, P, M Handley, A Vargas Bustamante, D Schiller (2011 Dec., Epub 2011 Sept. 29) “The Influence of Indigenous Status and Community Indigenous Composition on Obesity and Diabetes among Mexican Adults”, Social Science & Medicine, 73(11), pp. 1635-43. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22033376

Recently accepted for publication:
15.  Vargas Bustamante, A, M Laugesen, ME Caban, P Vaillancourt Rosenau, “U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Health Insurance Initiatives: Salud Migrante and Medicare in Mexico.” Pan American Journal of Public Health. (Forthcoming in 2012)