Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118317

Keith Elder, PhD, Dept of Health Services Policy and Management, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, SC 29208 and Shelly Ann Bowen, MS, Health Promotions and Education, University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-1627, bowensk2@mailbox.sc.edu.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the patient characteristics of minority physicians with managed care contracts in the state of Maryland compared to non-minority physicians. This study also examined the termination and denial rates of minority physicians' managed care contracts across all specialties in the state of Maryland compared to non-minority physicians.METHODOLOGY:The Maryland Study on Physician Experience with Managed Care Survey served as the data under analysis in the study. The sample consisted of 1215 active physicians who were likely to have had an experience with managed care in the state of Maryland. Descriptive analyses were conducted to evaluate the physician practice characteristics across racial groups. Probit regressions were used to examine the impact of physician race and patient demographics on the rate of contract denials and terminations by managed care organizations. FINDINGS:Minority physicians see a greater percentage of minority patients than White physicians. African American physicians were more likely to have more than 50% of their patients from their own ethnic background compared to white physicians. Hispanic and Asian physicians practices were more likely to be comprised of minority patients compared to white physicians. Multivariate analysis revealed patient ethnicity was a predictor for contract denials and terminations. After adjusting for physician training and physicians practice characteristics, percent of Latino and African American patients were predictors for contract denials, and percent of Asian and Latino patients were predictors for contract terminations. The greater the percentages of African American and Latino patients a physician sees, the higher the probability that physician will a contract denied. The larger the percentage of Asian patients a physician has, the more likely the physician is to have a contract terminated. The larger the percentage of Latino patients a physician has, the less likely the physician is to have a contract terminated.

Learning Objectives:

• The participant will be able to identify the patient characteristics of minority physicians in managed care. The participant will also understand managed care's impact on minority physicians.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation