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Patient-provider race-concordance: does it matter in improving minority patients' health outcomes?
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Patient-provider race-concordance: does it matter in improving minority patients' health outcomes?

Salimah H. Meghani, Jacqueline M. Brooks, Trina Gipson-Jones, Roberta Waite, Lisa Whitfield-Harris and Janet A. Deatrick
Ethnicity & health, v 14(1), pp 107-130
Feb 2009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13557850802227031
PMID: 19012091
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc3209820View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

concordance disparities ethnicity health minorities outcomes race
Objective. To understand if patient-provider race-concordance is associated with improved health outcomes for minorities. Design. A comprehensive review of published research literature (1980-2008) using MEDLINE, HealthSTAR, and CINAHL databases were conducted. Studies were included if they had at least one research question examining the effect of patient-provider race-concordance on minority patients' health outcomes and pertained to minorities in the USA. The database search and data analysis were each independently conducted by two authors. The review was limited to data analysis in tabular and text format. A meta-analysis was not possible due to the discrepancy in methods and outcomes across studies. Results. Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Combined, the studies were based on data from 56,276 patients and only 1,756 providers. Whites/Caucasians (37.6%) and Blacks/African Americans (31.5%), followed by Hispanics/Latinos (13.3%), and Asians/Pacific Islanders (4.3%) comprised the majority of the patient sample. The median sample of providers was only 16 for African Americans, 10 for Asians and two for Hispanics. The review presented mixed results. Of the 27 studies, patient-provider race-concordance was associated with positive health outcomes for minorities in only nine studies (33%), while eight studies (30%) found no association of race-concordance with the outcomes studied and 10 (37%) presented mixed findings. Analysis suggested that having a provider of same race did not improve 'receipt of services' for minorities. No clear pattern of findings emerged in the domains of healthcare utilization, patient-provider communication, preference, satisfaction, or perception of respect. Conclusions. There is inconclusive evidence to support that patient-provider race-concordance is associated with positive health outcomes for minorities. Studies were limited to four racial/ethnic groups and generally employed small samples of minorities. Further research is needed to understand what health outcomes may be more sensitive to cultural proximity between patients and providers, and what patient, provider and setting-level variables may moderate or mediate these outcomes.

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3 Record Views
220 citations in Web of Science
223 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#10 Reduced Inequalities
#3 Good Health and Well-Being

InCites Highlights

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Ethnic Studies
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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