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Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine 10/2008

01-10-2008 | Original Article

Physician Effects on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Patients’ Experiences of Primary Care

Authors: Hector P. Rodriguez, Ph.D., MPH, Ted von Glahn, MS, David E. Grembowski, Ph.D., William H. Rogers, Ph.D., Dana Gelb Safran, Sc.D.

Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 10/2008

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Abstract

Background

Few studies have clarified the mechanisms that contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in primary care quality among comparably-insured patients.

Objective

To examine relative contribution of “between-” and “within-” physician effects on disparities in patients’ experiences of primary care.

Design

Regression models using physician fixed effects to account for patient clustering were specified to assess “between-” and “within-”physician effects on observed racial and ethnic disparities in patients’ experiences of primary care.

Participants

The Ambulatory Care Experiences Survey (ACES) was administered to patients visiting 1,588 primary care physicians (PCPs) from 27 California medical groups. The analytic sample included 49,861 patients (31.4 per PCP) who confirmed a PCP visit during the preceding 12 months.

Main Results

Most racial and ethnic minority groups were significantly clustered within physician practices (p < 0.001). “Between-physician” effects were mostly negative and larger than “within-physician” effects for Latinos, Blacks, and American Indian/Alaskan Natives, indicating that disparities are mainly attributable to patient clustering within physician practices with lower performance on patient experience measures. By contrast, “within-physician” effects accounted for most disparities for Asians and Pacific Islanders, indicating these groups report worse experiences relative to Whites in the same practices. Practices with greater concentration of Blacks, Latinos and Asians had lower performance on patient experience measures (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Targeting patient experience improvement efforts at low performing practices with high concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities might efficiently reduce disparities. Urgent study is needed to assess the contribution of “within-” and “between-” physician effects to racial and ethnic disparities in the technical quality of primary care.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Physician Effects on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Patients’ Experiences of Primary Care
Authors
Hector P. Rodriguez, Ph.D., MPH
Ted von Glahn, MS
David E. Grembowski, Ph.D.
William H. Rogers, Ph.D.
Dana Gelb Safran, Sc.D.
Publication date
01-10-2008
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Journal of General Internal Medicine / Issue 10/2008
Print ISSN: 0884-8734
Electronic ISSN: 1525-1497
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0732-8

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