Patients say best doctors are ones who look like them

Maybe it's bias. Or maybe it's comfort. A new study says patients are more likely to prefer and recommend a physician of the same race.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Jan. 12, 2004.

If you're black or white, patients who share your race will leave your office feeling more satisfied with the encounter.

You also will likely spend an average of two minutes longer with same-race patients, who will rate you as more participatory than physicians of another race.

Johns Hopkins researchers made these conclusions after examining the visits of black and white patients to black and white physicians in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas. Their report appeared in the Dec. 2, 2003, Annals of Internal Medicine.

Health experts said the new study highlights the difference that race can make in health care experiences. The findings come at a time when health leaders are working to reduce racial disparities in health care and provide better health outcomes for minorities.

"There's a comfort level with your own that we have to acknowledge exists in our segregated society," said Somnath Saha, MD, an expert on racial disparities and assistant professor of medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine in Portland, Ore. "Physicians need to be aware, frankly, that race matters for some patients, and the way that they interact with patients probably does contribute to racial disparities in health care quality."

Various reports have drawn attention to the issue.

A 2001 study found that black and Hispanic physicians were more likely than white doctors to have trouble getting patients admitted to hospitals and referred to specialists. A 2002 Institute of Medicine report said racial and ethnic minorities received lower quality care than whites and that some evidence suggests that bias and stereotyping by health professionals may contribute to differences in care.