Ethnic Dis
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Patient-physician race concordance and its relationship to perceived health outcomes.
Race concordance occurs when the race of a patient matches the race of his/ her physician and discordance occurs when races do not match. Previous research has suggested an association between race concordance and measures of patient satisfaction and health outcome. In this study, we examined the relationship between race concordance and perceived quality of care, self-reported general health, and the SF-12 measures of physical and mental health in a community-based sample of 2001 adults. ⋯ Settings that employ a larger number of African American physicians in Nashville, Tennessee are places that people without insurance are more likely to seek health care. For health satisfaction and perceived health status, socioeconomic status and access to quality health care are likely more important than whether one's physician is of a similar or dissimilar race.