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Asians are the fastest-growing immigrant population in the United States (US). Filipinos and Filipino-Americans (FAs) represent the third-largest Asian group, with about 3.9 million in 2016 (US Census Bureau, 2016). Filipino immigrants have mostly filled labor shortages in agriculture, the military, and nursing (McNamara & Batalova, 2017). FAs that fill these jobs and their families need to be healthy. Interestingly, the prevalence of chronic diseases in this population is alarming. Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are higher in FAs than in whites, blacks, and other Asian groups (Bloom & Black, 2016). Data from the 2004-2006 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS), 27% of FA adults self-reported diagnosis of hypertension, the highest rate among Asian subgroups (Barnes et al., 2008; 2010). This rate is higher than Hispanics (24.1%), is almost the same as American Indians or Alaska Natives (32%) and African Americans (36%) (Barnes et al., 2008, 2010; Dela Cruz et al., 2002). Compared to other Asian subgroups, FAs have higher rates of uncontrolled hypertension; cardiovascular disease and stroke have been identified as the leading causes of mortality (Domingo et al., 2018). Other FA health issues include cancer, dementia, depression, gout, and infectious disease such as tuberculosis.

Attention has to be given to FAs since they are a growing minority population. However, limited research exists on their healthcare needs, priorities, and research engagement. Most research is limited to key states, i.e., New York, California, and Hawaii (Ursua et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2008). However, significant populations of FAs also exist in Illinois, Texas, Washington, New Jersey, Nevada, Florida, and Virginia (US Census Bureau, 2016). There needs to be more research is done on this population, not only in NY, CA, and Hawaii but also in other states where there are significant numbers of FAs.

Our solution is to create a community-based nationwide network of FAPCOR nayon (villages) to engage FAs in their healthcare. The network will provide the infrastructure for engaging FAs and other key community stakeholders to address the specific needs of FAs to make informed healthcare decisions as well as engage in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) and comparative effectiveness research (CER) to promote patient outcomes. The project titled has been funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for 2019-2021 (24 months).