Date of Award

6-2012

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Yufei Ren

Language

English

Keywords

patient, satisfaction, health quality, cultural competency

Abstract

Issues surrounding race and ethnicity in healthcare have increased in number as racial disparities as well as minority physicians become more prevalent in the USA. One such issue is the concordance rate of race and language amongst physicians and their patients. The effect of racial concordance in physician patient relationships has been looked at to determine if it affects the perceived level of health quality. Saha et al. (1999) found that Black and Hispanic patients were more satisfied in their healthcare when treated by a physician of their own race. In this study, I establish whether or not the racial concordance has a positive effect on income. Using controls established by previous regression analyses, I measure the effect on income of racial concordance on primary care and specialty care physicians alike. The findings of this study have importance in terms of incentives for physicians to culture themselves. If racial concordance increases income, it is likely that empathy, communication skills, and teamwork is better when physicians and patients have the same race (Cooper‐Patrick et al. 1999). This suggests that physicians who are culturally competent will enjoy higher incomes, and their patients better health outcomes. Policy implications including cultural competency training in medical schools and required interpreter services may be established from these findings.

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