Among the most commonly advanced solutions to racial disparities in health has been the suggestion to increase the number of African American and Hispanic healthcare providers. Although quite popular, the race concordance hypothesis has not been thoroughly tested. In this study we test the effect of doctor/patient race concordance on patient's perception of quality of care and patient satisfaction.
We use data from the 1994 Commonwealth Fund Minority Health Survey (MHS). The MHS is a national sample of 3163 individuals, representing 1114 Whites, 1048 African Americans, and 1001 Hispanics. We specify a series of regression models. Examining race concordance and patient satisfaction. Multivariate models include controls for: age, income, education, marital status, and number of medical care encounters over the previous year.
Sixty two percent of patients in the study were race concordant with their doctor. The percentage of race concordance by patient's race was as follows: White 65.9%, African Americans 16.1% and Hispanics 22.6%. For each racial/ethnic group, race concordance was a significant predictor of patient satisfaction.
These analyses support provide evidence in support of the importance of continued effects to expand the ranks of African American and Hispanic medical care providers. Future research should examine the specific characteristics of doctors that patients find appealing with the goal of learning which to ensure that race discordant medical encounters result in patient satisfaction equal to race concordant medical encounters.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1.Articulate factors that predict patient satisfaction with medical encounters. 2.Discuss the implications of doctor-patient race matching. 3.Develop a position on the importance of minority-targeted admissions to allied health professional schools.
Keywords: Patient Satisfaction, Ethnic Minorities
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.