Physician Efforts to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities
Overcoming language and cultural barriers with patients
According to a national study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), physicians’ efforts to overcome communication barriers are modest and uneven.
According to a news release, physicians were asked whether their practice provides interpreter services; whether their practice provides patient-education materials in languages other than English; whether they have received training in minority health issues; whether they receive reports containing patient demographic information, such as race or ethnicity; whether their practice has information technology (IT) to identify patients' preferred language; and whether they receive reports about the quality of care delivered to minority patients.
Based on HSC's nationally representative 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey, the study findings are detailed in a new HSC Issue Brief—Modest and Uneven: Physician Efforts to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities. Funded by RWJF, the survey includes responses from more than 4,700 physicians, and the response rate was 62 percent.
