Patient–physician race/ethnicity and language concordance may improve medication adherence and reduce disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) by fostering trust and improved patient–physician communication. To examine the association of patient race/ethnicity and language and patient–physician race/ethnicity and language concordance on medication adherence rates for a large cohort of diabetes patients in an integrated delivery system. We studied 131,277 adult diabetes patients in Kaiser Permanente Northern California in 2005. Probit models assessed the effect of patient and physician race/ethnicity and language on adherence to CVD medications, after controlling for patient and physician characteristics. Ten percent of African American, 11 % of Hispanic, 63% of Asian, and 47% of white patients had same race/ethnicity physicians. 24% of Spanish-speaking patients were linguistically concordant with their physicians. African American (46%), Hispanic (49%) and Asian (52%) patients were significantly less likely than white patients (58%) to be in good adherence to all of their CVD medications (p < 0.001). Spanish-speaking patients were less likely than English speaking patients to be in good adherence (51% versus 57%, p < 0.001). Race concordance for African American patients was associated with adherence to all their CVD medications (53% vs. 50%, p < 0.05). Language concordance was associated with medication adherence for Spanish-speaking patients (51% vs. 45%, p < 0.05). Increasing opportunities for patient–physician race/ethnicity and language concordance may improve medication adherence for African American and Spanish-speaking patients, though a similar effect was not observed for Asian patients or English-proficient Hispanic patients.

Objective

To examine the predictors of patient-physician race/ethnicity concordance among diabetes patients in an integrated delivery system.

Data source

Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Diabetes Registry of 2005.

Study design

Logistic regression predicted concordance for each racial/ethnic group. Availability of a concordant physician, whether a patient chose their physician, and patient language were main explanatory variables.

Data collection/extraction methods

The study population consisted of 109,745 patients and 1,750 physicians.

Principal findings

Patients who chose their physicians were more likely to have a same race/ethnicity physician with OR of 2.2 (95 percent CI 1.74-2.82) for African American patients, 1.71 (95 percent CI 1.44-2.04) for Hispanic patients, 1.11 (95 percent CI 1.04-1.18) for white patients, and 1.38 (95 percent CI 1.23, 1.55) for Asian patients. Availability of a same race/ethnicity physician was also a predictor of concordance for African American patients (OR 2.7; 95 percent CI 2.45-2.98) and marginally significant for Hispanic patients (OR 1.02; 95 percent CI 1.01-1.02), white patients (OR 1.02; 95 percent CI 1.00-1.04), and Asian patients (OR 1.05; 95 percent CI 1.03, 1.07). Limited English language was a strong predictor of concordance for Hispanic patients (OR 4.81; 95 percent CI 4.2-5.51) and Asian patients (OR 9.8; 95 percent CI 7.7, 12.6).

Conclusion

Patient language, preferences, and the racial composition of the physician workforce predict race/ethnicity concordance.

OBJECTIVE Patient-physician race/ethnicity concordance can improve care for minority patients. However, its effect on cardiovascular disease (CVD) care and prevention is unknown. We examined associations of patient race/ethnicity and patient-physician race/ethnicity concordance on CVD risk factor levels and appropriate modification of treatment in response to high risk factor values (treatment intensification) in a large cohort of diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study population included 108,555 adult diabetic patients in Kaiser Permanente Northern California in 2005. Probit models assessed the effect of patient race/ethnicity on risk factor control and treatment intensification after adjusting for patient and physician-level characteristics. RESULTS African American patients were less likely than whites to have A1C <8.0% (64 vs. 69%, P < 0.0001), LDL cholesterol <100 mg/dl (40 vs. 47%, P < 0.0001), and systolic blood pressure (SBP) <140 mmHg (70 vs. 78%, P < 0.0001). Hispanic patients were less likely than whites to have A1C <8% (62 vs. 69%, P < 0.0001). African American patients were less likely than whites to have A1C treatment intensification (73 vs. 77%, P < 0.0001; odds ratio [OR] 0.8 [95% CI 0.7-0.9]) but more likely to receive treatment intensification for SBP (78 vs. 71%, P < 0.0001; 1.5 [1.3-1.7]). Hispanic patients were more likely to have LDL cholesterol treatment intensification (47 vs. 45%, P < 0.05; 1.1 [1.0-1.2]). Patient-physician race/ethnicity concordance was not significantly associated with risk factor control or treatment intensification. CONCLUSIONS Patient race/ethnicity is associated with risk factor control and treatment intensification, but patient-physician race/ethnicity concordance was not. Further research should investigate other potential drivers of disparities in CVD care.