Abstract
Racial and ethnic minority physicians are more likely to practice primary care and serve in underserved communities. However, there are micro-practice patterns within primary care specialties that are not well understood. To examine the differences among primary care physician practice locations by specialty and race/ethnicity, a retrospective study was conducted on U.S. medical graduates who were direct patient care physicians in 2012. The group-specific contributions to primary care accessibility were decomposed by individual group of minorities underrepresented in medicine (URM). Results confirm significant differences not only in their distribution across underserved areas but also in their racial/ethnic composition by primary care specialties, with internist most diverse and family physicians least diverse. However, stratified analysis shows that within each primary care subspecialty, URM physicians were more likely to practice in underserved areas than their White peers regardless of specific specialties.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 556-570 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2018 |
Keywords
- Accessibility
- Diversity
- Primary care physicians
- Underserved communities
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health