minorities

AMA apologizes for past racist policies

Anne Zieger — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:12:04 -0400

The American Medical Association has issued a formal apology for racist actions in its past, including a policy that barred black physicians from its ranks for decades. In a commentary appearing in the July 16 Journal of the American Medical Association, AMA immediate past president Ronald Davis admitted that the group had not only excluded black doctors, but it had also failed to speak out during struggles over legislation designed to end racial discrimination.

In writing the JAMA column, Davis was following up on the work of a committee of experts convened by the AMA to examine the black-white tensions in U.S. medicine. The panel noted that the AMA had excluded black doctors from state and local associations, listed black doctors as "colored" in its national physician directory, failed to participate in debates over the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and for some years, refused to join efforts that would force hospitals built with federal funds not to engage in racial discrimination.

To learn more about the AMA's position:
- read this Washington Post article

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Study: MDs who treat minorities face quality challenges

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Doctors who treat minorities tend to face a unique set of quality and financial challenges, according to a new study appearing in Health Affairs. The researchers, who used data from the 2004-05 Community Tracking Study Physician Survey, concluded that 26 percent of physicians in high-minority practices disagreed that it was possible to provide high-quality care to all patients, while only 16 percent of low-minority practices agreed with this statement. What's more, high-minority practices were more likely to report that having too little time during office visits impacted their ability to provide high-quality care. This study was supported by The Commonwealth Fund.

To learn more about this study:
- read this Modern Physician article

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Trend: Minority doctors scarce in California

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:54 -0400

A new study suggests that despite California's ethnically-diverse citizenry, there are comparatively fewer doctors of color to serve them. The study, which was conducted by the University of California San Francisco, concluded that of 62,000 practicing doctors in the state, only 5 percent are Latino, despite the fact that Latinos make up a whopping one-third of the state's total population. And only 3 percent of California physicians are black, compared with 7 percent of the state's overall population. In real number terms, fewer than 3,300 Latino physicians and about 2,000 African-American physicians are in active patient care, in a state with more than 35 million residents. Meanwhile, the state has a disproportionate number of Asian and white doctors, researchers found.

To learn more about the study:
- read this San Francisco Chronicle article

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Study: Health views vary along ethnic lines

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

A new study suggests that how you rate your healthcare provider may depend somewhat on your ethnic background. The study, which will be published in the journal Health Affairs, found that minorities are more likely than white patients to rate their healthcare as fair or poor, particularly Chinese-Americans, blacks born in Africa and Vietnamese-Americans. This is a particular concern given that improving patients' perception of their care is important to improving outcomes; patients who don't feel their care is satisfactory spend less time with physicians and may suffer as a result. Unfortunately, many minorities feel that their time spent with doctors isn't that productive. While three-quarters of whites reported that their doctor listened to them carefully, that percentage fell sharply, to 62 percent, for Korean-Americans, and 58 percent for Central and South Americans. These statistics were drawn from a survey of 4,334 adults by researchers with Harvard University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

To get more data from the study:
- read this Associated Press piece

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ALSO NOTED: Whites more likely to get narcotics from ED; Female neurosurgeons sue Brigham & Women's chair over discrimination c

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:59:50 -0500

> A new study concludes that while ED physicians are prescribing narcotics more often, minorities are less likely to get them than whites. Article

> A group of female neurosurgeons have sued the chairman of the department at Brigham and Women's Hospital, alleging that he discriminated against them due to their gender. Article

> Despite concerns that the deal might limit access to services not performed by Catholic hospitals, the Colorado state attorney general has approved the sale of two hospitals to a Catholic health system. Article

> Johns Hopkins has received a $10 million grant to conduct a landmark study on a common eye disease. Article

And Finally... In this part of India, they're outsourcing pregnancies for infertile Westerners. Article

Trend: Med school applications up in '07

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:59:55 -0400

While nobody can point to a single specific reason, it appears that interest in attending U.S. medical schools went up a great deal this year. A new study published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, which looked at 126 medical schools, found that 42,315 students applied in 2007, up 8.2 percent from 2006. The schools admitted 17,759 students, up 2.3 percent from 2006.

While these numbers are interesting, even more noteworthy is the fact that the number of applications by black and Hispanic males increased by 9.2 percent 2007, with the number of black men accepted and enrolled in med schools this fall increasing by 5.3 percent. That's a stat worth examining, given that minorities account for only 6 percent of practicing U.S. physicians at the moment.

To find out more about these trends:
- read this Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report item

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ALSO NOTED: Calif. emergency dept. cuts waits to 30 minutes; Western NY providers fight for nurses; and much more...

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:59:50 -0400

> A California hospital has launched a new campaign which has cut down waits in its emergency department to less than 30 minutes. Article

> As with elsewhere in the country, Buffalo, NY providers are struggling to find and keep nurses on staff. Article

> The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is opening the state's first regional autism center. Article

> Working with other groups, The Alzheimer's Foundation has begun working to eliminate cultural barriers to care among minorities with dementia. Article

And Finally... Geez--even your Diet Coke isn't safe any more! Article

Study: 'Medical homes' cut racial care disparities

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:01:34 -0400

A growing body of research suggests patients who have a "medical home" tend to do better overall. Such homes also reduce racial disparities in treatment, according to a new study.

The Commonwealth Fund study found that even when patients lacked health insurance, disparities in care between Caucasians and minorities seem to disappear. The Fund screened for patients having medical homes by asking if they had a regular provider or place of care, whether their doctor had an organized office and could be reached easily by phone and whether they could get night and weekend care.

The problem, however, is many practices don't have the resources to provide that extra level of care, particularly since insurance companies don't pay physicians for time spent consulting with patients and their families.

To find out more about the study:
- read this United Press International piece

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UnitedHealth launches minority health initiative

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 20:01:35 -0400

Working with civil rights leader Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH organization, UnitedHealth Group has launched an initiative intended to promote African-American health. The two groups are working to address disparities in the care African-American and other minority communities receive. The partners will also focus on health issues which are proving to be a particular challenge among African-Americans, including diabetes, cancer, coronary disease, asthma and obesity. UnitedHealth will give organizations affiliated with Rainbow PUSH, including churches and community-based organizations, access to a wide range of health improvement tools and educational materials. It will also offer the groups clinical, disease management and case management support.

To learn more about the initiative:
- read this United Press International article

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Researchers fight for ethnic diversity in trials

Thu, 03 May 2007 20:01:35 -0400

Concerned that they aren't addressing the different ways various ethnic groups respond to medication, researchers are mounting major efforts to recruit varied racial and ethnic groups for clinical trials. Right now, the average clinical trial volunteer is a white male between 18 to 40 years old--and this is a problem. Researchers have increasingly found that race and ethnicity can be important factors in how a patient responds to medications, with some drugs functioning better in certain groups, and other drugs proving ineffective or dangerous for some subgroups. In fact the world's first Phase III trial of an AIDS vaccine had to be repeated because there were few non-white participants.

Getting minorities to participate can be challenging, however; for example, African-Americans remember abuses such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, which denied poor African-Americans treatment to study the progression of the disease. To address the gap, researchers are resigning the way they recruit trial subjects. For example, some are moving trial sites to countries where certain ethnicities are prominent, such as Asia and Africa. Others are recruiting minority physicians, who may be able to draw in other non-whites more effectively. However, experts say that the best way to address the problem is personalized medicine, which addresses the traits of individuals using genetic models rather than generalizing across races.

To find out more about these efforts:
- read this United Press International piece

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