Racial and ethnic disparities in satisfaction with doctors and health providers in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To assess racial and ethnic disparities in satisfaction with doctors and health providers in the United States.

DESIGN: Analyses were based on cross-sectional data from a healthcare satisfaction module added to the 2000 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), completed by 3 US states.

METHODS: Cross-tabulations and multiple logistic regression. Five models were estimated with dependent variables involving satisfaction with doctors and health providers in the last 12 months with respect to how carefully they listen to the patient, explain so the patient can understand, show respect for what the patient has to say, spend enough time with the patient, and overall performance. Independent variables considered included race/ethnicity, age, gender, marital status, education, annual household income, regular physician, and health status.

RESULTS: Hispanics, compared with Whites, were significantly more likely to be dissatisfied with overall healthcare and how their doctors and health providers listen, explain, show respect, and spend enough time with them. This difference became insignificant after adjustment for the other independent variables in the models, with the exception of the model involving listening carefully, where Hispanics were more likely to be dissatisfied (OR=1.6, 95% CI=1.0-2.6), and Blacks were less likely to be dissatisfied (OR=0.3, 95% CI=0.1-0.9). Each of the independent variables, except gender and marital status, were significant in at least one of the models, and regular physician and health status variables were significant in all of the models.

CONCLUSIONS: With the exception of listening, race/ethnicity is not directly associated with the healthcare variables considered.