The Penn Medicine study found that patients were more likely to give higher and more positive ratings to physicians of their same race.
Credit: Sukhmani KaurA Penn Medicine study found that patients who have the same race or ethnicity as their doctor are more likely to give them higher ratings on outpatient surveys.
The study, published on Monday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, found that patients were more likely to give higher and more positive ratings on Press Ganey Outpatient Medical Practice Surveys to physicians of their same race, according to Penn Medicine News. Press Ganey surveys measure a patient’s hospital experience and can be used to improve patient care and determine promotions for physicians.
A team of researchers analyzed 117,589 surveys from different medical specialties within the University of Pennsylvania Health System between 2014 and 2017. The team focused on the responses for the "likelihood of your recommending this care provider to others” question in the survey. Researchers found that 87.6% of race concordant patient-physician pairs received a maximum score for this question, compared to 82.1% for race discordant patient-physician pairs. No association, however, was found between gender concordance and physician ratings.
Junko Takeshita, the study's corresponding author and assistant professor of dermatology and Epidemiology in the Perelman School of Medicine, said the results of the study show the importance of addressing implicit biases and diversifying the physician workforce.
“In a healthcare setting, racial and ethnic biases can affect health care delivery and ultimately, lead to health disparities," Takeshita said.
Deirdre Sawinski, the study’s senior author and an associate professor of Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension in the Perelman School of Medicine, said she hopes the study's findings will encourage physicians to discuss how they can better care for a diverse patient population.
“This study is an important step towards understanding how different factors contribute to create the patient experience, but clearly there is still more work to do," Sawinski said.
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