A related study published in the same issue of Health Affairs examines how minority patients pick their physicians and whether race enters the process. The study, based on data from the 1994 Commonwealth Fund survey on minority health, found that nearly a quarter of blacks and Hispanics with racially comparable physicians said that they explicitly considered race or ethnicity when selecting their provider. Thus, while black and Hispanic physicians account for 4 and 5 percent of the physician pool, they care for a quarter of black patients and 23 percent of Hispanic patients, respectively. The authors note that the disproportionate racial pairing is linked to the fact that many minority physicians locate their practices in predominantly black and Hispanic communities. But that is only part of the reason.
Patients seek care from physicians of their own race because of personal preference and language.
Forty-two percent of Hispanics factored language into their choice of a Hispanic physician. Hispanics seeking Hispanic physicians were more likely to speak Spanish as their primary language. This demand for minority physicians will only increase as the U.S. minority population grows. Blacks and Hispanics now comprise 12 and 11 percent of the U.S. population, respectively. But by 2050, the Hispanic population alone will make up 25 percent of the population.